Gnaly Albert Maxwel Cornet (born 27 September 1996) is an Ivorian 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 plays as a winger and full-back for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and the Ivory Coast national team. He has previously played in France for Metz II,

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, Lyon II and

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

and in England with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Club career

Metz

Cornet is a youth exponent from

. Aged 15 years and 11 months he made his debut for Metz in the third-tier of French football, the

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, t ...

in a game on 31 August 2012. Cornet was an 85th minute substitute for Alhassane Keita in Metz’ 6-3 win against Quevilly. He made his

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

debut on 2 August 2013 against

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

. He replaced

Yeni Ngbakoto Yeni Atito Ngbakoto (born 23 January 1992) is a professional footballer who plays for Danish Superliga club Vejle Boldklub. Born in France, he plays for the DR Congo national team internationally. He primarily plays as a winger, but is capable ...

after 79 minutes in a 1–0 home victory.

Lyon

On 16 January 2015, Cornet signed for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

. He made his league debut for the club against his former club Metz on 25 January 2015, replacing

Alexandre Lacazette Alexandre Lacazette (born 28 May 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for and is the captain of club Lyon. He plays mainly as a striker but has also been deployed as a second striker and wide forward. Lacazette b ...

after 34 minutes due to an injury, in an eventual 2–0 home win. Cornet scored his first goal for Lyon on 23 October 2015 as an 89th-minute substitute in a 3–0 home win over

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. In January 2020, Cornet was tested at the

left-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 ...

position by Lyon's coach

Rudi Garcia Rudi José Garcia (; ; born 20 February 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al Nassr. Early life Rudi Garcia's father, José, was a Spanish expatriate who played ...

following the injuries of Youssouf Koné and

Fernando Marçal Fernando Marçal de Oliveira (born 19 February 1989) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left wing-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Botafogo. Career After playing for Grêmio and Guaratinguetá in Brazil, Marçal ...

. After his good performances, he became the club's starting left-back for the rest of the season. On 15 August 2020, Cornet scored a goal against

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 ...

in the

2019–20 UEFA Champions League The 2019–20 UEFA Champions League was the 65th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 28th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Bayern Munich d ...

quarter-finals which Lyon won 3–1 and progressed to the semi-finals.

Burnley

On 29 August 2021, Cornet signed for

club

for a €15 million fee on a five-year deal. On 18 September, he made his Burnley debut as a substitute, replacing

Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson (born 27 October 1990) is an Icelandic professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Burnley and the Iceland national team. Jóhann began his senior career at Breiðablik for a single season before movin ...

in a 1–0 defeat against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Cornet scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...

against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on 25 September. Although the season culminated in relegation for Burnley, Cornet finished the season as the team’s top scorer with nine goals in 26 appearances.

West Ham United

On 5 August 2022, Cornet joined West Ham United, signing a five-year contract with a further one-year option, for an undisclosed fee from Burnley.

International career

Cornet was born in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, and emigrated with his family to northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the age of three. He was a youth international for France at every level but declared for the Ivory Coast national team on 5 April 2017. He made his senior debut for Ivory Coast in a 5–0 friendly loss to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 4 June 2017.

Personal life

Cornet has three children. Growing up, he idolised

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at ...

due to his Ivorian birth and subsequent move to France. Outside of football, he enjoys playing tennis.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first''

Honours

Lyon *

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: 2019–20

References

External links

Maxwel Cornet
at

West Ham United F.C. West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, h ...

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornet, Maxwell 1996 births Living people French sportspeople of Ivorian descent Ivorian emigrants to France Ivorian footballers French footballers Association football forwards Ivory Coast international footballers France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Championnat National players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Premier League players FC Metz players Olympique Lyonnais players Burnley F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Ivorian expatriate footballers Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England