Julian Jeanvier

Julian Marc Jeanvier (born 31 March 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Premier League club Brentford. He rose to prominence with Reims, before joining Brentford in 2018. Born in France, he represents Guinea at international level.

Club Career

Early years and Nancy

A central defender, Jeanvier began his career in 2000 with hometown club US Clichy-sur-Seine. He moved to L'Entente SSG in 2006 and trained concurrently at Clairefontaine, before joining the academy at Nancy in 2008. Jeanvier progressed into the reserve team and made 54 appearances and scored two goals in the Championnat de France Amateur between 2009 and 2013. The appointment of former head of youth Patrick Gabriel as first team manager midway through the 2012–13 Ligue 1 season saw Jeanvier promoted into the first team squad and he made 10 appearances between January and April 2013. He refused the offer of a new two-year contract extension and departed the Stade Marcel Picot at the end of the 2012–13 season.

Lille

Jeanvier joined Ligue 1 club Lille on a four-year contract during the 2013 off-season. Behind Simon Kjar, Marko Basa, David Rozehnal and Adama Soumaoro in the central defensive pecking order, he was completely out of favour with manager Rene Girard, who had replaced Rudi Garcia soon after Jeanvier's arrival at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. He instead played for the reserve team and spent the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons on loan at Mouscron-Peruwelz and Red Star respectively. He failed to make a first team appearance and left the club in August 2016.

Reims

In August 2016, Jeanvier dropped into Ligue 2 to join Reims. He established himself in the starting lineup and was voted into the UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Year at the end of the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons. Jeanvier had a successful 2017–18 season, vice-captaining the team and helping the club to the Ligue 2 championship and promotion to Ligue 1. He departed the St