Mikael Silvestre, born on August 9, 1977 in Chambray-les-Tours, is a French footballer, who usually plays in the centre and left-back positions. His wife is Severine and he has a daughter named Cleo.
Mikael Silvestre stepped into the international arena for the first time as a member of the French junior team at the 1997 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Youth Championship. He made his senior debut for France on February 27, 2001 in a friendly match against Germany, in which his team won 1-0. He was also part of the team that made it to the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Mikael Silvestre started his football career in the 1995-96 season with the French club, Rennes. His performance caught the attention of Internazionale, an Italian football club, and he entered into a contract with the club in the 1997-98 season. After appearing in 18 league matches and 6 European games for this Italian club, Mikael Silvestre moved on to Manchester United on September 10, 1999 for a fee of £3.5 million. He made his debut for the club against Liverpool at Anfield in 1999. After an initial period of struggle to adapt to the English league, Mikael Silvestre strongly established himself both in defence and getting forward. His goal-setting abilities helped the team in the 2-0 win against the La Liga club Deportivo de La Coruna. Mikael Silvestre was part of the team that won the Premier League in the 1999-2000 and the 2000-01 season.
In the 2002-03 season, he played in central defense, his favorite position and forged a good partnership with Wes Brown to bag the Premier League trophy again. In the following season, Mikael Silvestre partnered with Rio Ferdinand, to form the best central defensive pair of Manchester United, since Steve Bruce and Gary Palliser. He played in the 2004 Football Association (FA) Cup in which Manchester won 3-0 over Millwall and lifted the cup. Towards the end of the 2005-06 season, playing at left-back, Mikael Silvestre delivered a cross to Wayne Rooney to score the first goal of the match, in which United won 2-0 against Arsenal.
Mikael Silvestre signed a new three-year contract with Manchester United on August 11, 2006. During that season, he scored his first goal for Manchester United in its match against Watford. His outstanding performances earned him the fourth winner’s medal of the Premier League after his club, Manchester United, won the league for the 2006-07 season, first time after 2003. After a knee injury that kept him away for quite some time, Mikael Silvestre returned to the club and played for the reserve team against Manchester City on March 20, 2008, which Manchester United won 4-1. On April 9, 2008, he made his first start after 7 months in a quarter-final match of the United European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League against A.S. Roma and the team lifted the trophy that season.
Mikael Silvestre is a part of the team that has won many tournaments and clinched several cups for the club. He has been a part of the team’s victories in the Premier League, FA Cup, Intercontinental Cup in 1999, FA Community Shield twice in 2003 and 2007 and the Football League Cup in 2006.
On August 20, 2008, Mikael Silvestre was signed by Arsenal for 2 years, making him the first direct transfer between Manchester and Arsenal, since Viv Anderson in 1987.
The strength of Mikael Silvestre is his pace, which he uses wisely in setting up as well as for scoring goals. He has earned many nick-names, including Mickey, Tweety, 50p head, Ol’ peanut head and Creatine.
