English Premier League - Player Profile: Gabriel Obertan
Gabriel Obertan is a French born footballer who used to play for Bordeaux in Ligue 1 of French national football. His most recognized position is as a left winger but he is also known to play as a second striker which in some countries is also called as a shadow striker.
Obertan was born in Patin, France and started his youth football career with his local town club Patin. However he quickly moved onto a bigger and a much recognized club Paris F.C in the year 2002. After only spending a year in Paris F.C, he shifted across town to Paris Saint Germain, Paris’s local rivals. Paris St.Germain are famous for stealing talent from their cross town rivals due to their appealing footballing facilities and the incredible amount of finances available at the club.
Obertan trained for a year further with the youth squad at Paris Saint Germain and quickly moved onwards to join the famous Clairefountaine Youth Football Academy for his future football development. At the academy he caught attention of several big French clubs like Monaco and Bordeaux but he opted for the later and started training with them.
In the year 2006, despite only having a year of playing experience with the club’s reserve squad, Obertan was offered a three year professional football contract at Bordeaux. The young French winger signed the contract and was promoted to the senior squad at the club for the upcoming 2006-2007 season.
He was given 26 as his shirt number and made his first professional appearance for Bordeaux against Valenciennes on 30th of September 2006. Obertan, who was just 17 years old at the time came on as a substitute and played fifteen minutes of the match. His first goal for Bordeaux came on 22nd of April 2007 against Saint Etienne. He scored during the dying minutes of the match to seal a two nil victory for his club side. In his first proper professional season at Bordeaux, Obertan made a total of seventeen appearances out of which sixteen were as a substitute.
Before the 2007-2008 season started, Obertan signed a contract extension at the club due to which his first team appearances increased to twenty six matches, in which he was only able to score two goals. The French youngster was still only making regular substitute appearances for his club rather than starting the matches.
Bordeaux competed for the title in the 2007-2008 season but Obertan’s future in the starting lineup looked bleak, therefore the French club’s manager at the time Laurent Blanc sent Gabriel on loan to F.C Lorient in order to give Obertan some first team opportunities. With Lorient, Gabby made 15 league appearances and scored only a single goal.
On 6th of July, 2009 Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United reached an agreement with Bordeaux for Obertan’s transfer to the English giants. The deal amounted to a transfer fee of around three million pounds with Obertan signing a four year contact at United. Obertan’s first team debut at United came in a league cup match against Barnsley and his first premier league appearance for the red devils came on 31st of October 2009, as he featured as a substitute with the score at 2-0.
The speedy French winger made his champions league debut for United against CSKA Moscow; he is currently a part of pre-season squad which is presently touring U.S.A, Canada and Mexico.
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