Arouna Kone

Arouna Kone (born 11 November 1983) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a striker.

After making a name for himself in the Eredivisie, with Roda JC and PSV, he signed with Sevilla in 2007, where he rarely appeared due to injury and loans. In 2012, he moved from Levante to the Premier League, where he represented Wigan Athletic and Everton, winning one FA Cup with the former.

Kone played internationally for the Ivory Coast national team from his debut in 2004 until retirement in 2013. He appeared at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, as well as three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments for his country, earning a total of 39 caps and scoring 9 goals.

Club Career

PSV

Kone endured a difficult start to PSV's 2007–08 season: due to a date mix-up, he returned late to pre-season training following a holiday in his country, thus missing out on valuable time to prepare for the new campaign. Added to this, the player was struck down with malaria at the end of July 2007, In August, it was announced that he had returned to training following his health scare, and was expected to be fit in time for the team's first league game against Heracles Almelo on the 19 July; he also immediately returned to international duty.

Sevilla

On 30 August 2007, after reported interest from English Premier League side Middlesbrough,Sevilla signed Kone on a five-year deal for a reported €12 million transfer fee. He made his Liga debut on 16 September as a second-half substitute for Frederic Kanoute in a 4–1 win against Recreativo de Huelva – he won a penalty in the game, but fellow striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov failed to convert. Nine days later, he scored his first goal for the Spaniards, helping the team come from behind 0–2 against Espanyol to tie it 2–2 in an eventual 2–3 home loss.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Аруна Коне (russian)