Emmanuel Petit

Emmanuel Laurent Petit born 22 September 1970 is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder at club level for Barcelona Monaco Arsenal and Chelsea He represented France at international level in two FIFA World Cups and two UEFA European Championships he scored the third goal in Frances 30 victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final and was also a member of the French squad that won UEFA Euro 2000 Petit was born in Dieppe SeineMaritime Petit began his career at minor club ES ArqueslaBataille before being signed by Arsène Wengers Monaco side at the age of 18 He made his debut soon after and played in the 1989 Coupe de France final Petit became a regular at Monaco playing as a leftsided or central midfielder In 1991 he won the Coupe de France with Monaco and also played in the 1992 European Cup Winners Cup final which Monaco lost to Werder Bremen In 199697 his final season at Monaco he captained his side to the Ligue 1 title Petit joined Arsenal in June 1997 for 25 million where he was reunited with his former Monaco manager Arsène Wenger Wenger switched Petit from central midfielder to defensive midfielder and partnered him with fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira The French duo formed a midfield partnership which brought instant success as Petit won the double with Arsenal in his very first season clinching both the Premier League title and the FA Cup Altogether in the three seasons in his Arsenal career Petit made 118 appearances and scored 11 goals including a stunning drive from outside the area against Derby County which was also the winning goal during the 199798 season Petit moved to Barcelona together with Arsenal teammate Marc Overmars in the summer of 2000 for 7 million 14 million At Barcelona he was moved back into defence and suffered a rash of niggling injuries As a result he failed to settle and could not hold down a regular place In his biography published in 2008 the midfielder gave his time at Barcelona a special chapter in which he exposed that coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer did not even know what position he played when he joined the team His only goal for Barcelona came on 13 May 2001 at home to Rayo Vallecano in a 51 win Source Article Emmanuel Petit from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30