Anthony Le Tallec (born 3 October 1984) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a forward or an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy S ...

, and

Annecy FC Football Club d'Annecy is a French football club based in the town of Annecy in Haute-Savoie. The team plays its home matches at the Parc des Sports, where the club and its predecessor have been based since 1964. It currently competes in the Li ...

Club career

Liverpool

Born in

Hennebont Hennebont (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department in the region of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Hennebont is situated about ten miles from the mouth of the River Blavet, which divides it into two parts: the ''Ville Close'' ...

, Le Tallec was signed from

Le Havre AC Le Havre Athletic Club (; commonly referred to as Le Havre) is a French association football club based in Le Havre, Normandy. The club was founded as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, making Le Havre AC the oldest professional French fo ...

in 2001, along with his cousin

Florent Sinama Pongolle Florent Stéphane Sinama Pongolle (born 20 October 1984) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was signed at only 16 by Liverpool, but could never impose himself in the first team. He also spent several seasons ...

, by manager

Gérard Houllier Gérard Paul Francis Houllier (; 3 September 194714 December 2020) was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, U ...

. This was after impressive performances for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

at the

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain national under ...

and the

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

, with the player being awarded the 'Silver Ball' as the second best player (behind his cousin) in the latter tournament as the national team emerged champions; both players remained a further two years at Le Havre, loaned by the ''Reds''. Le Tallec scored his first and only Liverpool goal in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

tie against

NK Olimpija Ljubljana Nogometni klub Olimpija Ljubljana (; en, Olimpija Ljubljana Football Club), commonly referred to as Olimpija Ljubljana or simply Olimpija, is a professional football club, based in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the Slo ...

in October 2003. After his return, he also featured in the club's victorious run in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, starting in the home leg of the quarter-final tie against

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

but failing to appear in the squad of 18 for

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

itself. For 2005–06, Le Tallec joined fellow

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side Sunderland on loan, in a bid to gain some more first-team football. He stated: "I am a competitor and I want to play all the time, but with Liverpool it was impossible. I chose to come to Sunderland because I need to play every week". In a disappointing season for the club, who finished bottom of the table, he was its top scorer with only six goals in all competitions; this included a header against Fulham, helping the Black Cats pick up their only home win. In May 2006, after Sunderland announced they would not be looking to retain his services, Le Tallec returned to Liverpool but was not given a squad number by boss

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton. Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under- ...

. At the end of the month, he joined up with the French under-21s for the European Championship which took place in Portugal, only featuring in the final group match after the team had already secured qualification and being substituted after 61 minutes.

Return to France

In August 2006, Le Tallec moved to FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on another loan deal. He won the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

scoring a late equaliser after coming off the bench in the final, which eventually led to a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

against Olympique de Marseille – a fellow Liverpool player out on loan,

Djibril Cissé Djibril Cissé (; born 12 August 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He started his career at AC Arles in 1989, at the age of eight. After seven years at the club, he had a six-month spell at Nîmes Oly ...

, netted two goals in the match for the opposition. On 31 August 2007, it was reported that Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian were close to signing Le Tallec. However, the player ended up moving to Ligue 1 team

Le Mans Union Club 72 Le Mans Football Club (; commonly referred to as Le Mans FC, formerly referred as Le Muc) is a French association football club based in Le Mans. The club was founded in 1985 as a result of a merger under the name Le Mans Union Club 72. In 2010 ...

, on loan for the entire

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

with a view to a permanent deal for approximately £1.1 million pounds. In July 2008, Le Mans decided to make the loan permanent, signing Le Tallec to a four-year contract. On 27 June 2010, following their top flight relegation, he reached an agreement with fellow league club

AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of Auxerre in Burgundy. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the first division ...

for a four-year deal, worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

3 million.

Atromitos

On 19 July 2015, Le Tallec signed with

Atromitos F.C. Atromitos Football Club (, ''PAE APS Atromitos Athinon''), also simply known as Atromitos (literally meaning "Fearless"), is a Greek professional football club based in Peristeri, Athens, that plays in the Super League. It was founded in 1923 ...

for two years. He cited the possibility of

playing Play is a range of Motivation#Incentive theories: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but m ...

in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

as the main reason for his signature.

Later years

On 3 July 2017, the 32-year-old Le Tallec joined

FC Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent the m ...

in the Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

. He returned to his country in the following

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

, moving to Ligue 2's

US Orléans Union Sportive Orléans Loiret Football (; commonly referred to as US Orléans or simply Orléans) is a French association football club based in Orléans. The club was founded in 1976 and currently play in Championnat National after being relega ...

. In September 2019, Le Tallec signed with

. He retired from professional football in May 2021 after a twenty-year career.

Personal life

Le Tallec's younger brother,

Damien Damien is a given name and less frequently a surname. The name is a variation of Damian (given name), Damian which comes from the Greek ''Damianos''. This form originates from the Greek derived from the Greek word δαμάζω (damazō), "(I) con ...

, is also a footballer. Another French youth international who was groomed at Le Havre, he started his professional career in Germany with

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Liverpool *

: 2004–05 Sochaux *

: 2006–07

International

France U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

: 2001

Individual

Silver Ball: 2001

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Tallec, Anthony 1984 births Living people People from Hennebont Sportspeople from Morbihan Footballers from Brittany French footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Le Havre AC players AS Saint-Étienne players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Le Mans FC players AJ Auxerre players Valenciennes FC players US Orléans players FC Annecy players Premier League players Liverpool F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Super League Greece players Atromitos F.C. players Liga I players FC Astra Giurgiu players France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Romania French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Greece French expatriate sportspeople in Romania