Florent Paul Pierre Christian Cuvelier (born 12 September 1992) is a Belgian 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

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 ...

. Cuvelier began his career with

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropoli ...

before joining the Academy of English side

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. Due to Portsmouth financial demise Cuvelier signed for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

in the summer of 2010. At Stoke he has spent time out on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

and Peterborough United. He joined Sheffield United in September 2013 for an undisclosed fee. He joined

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 ...

on loan in January 2014, and picked up a serious injury during the loan spell. After returning to fitness he was loaned out to Burton Albion in March 2015. He signed with

in June 2016 and played there for two seasons. He joined

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

for a brief spell in October 2018.

Career

Stoke City

Cuvelier started playing football for his local side

before moving to England to play for Portsmouth's youth team. He spent just a year on the south coast before joining

in July 2010. He rejected

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

offers from

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. Cuvelier spent the 2010–11 season with the academy before becoming a regular with the reserves. On 27 January 2012 Cuvelier joined League One side

on a month-long

. He made his professional debut four days later against Notts County. He scored his first professional goal against Oldham Athletic in a 2–1 defeat at Boundary Park. After impressing "Saddlers"

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

, Cuvelier extended his loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. He was nominated for the League One Player of the Month award for his performances in March 2012. He returned to Stoke after playing 18 matches for Walsall, scoring four goals. He signed a new two-year contract with Stoke in May 2012. Cuvelier returned to Walsall on a six-month loan in July 2012. He scored against his old club

on 15 September 2012 in a 2–1 win. In total he played 17 times in his second spell at the Bescot Stadium, scoring three goals. On 27 March 2013, Cuvelier joined Championship side Peterborough United on loan until the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. He played once for Peterborough before returning to Stoke where he appeared on the bench for the first time against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in the final match of the

season.

Sheffield United

On 2 September 2013, Cuvelier joined League One side Sheffield United on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He started six games at the start of the 2013–14 campaign under manager David Weir but lost his first team place after Nigel Clough took charge in October; Clough stated that Cuvelier was available to go out on loan during the January

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 win ...

. On 16 January 2014, he joined league rivals

on loan until the end of the season. Manager Micky Adams stated that "He's had very little football at Sheffield United so if there is one worry it is that maybe he might need four or five games to get himself up to full speed. Really we can't afford four or five games, we need him to hit the floor running if he possibly can." He made his debut at Vale Park three days later, but was forced to leave the pitch on a stretcher on 36 minutes after picking up a knee injury. He was later ruled out for the rest of the season after it was found that he had

torn Torn may refer to: Film and television * ''Torn'' (2009 film), an American film by Richard Johnson * ''Torn'' (2013 American film), directed Jeremiah Birnbaum * ''Torn'' (2013 Nigerian film), directed by Moses Inwang * ''Torn'' (TV series), a ...

his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL). He returned to full fitness in November 2014. He returned to first team action on 6 December as a late substitute in a 3–0

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 ...

victory over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

and provided the

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

for the third goal. He joined Burton Albion on loan for the remainder of the 2014–15 season on 6 March 2015. The next day he came off the bench to score the only goal of the game at

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. Impressed by manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and living just ten minutes drive from the

Pirelli Stadium Pirelli Stadium is an association football stadium on Princess Way in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was built in 2005 and is the current home of Burton Albion FC Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association foo ...

, Cuvelier stated that he would be interested in making his stay with Burton permanent. However, he was unable to recover from a hamstring injury picked up during his appearance against Hartlepool and played no further part of Burton's title winning season. He made just nine appearances across the 2015–16 campaign but was publicly praised by manager Nigel Adkins in November and February for his "first class attitude". He was released by new manager

Chris Wilder Christopher John Wilder (born 23 September 1967) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a right-back. He was most recently the manager of club Middlesbrough ...

in May 2016.

Walsall

In June 2016, Cuvelier returned to

, signing a one-year contract. He struggled with an ankle knock and ear infection in the first half of the 2016–17 season, before going on to struggle with a

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

injury. Despite these setbacks he signed a new one-year contract in March 2017, with manager Jon Whitney saying "he's the type of person you can build your team around." He was restricted to 23 appearances across the 2017–18 season due to the form of George Dobson. Speaking in April he stated that the appointment of new manager

Dean Keates Dean Scott Keates (born 30 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Wrexham. During his playing career, Keates played as a midfielder, making his professional debut for ...

had the players "buzzing" as Cuvelier also made a return to the starting eleven at the Bescot Stadium under the new manager. However, he was released by Walsall at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Morecambe

On 26 October 2018, Cuvelier joined

on a three-month contract and said that "the last couple of months have been difficult, they've been a roller coaster and I was delivering pizza just to get some money coming in". Manager

Jim Bentley James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He is currently manager of EFL League Two club Rochdale. Career Bentley, who debuted for Telford United in 1997 ...

had brought Cuvelier to the

Globe Arena Avicii Arena, originally known as Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; "the Globe"), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockho ...

after injuries to James Sinclair, Lamin Jagne, Alex Kenyon,

Andrew Tutte Andrew William Tutte (born 21 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for EFL League One club Bolton Wanderers, where he is also assistant coach of the club's B team. He has also played in the English Foo ...

Andrew Fleming Andrew Fleming is an American screenwriter, film director, television producer, television director, film producer, actor, and television writer. He directed and wrote or co-wrote the films '' Bad Dreams'', ''Threesome'', '' The Craft'', ''Dick ...

and Aaron Wildig. However, he featured in only one

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

game for the "Shrimps" before his contract expired on 25 January.

International career

Cuvelier has progressed through the youth teams of Belgium and was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Belgium U19 squad.

Style of play

Speaking in January 2014, ''Walsall Advertiser'' reporter Michael Beardmore described Cuvelier as "a creative, energetic attacking midfielder and... for such a young player he had a really mature head on his shoulders.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuvelier, Florent 1992 births Belgian men's footballers Living people People from Anderlecht Footballers from Brussels Men's association football midfielders Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Royal Excel Mouscron players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Portsmouth F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players English Football League players