Alassane Alexandre Pléa (born 10 March 1993) is a French 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 plays as a striker or winger for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club Borussia Mönchengladbach and the France national team.

Club career

Lyon

Pléa made his senior debut for

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

on 7 October 2012 in an away Ligue 1 match against

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

, coming on as a substitute for Bafétimbi Gomis in the 90th minute; the match ended in a 1–1 draw.

Nice

Pléa left Lyon and joined Nice in the summer of 2014 in search of more game time in a deal worth £450,000. Under his first manager at Nice,

Claude Puel Claude Jacques Puel (; born 2 September 1961) is a French football manager and former player. He spent his entire playing career with Monaco, before becoming manager of the club, leading them to the league title in his first full season in char ...

, he was moved into the middle of the park and began to flourish first under Puel and then even more so under his successor

Lucien Favre Lucien Favre (; born 2 November 1957) is a Swiss professional football manager and former player who currently manages club Nice. Favre was a playmaker for various Swiss and French clubs, the longest for Servette, with whom he also won the cha ...

. On 20 October 2016, Pléa scored the only goal in the 1–0 away victory against Red Bull Salzburg in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League Group I match. That was Nice's first-ever UEFA club competition away win, having previously gone 15 UEFA club competition away matches without a win. 3 days later, he scored a hat-trick in a Ligue 1 match as leaders Nice won 4–2 at

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 ...

to maintain their advantage at the top of the table at four points. On 20 February 2017, Pléa underwent

arthroscopy Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the ...

of the right knee in

, which would likely put him out of action for five months. Eight days earlier, he had injured his right knee during the first half of a Ligue 1 match against Rennes and had to be substituted in the 43rd minute. As of 21 February 2017, he was Nice's top Ligue 1 scorer and was 5th in the Ligue 1 top scorers' chart of the 2016–17 season with 11 Ligue 1 goals. Playing alongside

Mario Balotelli Mario Balotelli Barwuah (; ''né'' Barwuah; born 12 August 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Swiss Super League club Sion. Balotelli started his professional football career in 2005 at Lumezzane, before ...

, he proved much more than a wingman by notching 27 goals and nine assists across the 2016–17 and 2017–18 Ligue 1 seasons, helping Nice finish as high as third in 2016–17.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

2018–2020

In July 2018, Pléa joined Borussia Mönchengladbach on a five-year contract. The transfer fee paid to Nice was reported as €25 million. He made his debut for the club against

BSC Hastedt Bremer Sportclub Hastedt e.V., commonly known as BSC Hastedt, is a Football in Germany, German association football club from Hastedt (Bremen), Hastedt, a subdistrict in the city of Bremen, Bremen (state), Bremen. It is a football club with three ...

in the first round of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

on 19 August 2018 and scored a hat-trick as Gladbach cruised to an 11–1 win. He scored his first

goal for the club on 1 September, securing a 1–1 draw away to

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...

. He finished his debut

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

as the club's top scorer with 12 league goals and 15 across all competitions. The following

, Pléa was praised for adding a creative edge to his attacking output, contributing eight goals and seven assists in his first 22

appearances. In the club's match against

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

on 1 February 2020, Pléa opened the scoring and then got his first two yellow cards of the season and was sent off as Gladbach fell to a 2–2 draw after leading 2–0. On 31 May, he scored his tenth league goal of the season and provided assists for both of

Marcus Thuram Marcus Lilian Thuram-Ulien (born 6 August 1997) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach and the France national team. He is the son of former French international ...

's goals in a 4–1 victory over

1. FC Union Berlin 1. Fußballclub Union Berlin e. V., commonly known as 1. FC Union Berlin () or Union Berlin, is a professional German football club in Köpenick, Berlin. The club's origins can be traced to 1906, when its predecessor FC Olympia Oberschöneweid ...

2020–21 season

Pléa scored his first goal of the season in a 3–1

victory over FC Köln on 3 October 2020. On 3 November, Pléa scored a hat-trick in a 6–0 rout of

Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk ( uk, Футбольний клуб «Шахтар» Донецьк , short nickname "miners") is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. In 2014, due to the War in Donbass, the club was f ...

away in the group stage of the Champions League. The result was the club's largest victory in competition history. He scored another two Champions League goals in a 2–3 group stage loss against

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 Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

on 1 December 2020; he was denied a hat-trick and a equalizing goal by the

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee. The assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) is a current or former referee appointed to assist the VAR in the video ope ...

in the final minutes of the match.

2021–22 season

On 13 August 2021, Pléa scored the first goal of the

campaign in a 1–1 draw against Bayern Munich.

International career

Born in France, Pléa is of Malian descent. He is a France youth international having represented his nation at under-18, under-19, under-20 and under-21 levels. He played with the under-19 team at the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. In November 2018, Pléa was called up into the senior team for the first time after the injury-enforced withdrawal of

Anthony Martial Anthony Jordan Martial (; born 5 December 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and the France national team. After playing youth football for Les Ulis, Martial began his ...

and

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 ...

for the games against

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 ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. He made his debut against the latter replacing

Olivier Giroud Olivier Jonathan Giroud (born 30 September 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the France national team. Regarded for his work-rate, strength, acrobatic strikes, shot power, consistent goal-s ...

in the 80th minute of a 1–0 home win.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Plea, Alassane 1993 births Living people Footballers from Lille French footballers France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers France international footballers Association football wingers Olympique Lyonnais players AJ Auxerre players OGC Nice players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Bundesliga players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in Germany French sportspeople of Malian descent Wasquehal Football players Black French sportspeople