Louis Saha

He is a French football player. He plays as a striker.

Louis Laurent Saha (born 8 August 1978 in Paris, France) is a French international footballer of Guadaloupian descent who plays for the English club, Manchester United.
Saha made his English football debut on loan from FC Metz to Newcastle United in 1999, making 11 appearances and scoring one goal before returning to Metz.
He was transferred to Fulham for £2.1million in 2000. During a spell of nearly four years at the club, he scored 63 goals in total.
Saha was transferred to Manchester United for a fee of £12.8 million in 2004 after impressing Sir Alex Ferguson in Fulham's 2-1 loss to Manchester United and throughout the season having scored 15 goals up to that point. Fulham were reluctant to sell Saha but he pushed for a deal and it eventually went through on 23 January 2004.
Saha certainly looked an impressive signing with 7 goals in his 10 starting appearances of the 2003-04 season. He scored on his debut against Southampton and followed it up with a brace at Everton As is customary he scored against his old club Fulham - a fantastic breakway run and thundering finish. Louis also scored United's late equaliser at Highbury after coming on as sub.
He then got an international call-up for France national team, scoring on his debut versus Belgium and made the Euro 2004 squad for the tournament in Portugal. Unfortunately he was unable to play in the FA Cup final win over Millwall, being cup tied due to an earlier appearance with Fulham.
The 2004-05 season was a stop-start season marred by constant injury. Saha never really got going making only 11 starting appearances, 11 from the bench and scoring two goals. In September he picked up an knee injury playing for France against the Faroe Islands which cost him a month. Then in November he picked up the injury again, also playing for the national side and costing nearly two months out.
At the end of February 2005, the problem re-occurred, again leaving Saha out for a further two months. With serious doubts over fitness, his long term future at Old Trafford was highly uncertain. The Frenchman was again sidelined by a hamstring strain for the first three months of the new season and there was talk of him leaving in the January transfer window.
He finally returned in November 2005 and eased back into side as a sub and starring in League Cup matches. To the surprise of many, the French striker recaptured his initial good form and started banging in the goals. Six goals in the League Cup run saw him usurping Ruud van Nistelrooy as the first choice strike partner for Wayne Rooney.
Saha took van Nistelrooy's place in the Cardiff final against Wigan Athletic and this signaled an extraordinary turn-a-round in fortunes for the two players. It left the once omnipresent Dutchman consigned to the starting bench for the rest of the season with Saha Sir Alex's preferred choice up front.
Few would have thought come the end of the season it would be van Nistelrooy heading for the exit and not Louis Saha. In all, the Frenchman scored 15 goals in the 2005-06 season, enough to persuade Ferguson that he should be his first striker alongside Rooney for season 2006-07.
The new season in August 2006 saw his return from the World Cup in Germany where he had played for France making three appearances as substitute. Saha began in fine form scoring after 7 minutes against old club Fulham in the opener and went on to score regularly throughout the first half of the campaign.
This included two at home to Celtic, goals against Manchester City and Chelsea plus crackers away to Charlton and Benfica. He also took on penalty duties but missed a last minute kick at Celtic that would have given the Reds a 1-1 draw.
Saha signed an extension to his contract in December 2006, lasting to 2010, but from then on the old ghost of injury problems would haunt him again. Groin and hamstring injuries restricted appearances and meant he only scored one goal in the 2nd half of the season. He returned as substitute at Roma but then soon picked up an knee injury.
In the 2007-08 season, Saha returned from injury and came as a substitute against Sunderland, netting a late winner from a corner kick. On 23 September 2007, he won and scored a controversial penalty against Chelsea in the 89th minute, when the Blues came to Old Trafford after losing their inspirational manager José Mourinho during the week.

Man Utd
8 August 1978
Source: Wikipedia