Sylvain Marveaux

Sylvain Marveaux (born 15 April 1986) is a French professional footballer.

He can play a variety of positions in midfield, but is mostly utilized as a right-sided midfielder or an attacking midfielder or as a forward.

He is the younger brother of Joris Marveaux, who currently plays for Gazélec Ajaccio.

Marveaux was born in Vannes, located on the west coast of the Brittany region, and began his career at local club AS Ménimur at age six.

He starred for the club at various youth levels before departing for the biggest club in the city, Vannes OC.

In his first year at Vannes, Marveaux was selected to attend the Pôle Espoirs Football de Ploufragan, a smaller regional version of the Clairefontaine academy.

While training at Ploufragan during the weekdays, he played at Vannes on the weekends.

Marveaux also trained alongside future Rennes teammates Yoann Gourcuff, Virgile Reset and William Stanger while attending Ploufragan.

In 2001, after leaving Ploufragan, Marveaux signed an aspirant (youth) contract with Stade Rennais and joined the club's aspiring youth academy.

Marveaux spent four years in the club's academy before earning a call up to the club's Championnat de France amateur team for the 2005–06 season.

He was an undisputed started in the team making 21 appearances and scoring seven goals.

He was officially promoted to the senior team and assigned the number 26 shirt for the 2006–07 season.

Marveaux made his professional debut on 5 August 2006 in a league match against Lille playing the entire match in a 2–1 defeat.

Despite starting his first professional match, he was relegated to appearing as a substitute for the majority of the season by manager Guy Lacombe.

Marveaux scored his first professional goal for the team on 14 October after appearing as a first-half substitute in a 3–1 win over Auxerre.

Two weeks later, he scored an extra time goal in the Coupe de la Ligue against Lille after appearing as a second-half substitute.

Rennes won the match 2–0.

On 18 November, Marveaux converted a late equalizing goal in a 1–1 draw against Le Mans.

He finished the campaign with 32 total appearances and six goals.

Of the 32 appearances, Marveaux only made nine starts.

Marveaux began the 2007–08 season alternating between the bench and the first 11 as the player struggled to adapt to new manager Guy Lacombe.

He finished the season with 24 appearances in the league and no goals.

Marveaux scored his only goal of the season against Bulgarian club Lokomotiv Sofia in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

His transition to Lacombe was further hampered during the 2008–09 season when, while playing with the France under-21 team, he suffered a torn hamstring injury.

The initial diagnosis of the injury required no surgery, however, in October, it was discovered that the injury was severe after club doctors revealed that a hematoma had formed around the hamstring.

Marveaux underwent surgery and, subsequently, missed five months.

Following the season, Marveaux signed his first professional contract agreeing to a three-year deal until June 2009.

He returned to the team in May 2009 and appeared in the final three matches of the season.

For the 2009–10 season, under new manager Frédéric Antonetti, a healthy Marveaux thrived having his best season to date.

Marveaux posted career-highs in all statistical categories.

He scored his first goal of the season on 13 September 2009 in a 1–0 win against Saint-Étienne.

The following week, Marveaux netted the second goal in a 4–0 thrashing of Grenoble.

In the return leg against Grenoble in 2010, he scored a double in another 4–0 win.

The following week, Marveaux was instrumental in the team's 4–2 victory over the defending champions Bordeaux.

He scored the opening goal in the 7th minute and assisted on the final goal scored by Asamoah Gyan.

In the Coupe de France, Marveaux scored two goals, both of which came in a 4–0 victory over amateur club Saumur in the Round of 32.

He finished the campaign by scoring in a 2–1 defeat to Sochaux and a 2–2 draw against Nice.

Marveaux successful individual season of 38 total appearances and 12 goals was overshadowed by the team's collective display as Rennes finished mid-table and failed to qualify for Europe after appearing in the UEFA Cup in back-to-back seasons.

Due to having one year left on his contract, Marveaux was the subject of transfer speculation in the 2010 summer transfer window with English clubs Chelsea and Manchester United being the first to scout the player.

In June 2010, West Ham offered £3 million for the player, however Rennes' general manager Pierre Dreossi denied the bid stating that Marveaux "will be with Rennes next season" and "I do not usually change my mind, I've demonstrated that in the past."