Bruno Olivier Cheyrou (born 10 May 1978) 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

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 ...

Club career

Cheyrou was born in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud a ...

, Hauts-de-Seine. After success with Lille OSC, where he scored against Manchester United 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 ...

, Cheyrou attracted interest from a number of clubs around Europe, most notably

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 ...

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 ...

had the player scouted for several months by scout David Murray before deciding to sign him in the summer of 2002 for £4.5 million (€6.5m). On signing him, Houllier dubbed Cheyrou the "new

Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

". Over time this tag proved to be a burden as he failed to live up to expectations. His first Liverpool goal came against Spartak Moscow in the Champions League, however this would be his only goal of the 2002–03 season. Despite being left out of Liverpool's squad for the victorious

2003 Football League Cup Final The 2003 Football League Cup Final was a association football, football match played between Liverpool F.C., Liverpool and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United on 2 March 2003 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of th ...

he contributed in the earlier rounds, and was on the pitch as Liverpool secured their place in the final by beating

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. A spell of four goals in five games over the Christmas period of the 2003–04 season at one time suggested his Liverpool career may make a turn for the better. Arguably, the highlight of Cheyrou's Liverpool career was the winning goal he scored in the 33rd minute at

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

during the 2003–04 season. He only scored once more in the league for Liverpool, in the 1–1 draw at

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

in January 2004. Three days later Cheyrou had another memorable game for Liverpool in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

where he scored twice to help Liverpool beat

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

2–1. At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, new manager

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- ...

deemed Cheyrou surplus to requirements and immediately loaned him to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

in a season-long deal. He played 20 times for the club, scoring one goal. In the 2005–06 season, he was once again sent on a season-long loan, this time to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, with a view to a permanent move; however, this failed to materialise. Ahead of the following season, he made a permanent move to Rennes and played there for three and a half seasons, scoring some goals. In January 2010

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

signed the midfielder from

Stade Rennes Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional football club based in Rennes, Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football, and pl ...

. After six months with Anorthosis, the 32-year-old midfielder returned to France and signed a two-year contract for

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as a ...

International career

Cheyrou has been capped three times by the France national team between 2002 and 2004, making his senior international debut on 21 August 2002 in a 1–1 draw against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Personal life

Bruno has a younger brother,

Benoît Cheyrou Benoît Benjamin Cheyrou (born 3 May 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, and often acted as a deep-lying playmaker for the attack. He is the assistant manager of French amateur club La Salesienne d ...

, who played for

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

. Cheyrou and his wife Constance have a son born 2007 in France.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Lille * Division 2: 1999–2000 Liverpool * FA Community Shield runner-up: 2002

References

External links

LFChistory.net player profilePhotos and stats
at sporting-heroes.net * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyrou, Bruno 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Suresnes French footballers France international footballers Lille OSC players Liverpool F.C. players Olympique de Marseille players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Stade Rennais F.C. players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players FC Nantes players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Cypriot First Division players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Cyprus French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Association football midfielders Footballers from Hauts-de-Seine