Laurent Jean Charvet (born 8 May 1973) is a French former

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 as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Charvet played for

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

having come through their youth academy in 1991, he went on to play 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 Chelsea,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, and

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 ...

before finishing his career back in France with

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

and

RC Grasse Racing Club Pays de Grasse is a French association football club founded in 1959. Until 2022 they were known as Racing Club de Grasse. They are based in the town of Grasse and their home stadium is the Stade Jean Girard. Since the 2017–18 season ...

Early life

Charvet was born in

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

, Hérault.

Club career

Charvet began his career at

in 1994. Between then and 1997 he appeared 99 times for the club and scored 19 goals. In the 1997–98 season he was loaned out to the English

team Chelsea for whom he appeared 11 times, scoring two goals in defeats to

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

and

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. He was an unused substitute in Chelsea's

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

final win over

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. In 1998 he was sold to

for £750,000. Between that time and the year 2000 he played 40 times for the team and scored 1 goal against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. Whilst at Newcastle he played in the 1999 FA Cup Final. Charvet signed a four-year contract with

at the start of the 2000–01 season following a £1 million transfer from Newcastle, joining as a replacement for out of form Richard Edghill. He, however, was unable to be the right back many City fans had hoped for and lost his place in the team. The following season,

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Nicknamed "King Kev" or "Mighty Mouse", Keegan was recognised for his dribbling ability, as well as his finishing and presence in the air, and is regard ...

replaced

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the E ...

as manager and Charvet was given his chance again. But in the 3-5-2 formation that Keegan adopted, Shaun Wright-Phillips was preferred to the Frenchman in the right wing-back position as was Edghill. Charvet played for City 23 times, scoring once. He left the club by mutual consent in October 2002 having made just three appearances for the club under Keegan. Having trained with

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

for a while after leaving City, Charvet joined French side

in January 2003. Following his retirement from professional football at the end of the 2002–03 season, Charvet joined French amateur side

in 2008 at the age of 35.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charvet, Lauren 1973 births Living people Footballers from Béziers Men's association football defenders French men's footballers AS Cannes players Chelsea F.C. players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Manchester City F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Premier League players Ligue 1 players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England