- Henri Camara
Football player infobox
playername = Henri Camara
fullname =
height = height|m=1.78
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|05|10
cityofbirth =Dakar
countryofbirth =Senegal
currentclub = Wigan Athletic
clubnumber = 27
position =Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =ASC Diaraf
years = 1998–1999
1999–2000
2000–2001
2001–2003
2003–2005
2004–2005
2005
2005–
2007–2008
clubs =RC Strasbourg Neuchâtel Xamax Grasshopper-Club Zürich
Sedan
Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Celtic (loan)
→ Southampton (loan)
Wigan Athletic
→ West Ham United (loan)
caps(goals) = 00 0(0)
32 (17)
11 0(3)
60 (22)
30 0(7)
18 0(8)
13 0(4)
52 (18)
10 0(0)
nationalyears = 1999–
nationalteam = Senegal
nationalcaps(goals) = 52 (21)
pcupdate = 11:33, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 26 September 2007Henri Camara (born
May 10 ,1977 inDakar ,Senegal ) is aSenegal ese footballer with Wigan Athletic of the English Premier League.Club career
Early career
Camara began his career in France with
RC Strasbourg (1998-1999), before playing for Swiss clubsNeuchâtel Xamax (1999-2000), andGrasshopper-Club Zürich , where he won the Swiss Championship in 2001. He then returned to France with Sedan but sought a new move when they were relegated in 2003.Wolverhampton Wanderers
Camara joined newly promoted English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 2003 for £1.5million. He was a regular first-choice player, capable of creating goalscoring opportunities, but often guilty of erratic finishing that left him with just one goal from 23 games. Toward the end of the season, he found his scoring touch and struck 6 times in the final 9 games. While this could not prevent relegation, he was named the fans' Player of the Year.
However, Camara was unwilling to play at a lower level and did not turn up for pre-season training. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/3889891.stm|title=Camara walks out on Wolves|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=July 13, 2004] His future was further unsettled by a bid from
Phil Gartside , Bolton Wanderers' chairman, which Wolves chief executiveJez Moxey rejected. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/3892941.stm|title=Wolves firm on Camara|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=July 14, 2004] He eventually returned to the club but only to negotiate a loan move away.Celtic
Camara's route out of Wolves came in the form of Celtic, who paid £1.5million to take him on loan for the 2004/05 season. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/3934577.stm|title=Camara joins Celtic|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=July 30, 2004] His time in Scotland was disappointing, though, as he scored eight goals from twelve starts and six substitute appearances. Camara claimed in the press that he would replace
Henrik Larsson , who had just left the club. He also requested Larsson's squad number (7) which he had had at a previous club as well, but was instead given number 27. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/africa/3942525.stm|title=Camara keen to impress|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=July 31, 2004]The loan deal was terminated during the January 2005 transfer window despite being contracted for longer, as he moved back to England with Southampton. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/4222475.stm|title=Camara completes switch to Saints|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=January 31, 2005] Here, he suffered relegation again as the Saints made the drop on the final day of the season.
Wigan Athletic
Camara finally found a new permanent club when he was signed by Premiership newcomers Wigan Athletic in August 2005 in a three year deal for £3million. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wigan_athletic/4127346.stm|title=Camara joins Wigan in £3m switch|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=August 6, 2005] In 2006, his contract was extended to 2009. He again found himself in a Premier League relegation battle, but it ended third time lucky for him as Wigan made a last day escape at the expense of Sheffield United.
After Wigan manager
Paul Jewell 's resignation, Camara found himself out of favour at Wigan and he was loaned out to West Ham United, for the duration of the 2007-2008 season, at the end of the Summer transfer window. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/6973578.stm|title=West Ham sign Solano and Camara|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=August 31, 2007] By his own admission, he has had a torrid time at West Ham and wants to preferably find another club in England. However Steve Bruce has recently announced that if Camara wants to stay at Wigan he is more than welcome to. [ [http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3608244,00.html Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | News | Camara looks for new club ] ]Camara scored a brace in his first game back for Wigan under Bruce in the 4-0 win in the
Carling Cup over Notts County. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/league_cup/7576437.stm|title="Wigan 4-0 Notts County"|date=2008-08-26|publisher=BBC Sports]International career
Camara made his international debut for Senegal in a 1-1 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Nigeria on February 28, 1999. He went on to play in their surprising run at the 2002 World Cup, scoring two goals - one a
golden goal - in the Round of 16 against Sweden, which took them to the quarter finals for the only time in their history. He was also part of the 2004, 2006 and2008 African Nations Cup squads.Henri Camara also featured in Ronaldinho's squad for a charity football match. The match was between Europe and the rest of the world. Henri Camara came on as a substitute and scored 2 goals in the second half of the game to help his team take the victory.Personal life
Henri has a son, also named Henri (born
11 November 2006 inParis ), with his girlfriend.References
External links
* [http://www.whufc.com/page/PlayerProfilesDetail/0,,12562~24344,00.html Official club profile]
*soccerbase|id=19118|name=Henri Camara
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/searchresults.asp?FootballHeroName=Henri+Camara Sporting-heroes Photos & stats]
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