Armand Erwan Dsihounou Gnanduillet (born 13 February 1992) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

er who plays as a forward for

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

club

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

. Both of Gnanduillet parents originate from the Ivory Coast. Armand Gnanduillet started playing football at CS Lanrelas in Brittany. He will join then the French clubs

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

and

Poissy Poissy () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Pisciacais'' in French. Poissy is one ...

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

club Heart of Midlothian, and was an Ivory Coast Under-20 international. He was named in the Ivory Coast squad for the 2011 CAF African Under-23 Championships.

Club career

France

His first steps on a football field were made at the CS Lanrelas in Brittany. Gnanduillet then joined

, where he failed to break into the first team but played 24 times for the reserves, scoring three goals. He moved from Le Havre to AS Poissy in 2012, where he went on to score five times in 11 games.,

Chesterfield

Gnanduillet joined Chesterfield on 21 January 2013. He was handed a contract until the end of the season by Chesterfield boss

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He was also called "Cookie" by his friends on the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was raised in Hammersmith and atte ...

after a trial. He scored 39 minutes into his first competitive appearance for a Chesterfield XI against Belper Town in the

Derbyshire Senior Cup The Derbyshire County FA Senior Cup is a local county football cup for teams based in the county of Derbyshire. Founded in 1883-1884, the first competition was won by Staveley, who beat Derby Midland 2-1 in the final. 1885-1886 saw Heeley from Y ...

. He then went on to score on his third league appearance for ''the Spireites'', coming on as a half-time substitute for Mark Randall against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

. Gnanduillet stroked a

Danny Whitaker Daniel Phillip Whitaker (born 14 November 1980) is an English former professional football player and manager who was recently the player-manager of club Macclesfield. A former Manchester United F.C., Manchester United Manchester United F.C. ...

cross into the top corner to score his first goal in English football having played just 20 minutes' game time in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

. He was handed his first start for the first team on 2 March 2013, at Dagenham & Redbridge. Gnanduillet was given a two-year contract extension at the end of the 2012–13 season by Paul Cook. He scored the winning goal in the 96th minute of a 2–1 win against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

, converting Gary Roberts' corner with a powerful header, ending Southend's unbeaten start to the season. During a Skybet League 2 match against Burton Albion, Gnanduillet became dazed after a head collision with a Burton defender. However, he then went on to claim Chesterfield's Man of the Match award. He later went on to score the first of Chesterfield's two goals against York City after converting a penalty won by Gary Roberts. On 30 August 2014, following a match at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

, it was reported that Gnanduillet had suffered alleged racist abuse after reacting to something shouted at him by a Port Vale fan as the teams left the pitch. Chesterfield, Port Vale and Staffordshire Police launched an investigation into the incident. On 20 October 2014, Gnanduillet joined League Two side

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

on a one-month loan, and in March 2015 he signed on loan for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

until the end of the season. He made four substitute appearances for Oxford before being recalled early by his parent club.

Leyton Orient

On 22 January 2016, Gnanduillet joined

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

for an undisclosed fee.

Blackpool

On 19 August 2016, Gnanduillet joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

on a two-year contract. After two years, he joined South African side Baroka before returning to Blackpool two months later. He was the club's top goalscorer, with fourteen in all competitions, in 2018–19. He was released in June 2020.

Altay

On 12 August 2020, Gnanduillet signed for Turkish second division side Altay on a one-year deal. On 29 December 2020, after just 4 months at the club, Gnanduillet left Atlay by mutual consent. He had scored 2 goals in 15 appearances during his short spell at the Turkish club.

Heart of Midlothian

Gnanduillet joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

club Heart of Midlothian on an 18-month deal on 25 January 2021. He scored twice on his debut away to Raith Rovers after coming on as a 60th minute substitute. His first season in Scotland ended in success as Hearts won promotion back to the

Le Mans

On 21 January 2022, Gnanduillet left Hearts after 12 months and signed a permanent deal with

club

International career

Gnanduillet has previously represented Ivory Coast at under-20 international level.

Career statistics

Honours

Blackpool *

EFL League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Heart of Midlothian *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual * PFA League One Team of the Year: 2019–20

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gnanduillet, Armand 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Angers Citizens of Ivory Coast through descent Ivorian footballers Ivory Coast under-20 international footballers French footballers French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Association football forwards Le Havre AC players AS Poissy players Chesterfield F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Baroka F.C. players Altay S.K. footballers Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Le Mans FC players English Football League players TFF First League players Scottish Professional Football League players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Scotland Footballers from Pays de la Loire