Mickaël Landreau

Nantes

Landreau graduated from the Nantes Atlantique "Centre of Excellence" in La Jonelière. His first professional match for Nantes was a 0–0 draw against Bastia on 2 October 1996 and saved the penalty from Ľubomír Moravčík Since 1996, he remained a mainstay in the Nantes starting line-up, and consistently produced excellent performances. At age 19, Landreau became captain. He was selected to represent the France youth national team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

In the next ten years, he hardly missed a mandatory meeting, completed in July 2005 his 300th Point game and was an important support for his team during their successes around the turn of the millennium. Having won two consecutive Coupe de France trophies in 1999 and 2000 (captained in the 2000 final), Nantes were crowned 2001 Ligue 1 champions for the first time since 1995. In the same when Nantes won the Ligue 1, Landreau signed a new contract, keeping him until 2006. His good performance at Nantes led Landreau drew strong interest from clubs like Barcelona, Monaco, Roma, Juventus, Marseille, Manchester United and Celtic.

On 11 October 2003, Landreau had an operation on his articular disk which was a serious injury in his football career. On 22 November 2003, Landreau made his return in a 3–1 win over his (first match in his career) against Bastia. In the semi-final of the 2004 French Cup, Landreau produced several saves, but to no avail as the team could not score and were eliminated from the competition. In the final of Coupe de la Ligue against Sochaux-Montbéliard, the match was 1–1 and played until the penalty shootout. Landreau scored the seventh penalty, only to be saved by Teddy Richert. Nantes lose the game when Pascal Delhommeau miss, allowing Benoît Pedretti to score the winning penalty. After the match, Landreau says he has regret nothing on missing the penalty.

At the end of the 2005–06 Ligue 1 season, Landreau's contract with Nantes was set to expire but Nantes was set to offer Landreau a new contract along with Mauro Cetto and Jérémy Toulalan. He gave a press conference and announced that after thirteen years, he would leave FC Nantes to meet new challenges in a more important team. He announced his intention to leave his first club just before the end of the 2005–2006 season. As his contract expired, Arsenal and A.C. Milan were among interested signing him. During his last match at Stade de la Beaujoire on 6 May 2006, he received a tribute from the fans who saluted his dedication and loyalty to the club for thirteen years. The season following his departure, Nantes was relegated to Ligue 2 for the first time since 1963.

Paris Saint-Germain

He then joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer, signing a four-years contract on 15 May 2006. After his move to Paris, Landreau says moving to Paris could earned him a call up from France.

At Paris Saint-Germain, Landreau established himself as a first choice goalkeeper beating Jérôme Alonzo and youngster Nicolas Cousin He also became a fan favorite. On 5 August 2006, Landreau made his debut for PSG in a 3–2 loss against Lorient. In both 2006/7, 2007/8 and 2008/9, Landreau played all 38 appearance in his PSG Career. At his last appearance at PSG in a match against AS Monaco which resulted in a 0–0 draw and his last clean sheet, he thanked the fans for his time at the club and they passed him with a rare standing ovation. After a 2007/8 season ended, Landreau had been linked with a move away from the club after Gregory Coupet remained keen to play abroad at PSG, who could replaced him as a first choice goalkeeper. However, Charles Villeneuve said he had not confirmed Landreau's place in the squad for next season and had hinted at an interest in Coupet but Sebastien Bazin (the chairman of PSG's majority shareholders Colony Capital) insisted Landreau will not be leaving the club. Reports claims Landreau could be set to move to Real Madrid in order to become Iker Casillas’ understudy. Eventually, Coupet eventually move to Paris Saint Germain putting Landreau future in doubt.

Lille

After the 2009-10 season, Lille made a €2 million (£1.7 million) offer for Landreau who wanted him to replace the veteran goalkeeper Grégory Malicki (who left Lille to join Dijon on a free transfer and was the first choice goalkeeper for Lille in the 2008-09 season.) The move was agreed and was completed. Five days after signing for Lille, he suffered a massive blow by damaging cruciate ligaments during a training session which kept him out of action for around six months. During his absence due to injury, Ludovic Butelle get more playing time and played about 10 matches until Landreau returned and he later became the first choice-goalkeeper ever since. On 22 October 2009, Landreau was back on the bench in Europa League during the match against Genoa (3–0) and made his league debut for Lille in a 2–0 win over Grenoble on 30 October 2009.

In 2010-11, Landreau was involved the Lille squad that won the Ligue 1 for the third time in club history and the first time since 1954. He made history by becoming the first player ever to compete in the Trophée des champions with three different clubs.

On 7 November 2012 he allowed six goals from Bayern Munich during a Champions League match. In December 2012 as a remaining first choice goalkeeper, Landreau left Lille by mutual consent after a strained relationship with general manager Frederic Paquet. In the press conference, Landreau says "The most important thing is to blossom on the pitch. I could not anymore. And a year and a half is a long way to go when you have hard days." and left the club both sportingly and psychologically.

SC Bastia

On 23 December 2012, Landreau signed a six-months contract with the Corsican club SC Bastia. Upon moving to SC Bastia, Landreau revealed that he had turned down a move to Italian side Inter Milan. On 4 Dec 2013, Landreau broke the record for the most appearances by any player in Ligue 1 or Division 1 - the top flight in French football - when he started in the AC Ajaccio-SC Bastia match. That match was Landreau's 603rd Ligue 1 match. Three days earlier, he had equalled the previous record of 602 Ligue 1 or Division 1 matches held by former AS Monaco goalkeeper Jean-Luc Ettori when he appeared in the SC Bastia-Evian TG match.

International career

Landreau was called up to the French squad for the 2006 World Cup by French national team manager Raymond Domenech. He wore the number 1 shirt for France at the tournament, despite being third-choice keeper behind Fabien Barthez and Grégory Coupet. Landreau later became the second choice behind Coupet even though Barthez, who had retired after the World Cup, returned to professional football in December 2006. Landreau was surprisingly not named to the French squad for Euro 2008, with Steve Mandanda and Sébastien Frey being named ahead of him. Steve Mandanda and then Hugo Lloris have since emerged as the country's first-choice goalkeepers. Landreau was recalled to the French national team in 2012 by newly appointed manager Didier Deschamps for France's upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Finland on 7 September and Belarus on 11 September, thus replacing Cedric Carrasso as France's number 3 goalkeeper, including for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Landreau retired from both international and club soccer following the World Cup.

Club

Club

Nantes

Paris Saint-Germain

Lille

Country