Jérémy Toulalan

Early career

Born in Nantes, Toulalan is a product of the local Nantes youth academy making his first-team debut during the 2001–02 season against Rennes in the annual Derby Breton, coming on as a substitute in a 3–1 victory. He later made an appearance with the senior team in a UEFA Cup match before being relegated back to the reserves. Over the next two seasons, Toulalan's participation with the first-team was heavily limited. It wasn't until the 2004–05 season where he established himself as a strong midfielder. During this season, Toulalan also scored his only goal for Nantes in a 2–0 win over Strasbourg. Due to his performances, he was named the UNFP Young Player of the Year and also elected to the league's Team of the Year. However, despite Toulalan's impressive performances, Nantes finished one spot short of relegation, in 17th. He proceeded to have another solid season in 2005–06 before opting to move elsewhere.

Olympique Lyonnais

Following the 2004–05 season, then three-time Ligue 1 champions Lyon were highly interested in Toulalan, offering as much as €10 million for the player's services, though they were rebuffed by Nantes. After the 2005–06 season, the departures of Mahamadou Diarra to Real Madrid and Jérémy Clément to Rangers saw Lyon increase their efforts to sign Toulalan, who they considered a perfect replacement for Diarra. After a week of negotiations, on 17 May 2006 Nantes agreed to a fee of €7 million, while Toulalan agreed to a…

Toulalan was a France international from 2000, when he was first called up to the France under-17 squad. He also played for the under-18 squad. Toulalan was later a member of the French squad that participated in the 2006 UEFA U-21 Championship, helping France reach the semi-finals before losing to the Netherlands. He was named in the Team of the Tournament as a left winger in order to accommodate central midfielders Ismaïl Aissati and France teammate Rio Mavuba, who were also in the selection. Toulalan received his first call-up to the senior side in 2006 for a Euro 2008 qualification match against the Faroe Islands. He started the match and played the full 90 minutes in France's 5–0 win. Due to his performances with Lyon and with the national team, he was named to the 23-man squad that participated in UEFA Euro 2008. Despite France not living up to expectations, Toulalan was one of a few French players who started all three group stage matches. Toulalan later became a regular selection for the national team, supplanting Rio Mavuba, Alou Diarra, and Lassana Diarra as the eventual successor to Claude Makélélé. Then manager Raymond Domenech said on many occasions that he believed Toulalan was the ideal replacement for Patrick Vieira when he was to retire from the national side. Toulalan was called up by Domenech as part of his 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. However, France again failed to live up to its expectations and were again eliminated in the group…

Club

International

Lyon

Ligue 1: 2006–07, 2007–08 Coupe de France: 2007–08 Trophée des Champions: 2006, 2007 Individual

UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2004–05 UNFP Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2007–08