Mikael Silvestre - Biography
Mikael Silvestre was born in Chambray-Les-Tours, 1977. Most boys in France were keen footballers, they were all wanting to emulate their hero’s success shown in tournaments world wide. When Mikael was just 7, France had won Euro 1984, which increased the popularity of the sport in France. Even before this though, Mikael was interested in football and this sort of a period increased competition for places at youth clubs in France. A challenge that Silvestre rised to as he caught the eye of Rennes scouts when playing for a smaller club in his teens. Silvestre was a determined individual, who shared a lot of passion and dedication for the game, shown even today when playing for Manchester United or his new club Arsenal.
Mikael Silvestre came through the ranks at Rennes, firstly playing for their youth team, before he made his first team bow and professional appearance for the French side in 1995. He then went on to play 49 more times over the course of the next 3 years for Rennes, he was being played more and more each season. His impressive performances for Rennes caught the eye of Inter Milan. They subsequently put an offer in for the player in 1998, he accepted the contract terms and he was signed up to play in Serie A. This was a huge challenge for Mikael, still quite young, he was being asked to play for one of the best clubs in the world. That season, he made eighteen impressive appearances for Inter Millan before Manchester United bought him for a fee of £4m the season later, in 1999.
Silvestre will look back on his time at Old Trafford very fondly, that is for sure. He has been a great servant to the club, spending 9 years there and made a total of 249 appearances for the Red Devils. He picked up many team medals in his nine successful years at Manchester United as well. Including four Premier League titles, one League cup trophy, one FA Cup trophy and one very special Champions League trophy. Silvestre has proven to be a very dedicated individual for Manchester United over the years, and has certainly contributed heavily in the earlier seasons of his stay. However, in the last two or three years, the French centreback has been plagued with injuries, which is the main reason for selling him to rivals Arsenal for around £1million.
The versatile defender will hope his time at Arsenal can improve hit fitness levels, something that has been troubling him in the past few seasons. And as he looks forward to the last few years of his amazing career, he can always look back on his glory days at Manchester United and his 40 caps for his beloved country, France.
