Frédéric Déhu

Frédéric Déhu

Personal information
Date of birth	24 October 1972
Place of birth	Villeparisis, France
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1991–1999	Lens	229	(15)
1999–2000	Barcelona	11	(0)
2000–2004	Paris Saint-Germain	118	(6)
2004–2006	Marseille	57	(1)
2006–2007	Levante	12	(1)
Total		427	(23)
National team
1998–2000	France	5	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Frédéric Déhu (born 24 October 1972) is a French retired footballer who played as a central defender.

Club career

Born in Villeparisis, Seine-et-Marne, Déhu made his professional debuts with RC Lens, becoming an undisputed starter from his third season onwards. In 1996–97 he scored a career-best five goals, but the club could only rank 13th; in the following year, he was an essential defensive unit as his team won its first Ligue 1 title.

In the 1999 summer, after nearly 300 official appearances for Lens, Déhu signed with La Liga giants FC Barcelona, but only played in 11 matches for the Louis van Gaal-led side, being released by the Catalans at the end of the campaign and netting his only goal to help defeat AIK Fotboll 5–0 in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.^[1] He then returned to his country and joined Paris Saint-Germain F.C. for about €6 million, remaining with the capital club for four years and winning the domestic cup in his final one.

At nearly 32, Déhu moved to Olympique de Marseille and, after two years, he returned to Spain, signing with lowly Levante UD. As in his previous abroad adventure he was sparingly used, also being sent off twice in home matches against Real Madrid (1–4 loss) and Recreativo de Huelva (2–1 win), as the Valencian Community team narrowly avoided top flight relegation.

Amidst accusations of poor organization in the structure of his last club, Déhu retired from the game in March 2008 aged almost 36, after spending the first months of the new campaign without a team.^[2]

International career

In two years, Déhu played five matches for the French national team. His debut was on 19 August 1998 with Austria, in a 2–2 friendly draw played in Vienna.

Honours

Lens

• Ligue 1: 1997–98
• Coupe de la Ligue: 1998–99

Paris SG

• Coupe de France: 2003–04

References

1. "Brilliant Barca savage Solna". BBC Sport. 27 October 1999. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
2. Frédéric Déhu arrête sa carrière (Frédéric Déhu ends career); L'Équipe, 26 March 2008 (French)

External links

• L'Équipe stats (French)
• Frédéric Déhu – French League Stats at LFP.fr (French)
• Racing Lens archives (French)
• Frédéric Déhu profile at BDFutbol
• Frédéric Déhu at National-Football-Teams.com
• France stats at Eu-Football