Damien Le Tallec

Damien Vincent Denis Le Tallec (born 19 April 1990) is a French-Russian professional footballer who plays for Greek club AEK Athens. He is the younger brother of striker Anthony Le Tallec, and cousin of Florent Sinama Pongolle. Like his older brother, Le Tallec is a France youth international, first appearing with the under-15 team and has appeared in several tournaments around the world for his nation. He started as a second striker, with possibility to play on both wings. In later career, he has primarily played as a defensive midfielder, being capable of playing as a centre-back since the time with Red Star Belgrade.

Club Career

Early career

Le Tallec was born in Poissy. Like his older brother, Damien began his career at Le Havre joining the club at only five years of age. He spent a full decade at the club and began drawing interests from several clubs in Ligue 1. He eventually joined Stade Rennais F.C., who were known for the promising youth academy.

Rennes

Le Tallec quickly established himself at the club joining fellow prospects Yann M'Vila, Yohann Lasimant, Abdoul Camara, and Yacine Brahimi as the club's most promising players. The foursome were particularly instrumental in the club's successes on the youth level, helping their age groups win the 2006 edition of the under-16 Tournoi Carisport, as well as capturing the under-18 championship for the 2006–07 season, and also winning the Coupe Gambardella in 2008, scoring an impressive eight goals in seven matches. In the Coupe Gambardella final against Bordeaux, he scored the final goal in the team's convincing 3–0 victory. Following the 2006–07 season, on 11 August, Le Tallec, alongside teammates M'Vila and Camara, signed his first professional contract, agreeing to a three-year deal. He spent the entire season in the reserves, before being officially promoted to the senior squad and assigned the number 22 shirt for the 2008–09 season.

Though on the first-team, Le Tallec began the

This page also has a version in other languages :  Дамьен Ле Таллек (russian)