PLAYER PROFILE

Antoine Sibierski

Position: Midfield

Height: 6'2

Weight: 12st 6lbs

Date of Birth: 1974-08-05 Lille, France

Antoine Sibierski

Antoine Sibierski joined Manchester City in the summer of 2003 for £700,000 to help bridge the gap between midfield and attack in Kevin Keegan's plans. Having scored 12 goals in 33 games for Lens in 2002/03, he will be hoping to enjoy similar success at City.

The Frenchman started his career with hometown club Lille in the early 1990s, breaking into the team in a regular basis in 1993/94. He scored 17 goals in 97 games for the club before leaving to join Auxerre in 1996.

After a successful first campaign under Guy Roux, he struggled to repeat that in his second season and was sold to Nantes, where he stayed for two years. In 2000, he joined Lens, where he enjoyed some of the best form of his career before joining City.

He was booked, and scored on his Manchester City debut in the 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic, and went on to make 40 appearances for his new club, scoring 7 goals in his first season in 2003/04.

He improved on that in the 2004/05 season, cementing his place in the first-team line up by making 38 appearances and scoring 6 times - including two in a 7-1 Carling Cup thrashing of Barnsley.

He was again a regular in 2005/06, signing a new deal in October 2005. However, he did pick up a red card in City's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and surprisingly only got on the scoresheet twice.

In August 2006, he moved to Newcastle United for an undisclosed fee. He did well at St James' Park, scoring eight times in 25 starts in a disjointed season for the Magpies, but moved on in June 2007, joining Wigan Athletic.