Philippe Christanval Bio Send To Friend  

Fulham signed defender Christanval as a free agent in September 2005.

Christanval began his career with AS Monaco, winning the French title in 1999/2000 and enjoying Champions League experience.

Barcelona moved to sign the central defender in the summer of 2001 following his impressive spell with Monaco, but he struggled to impress the coaching staff at the Catalan club and from there his career was on the slide.

After moving to Marseille in the summer of 2003, he found his career blighted by injury.

Cottagers boss Chris Coleman said: 'Philippe is a player I have been looking at since I have been Fulham manager. I have always admired him. He was excellent at Barcelona but then had problems with injury and fell out of favour with the last few managers he has had.'

'His quality is there - you can see that. He makes the right decisions. For me the best defenders make the right decisions more often than not and he fits into that category.'

He spent two weeks on trial at Arsenal prior to joining Fulham.

Christanval, who was part of the France squad at the 2002 World Cup, made his debut as an 80th minute replacement for Zat Knight in a 2-1 loss at home to West Ham United.

He has failed to make a case for a first-team slot though, and the club are rumoured to be looking for a replacement under new manager Lawrie Sanchez.

He fulfills a decent role as a squad player and is ready to fill in, should one of the regulars get injured.