Lilian Laslandes (; born 4 September 1971) 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Between 1997 and 1999 he was capped seven times and scored three goals for the France national team. He ended his professional footballing career at

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

in 2008.

Career

Early career

Laslandes was born in

Pauillac Pauillac (; oc, Paulhac) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Popul ...

, Gironde. He started his professional career at the rather late age of 20, starting at the club Saint-Seurin in which he scored 10 goals in his 33 appearances for the 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 o ...

took notice of his talent and acquired him following the season. He went on to make 125 appearances for the club, 20 of them in European competitions, scoring 47 goals including two in European cup ties. Laslandes then moved to

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The ...

on a free transfer on 1 August 1997 scoring 47 goals in 119 appearances. Foreign clubs were starting to take notice of the Frenchman and his consistent goalscoring ability, including some from England, Germany and Spain.

Sunderland

Laslandes arrived in June 2001, as

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

's replacement for the ageing

Niall Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and ...

. Much media hype surrounded the powerful Frenchman as the club paid £3.6m for his signature, but he struggled to adapt to the pace of the English Premiership and Sunderland's style of direct football. Laslandes' relationship with Reid had also deteriorated. After 12 appearances with no league goals and one in the League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday, Laslandes went on loan in January 2002 to German club 1. FC Köln, where he played five matches without scoring, which earned him the derogatory nickname "Las

Landesliga The Landesliga ( en, Football State League) is a tier of football in some states of the German football league system. In Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, Bremen, Lower Saxony and Hamburg, the Landesligas are set right below the Oberliga and therefore ...

". This was followed by a more successful loan to French first division club Bastia for the 2002–03 season, where he scored eight goals in 30 appearances. Laslandes returned briefly to Sunderland in the summer of 2003 for pre-season training with new manager Mick McCarthy. However, all parties agreed he had no future at Sunderland. Despite chairman Bob Murray's efforts to secure a transfer fee for the former French international, Sunderland's crippling debts, combined with Laslandes' Premiership wages, put Murray in a weak bargaining position, with the result that Laslandes was released from his contract and joined French first division club

at the start of the 2003–04 season.

Back at Bordeaux

At the beginning of the 2004–05 season, Bordeaux brought the striker back to the club where he had earlier found glory, but he never found his old form, scoring only nine goals in 53 appearances.

Back at Nice

On 5 January 2007, Laslandes signed for his former club Nice for an undisclosed fee. He was released in the summer of 2008. He then decided to retire from professional football and become a handball player for Girondins de Bordeaux instead.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Laslandes goal.''

Honours

Auxerre * Division 1: 1995–96 *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1995–96 Bordeaux *Division 1: 1998–99 *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

runner-up: 1997–98

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laslandes, Lilian 1971 births Living people Footballers from Gironde French men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers France men's international footballers Men's association football forwards FC Libourne players AJ Auxerre players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Sunderland A.F.C. players 1. FC Köln players SC Bastia players OGC Nice players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Bundesliga players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Germany