Jean-Alain Boumsong

Jean-Alain Boumsong Somkong (born 14 December 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender.

He began his senior career with French club Le Havre in 1997 before joining AJ Auxerre in 2000.

Between 2003 and 2009, he made 27 appearances scoring 1 goal for the France national team.

Boumsong was born in Douala, Cameroon, and started his career with French team Le Havre before joining AJ Auxerre.

He notably scored the 89th-minute winning goal in Auxerre's 2–1 win in the 2003 French Cup Final against Paris Saint-Germain.

A long-time target for then Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier, the press speculated that it was only a matter of time before Boumsong signed for Liverpool.

However, as Boumsong was a free agent, his agent, the Monaco based Scot Willie McKay negotiated the best sign-on fee to the player for Boumsong from Scottish Premier League club Rangers.

His performances at Auxerre earned him a move to Rangers in 2004.

One season later, he signed with Newcastle United.

where he spent two seasons.

As a result, Boumsong joined Alex McLeish at Rangers in 2004 and signed a five-year contract.

Boumsong quickly adapted to the Scottish game and showed his skill as a centre-back, leading to rumours that his stay in Glasgow may be shorter than expected.

Halfway through the 2004–05 season, Newcastle under new manager Graeme Souness, made an £8 million bid for him, which Rangers accepted in a deal that was finalized once the January 2005 transfer window opened.

However, as Boumsong had played the requisite number of games for Rangers that season, he still received a Scottish Premiership Winners Medal, despite having been a Newcastle player for around five months by the time Rangers won the title.

Boumsong signed a 5 1⁄2-year contract with the Magpies.

The £8 million transfer fee raised eyebrows, as the player, being out of contract, had joined Rangers for free just months before, at which point Newcastle showed no interest in signing him.

In 2006, he joined Juventus, freshly relegated to Serie B and helped the club return to Serie A.

On 22 August 2006, Boumsong joined the recently Serie B relegated Juventus for a fee of £3.3m, with future incentives promised to Newcastle relating to Juventus' future performance.

In September 2006, Boumsong scored his first Juventus goal in a game against Crotone where Juventus won 3–0.

Valeri Bojinov scored the other two goals.

This transfer is one of those about which the Stevens inquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns:

"There remains inconsistencies in evidence provided by Graeme Souness – a former manager of the club – and Freddy Shepherd – apparently acting in an undefined role but not as a club official – as to their respective roles in transfer negotiations."

"The inquiry is still awaiting clarification from agent Willie McKay".

However the Stevens enquiry later issued two clarifications.

It said of Souness, "We wish to make it clear that inconsistencies did not exist within the evidence given by Graeme Souness to Quest concerning his role in transfers covered by the Inquiry during his time as manager of Newcastle United F.C. and neither the Premier League nor do Quest have any concerns in this regard".

As regards McKay it stated: "Further to the key findings from the final Quest report published on 15 June 2007 by the Premier League, Quest would like to emphasise that, in that report, it was clear that no evidence of irregular payments was found in the transfers in the inquiry period which involved the agent Willie McKay. Quest would also like to thank Mr McKay for his cooperation with the inquiry."

He had a mixed time during his stay on Tyneside in regards to his form.

During his first season at Newcastle he was praised for his defensive abilities and partnership with Titus Bramble.

His popularity led to fans shouting the first syllable of his name, elongating the sound in a similar way to Arsenal fans chanting Nwankwo Kanu's name.

His second season at Newcastle however was less well received.

Boumsong's defensive abilities began to lapse and was often blamed for the conceding of goals.

He blamed this lapse in form on his girlfriend's illness and other personal problems.

He returned to France with Lyon in 2008.

In Boumsong's final match with Juventus, he scored a key equaliser in their Coppa Italia match against rivals Internazionale on 23 January 2008.

On 24 January 2008, Boumsong moved to French club Olympique Lyonnais on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

He stated he made this move in order to increase his chances to make Raymond Domenech's EURO 2008 squad.

He made his debut for the club in 4–1 win over Sochaux at Stade de Gerland on 8 February 2008.

In the 2008–09 season, he scored his first Lyon's goal against Le Mans on 4 April 2009.

On 30 July 2010, Boumsong transferred from Olympique Lyonnais to Superleague Greece champions Panathinaikos F.C. for a fee that could rise up to €750,000.

His last spell was at Greek Super League side Panathinaikos before ending his career in 2013.