Desmond N'Ze Kouassi (born 17 April 1989) known as Desmond N'Ze or just Desmond in Japan, is a 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 le ...

who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Born in Ghana, he is a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

Italian citizen.

Career

Hellas Verona

N'Ze made his debut for Hellas Verona on 18 November 2006, coming on as a 27th-minute substitute in his side's 3–0 loss to Rimini. ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' gave a 6 out of 10 score for his debut.

Inter Milan

After just one appearance for Hellas Verona first team, N'Ze signed for the reserve team of

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

in January 2008 on an 18-month contract.

Avellino

After failing to make any appearances for the

first team, Desmond signed for

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

in co-ownership deal. His debut was on 20 September 2008, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute is his side's 2–1 loss to AlbinoLeffe. N'Ze was an unused bench in

2008–09 Coppa Italia The 2008–09 Coppa Italia was the 62nd season of the tournament. The competition started on 9 August 2008 and ended on 13 May 2009. The radically different format used in the 2007–08 Coppa was abandoned, with the new format more closely resem ...

on 20 August; the club was eliminated by Reggiana. N'Ze made a total of ten appearances for the side in Serie B.Lega Serie B profile
In June 2009 Inter gave up the remain 50% registration rights to Avellino. However Avellino bankrupted at the start of season.

Valle del Giovenco

In January 2010, Desmond joined Valle del Giovenco. He made his debut on 17 January 2010, drawing 0–0 to Portosummaga; ''La Gazzetta'' rated his debut 7 out of 10 scores. However, he only played 5 more times for VdG. The team also bankrupted at the start of next season.

Milazzo

In March 2011 N'Ze joined

Milazzo Milazzo ( Sicilian: ''Milazzu''; la, Mylae; ) is a town (''comune'') in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, southern Italy; it is the largest commune in the Metropolitan City after Messina and Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto. The town has a p ...

. He made his debut on 27 March 2011 against

Vibonese Unione Sportiva Vibonese Calcio is an Italian association football club located in Vibo Valentia, Calabria. It currently plays in Serie D. History Vibonese was founded in 1928. The club in the season 2011–12 was relegated from Lega Pro Se ...

. In the next season N'Ze played all 4 games in 2011–12 Coppa Italia Lega Pro and 19 games in

2011–12 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione The 2011–12 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione season was the thirty-fourth football league season of Italian Lega Pro Seconda Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the fourth since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into t ...

. Once again Milazzo bankrupted in July 2012.

Fujieda MYCFC

In August 2012, Desmond joined

Japan Football League The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership am ...

side Fujieda MYFC. He made his debut on 16 September 2012, playing the whole ninety minutes as Fujieda MYFC drew 0–0 with

Zweigen Kanazawa Zweigen Kanazawa (ツエーゲン金沢, ''Tsuēgen Kanazawa'') is a Japanese football club based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, Japan's 2nd tier of professional league football. History The club was form ...

. On 20 January 2014, he left the club.

FC Gifu

In January 2013, Desmond joined

FC Gifu Football Club Gifu, abbreviated as is a Japanese football club based in Gifu, Japan. They play in the J3 League, the third tier of Japanese professional football. They also run a reserve team that play in the Tōkai Adult League Division 2. Hi ...

on loan to the end of 2013. He made his debut on 3 March 2013 against Yokohama FC, losing the game 2–0. On 31 March 2013, he was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in Gifu's 3–0 loss to Tokyo Verdy. He scored his first goal for the club on 17 April 2013, scoring in a 3–2 loss against

Kataller Toyama is a football club in Japan that was formed from the merger of the ALO's Hokuriku and YKK AP SC. The club currently plays in J3 League. History The idea of a merged club had been discussed by the Toyama Prefectural Football Association as e ...

Return to Fujieda MYFC

On 1 May 2014, Fujieda MYFC announced that they had re-signed Desmond to play in their inaugural season in the

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The third-tier nationwide league is a relatively recent development in Japanese football with a first attempt ...

. On 4 August 2014, it was announced that Desmond had left the club.

Personal life

He also holds Italian nationality. His brother Marcus N'Ze is also a professional footballer. In 2014, N'Ze began working for his friend Mario Balotelli as a personal assistant. He was notably his personal chauffeur at

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 popul ...

, being frequently spotted sleeping in the passenger seat of Balotelli's

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Melwood Melwood, in West Derby, Liverpool, was Liverpool Football Club's training ground from the 1950s until November 2020. It was not attached to The Liverpool F.C. Academy, which is at Kirkby. Melwood was bought by affordable housing development co ...

's car park, waiting for his friend to finish training.

Career statistics

References

External links

AIC profile (data by football.it)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:N'ze, Desmond Italian men's footballers Hellas Verona FC players Inter Milan players US Avellino 1912 players SSD 1937 Milazzo players Fujieda MYFC players FC Gifu players Serie B players J2 League players J3 League players Japan Football League players Men's association football central defenders Ghanaian emigrants to Italy Naturalised citizens of Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Italian expatriates in Japan 1989 births Living people Footballers from Sekondi-Takoradi