Abdoulaye Méïté

Abdoulaye Méïté (born 6 October 1980 in Paris) is a French born Ivorian footballer who plays for Dijon FCO. He represents Côte d'Ivoire internationally and has been awarded 48 caps.

Career

Before joining West Brom, Méïté spent two years with Bolton Wanderers after joining them in July 2006 from Olympique de Marseille. He had been with Marseille since 2001 and had made 172 League appearances, as well as many in European competition – including one against Bolton in January 2006. Whilst at Marseille he started in the 2004 UEFA Cup Final.

Méïté scored two goals for Bolton: one in the 3–1 FA Cup defeat to Arsenal on Wednesday, 14 February 2007,^[2] and the other in a 1–1 draw against ZFK Rabotnicki Kometal of Macedonia, in the UEFA Cup, on 20 September the same year.^[3]

In March 2008 he was involved in controversy during Bolton's defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Manager Gary Megson blamed him for two goals that Bolton had conceded in the first half of the game (both scored by Cristiano Ronaldo), and Méïté refused to come out for the second half.^[4] He claimed he was unfit to carry on, but the Bolton medical staff confirmed that there was no injury.^[4]

Megson subsequently forced Méïté to train with the reserves, and the player was widely expected to move on from the Reebok Stadium.^[4] He never played for Bolton again; he was not selected for any of the remaining eight Premier League fixtures in the 2007–08 season. He had previously missed only twelve League games in the two years he had been at Bolton, and five of these were while he was representing Cote d'Ivoire in the African Nations Cup, in January and February 2008.

When Bolton's squad numbers for the 2008–09 season were announced, Méïté had not signed for any other club and he was assigned the number 10 shirt for Bolton. This caused further controversy as the number 10 shirt had once been worn by John McGinlay, a particular favourite of many Bolton fans in the 1990s. After Méïté's behaviour at Old Trafford, many found this a hilarious decision.^[5]

As the 2008–09 season approached, Méïté was linked with Premier League newcomers West Bromwich Albion and Hull City, both of which had bids accepted by Bolton. Méïté chose to sign for West Brom on 10 August 2008 for an initial fee of £2 million, which could rise to £2.5 million depending on appearances. The contract covers three years, with a fourth year in the club's favour.^[6] Meïté made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Arsenal in the opening game of the 2008–09 Premier League season.^[7]

His first season at West Brom was interrupted by a series of injuries [1], with four separate spells out of the side restricting him to 18 appearances. For the first ten Championship games of the 2009–10 season Shelton Martis was preferred by the Baggies' new first team coach, Roberto Di Matteo, and there was speculation that Méïté might be allowed to leave the club [2]. But following a disappointing run of results, culminating in a catastrophic defensive display against Barnsley (when Martis scored an own goal)[3] Méïté returned to the side against Preston North End on 3 October [4], and Albion conceded just four goals in the next eight games.[5] Following a 4–0 win away to Sheffield Wednesday at the end of November, Di Matteo picked out Méïté and his central defensive partner Jonas Olsson for praise: "Jonas leads the back four most of the time but Abou is also doing a great job."[6]

Having played 20 games in the Championship promotion season, mostly alongside Jonas Olsson in the centre of defence, Méïté was left out in the cold by Roberto Di Matteo in the 2010-11 Premier League campaign, playing only in the League Cup. Since the sacking of Di Matteo in early 2011, due to a poor sequence of results, Méïté has seen a revival under the tutelage of new Head Coach Roy Hodgson.

To the surprise of many Albion fans, Méïté was brought back to partner Olsson against Stoke City, which added to the 3-3 draw vs West Ham under caretaker manager Michael Appleton, has resulted in a 7 game unbeaten run, including a 2-1 home win over Liverpool.

The organizational skills brought in by Hodgson has galvanized the Albion defensive unit, with Méïté bringing a composed, positional sense to the controlled aggression of Olsson.

On 25 May 2011, Méïté was released by West Bromwich Albion. [7]

On 30 June 2011, Méïté was signed by Ligue 1 newcomers Dijon FCO. ^[8]

Honours

• 2004 UEFA Cup Finalist (Olympique de Marseille)
• 2005 Intertoto Cup Winner (Olympique de Marseille)
• 2006 French Cup Finalist (Olympique de Marseille)

References

External links

• Abdoulaye Méïté career stats at Soccerbase
• (French) Marseille bio
• Abdoulaye Meite profile on Premier League
• Abdoulaye Meite profile on BBC Sport

v t e Côte d'Ivoire squad – 2006 Africa Cup of Nations Runners-up 1 Tizié 2 Akalé 3 Boka 4 Touré 5 Zokora 6 Kouassi 7 Faé 8 Kalou 9 Arouna Koné 10 Yapi 11 Drogba 12 Méïté 13 Zoro 14 Koné 15 Dindane 16 Gnanhouan 17 Domoraud 18 Keïta 19 Touré Yaya 20 Demel 21 Eboué 22 Romaric 23 Barry Coach: Michel

v t e Côte d'Ivoire squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Tizié 2 Akalé 3 Boka 4 Touré 5 Zokora 6 Kouassi 7 Faé 8 Kalou 9 Arouna Koné 10 Yapi 11 Drogba (c) 12 Méïté 13 Zoro 14 Koné 15 Dindane 16 Gnanhouan 17 Domoraud 18 Keïta 19 Touré Yaya 20 Demel 21 Eboué 22 Romaric 23 Barry Coach: Michel

v t e Côte d'Ivoire squad – 2008 Africa Cup of Nations Fourth Place 1 Barry 2 Djakpa 3 Boka 4 Touré 5 Zokora 6 Gohouri 7 Faé 8 Kalou 9 Arouna Koné 10 Gervinho 11 Drogba 12 Méïté 13 Romaric 14 Koné 15 Dindane 16 Loboué 17 Tiéné 18 Keïta 19 Touré Yaya 20 Sanogo 21 Eboué 22 Zoro 23 Koné Coach: Gili

v t e Côte d'Ivoire squad – 2010 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Barry 2 Angoua 3 Boka 4 K. Touré 5 Zokora 6 Y. Touré 7 Faé 8 Kalou 9 Tioté 10 Gervinho 11 Drogba 12 Méïté 13 Gosso 14 B. Koné 15 Dindane 16 Zogbo 17 Yapi 18 Keïta 19 E. Koné 20 Demel 21 Eboué 22 Bamba 23 Angban Coach: Halilhodžić