Christian Negouai (born 20 January 1978) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played for as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and spent a spell on loan with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

. He also played in Belgium with

UR Namur Union Namur, formerly known as Union Royale Namur, is a Belgian football club based in Namur, capital of Namur Province. The team currently play in the National Division 1, the third tier of Belgian football. They are often nicknamed ''Les Merl ...

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

and

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

FC Brussels Racing White Daring Molenbeek Brussels Football Club, often simply referred to as RWDM Brussels, F.C. Brussels or simply Brussels, was a Belgian professional association football club based in the municipality of Molenbeek, in the Brussels, Bru ...

and with Aalesund in Norway.

Career

Negouai was bought for £1.5 million by

from

in 2001. He made six league appearances of which two were match starts and scored once against Rotherham. He also appeared for Manchester City in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

scoring against

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

Negouai proved to be a versatile success for Manchester City Reserves in the

Premier Reserve League The Premier Reserve League (officially known as The Barclays Premier Reserve League for sponsorship reasons) was the reserve team league for the top English football teams in the Premier League. The league was split into a northern and a southern ...

, scoring nine goals in 19 games after being converted to a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

from a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

although his time at Manchester City was hampered by a serious injury which required operations on both knees restricting his appearances. According to Duncan Alexander, as of January 2019 he remains the only player to be sent off on their one and only Premier League appearance. Upon joining

, Negouai scored the fastest goal in

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

history when he struck after just 11 seconds in a 2–0 win over

KVC Westerlo Koninklijke Voetbal Club Westerlo (; often simply called Westerlo) is a Belgian professional football club located in the municipality of Westerlo in the province of Antwerp. Since 1997–98, Westerlo has been mostly playing in the Belgian Pro ...

Personal life

Negouai is a practising Muslim.

References

External links

* *
Profile at Playerhistory.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Negouai, Christian 1978 births Living people Footballers from Fort-de-France Martiniquais men's footballers French men's footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Norway French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Norway Men's association football midfielders Royal Charleroi S.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Standard Liège players Aalesunds FK players R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Belgian Pro League players French people of Martiniquais descent