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Graeme Le Saux
Personal information
Full name	Graeme Pierre Le Saux
Date of birth	October 17, 1968 (age 38)
Place of birth	Jersey, Channel Islands
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Left-back
Youth clubs
1986-1987	St Paul's (Jersey)
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1987-1993 1993-1997 1997-2003 2003-2005	Chelsea Blackburn Rovers Chelsea Southampton	090 00(8) 129 00(7) 140 00(4) 044 00(1)
National team
1994-2000	England	036 00(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Graeme Pierre Le Saux (born October 17, 1968 in Jersey) is a retired English footballer who played as a left back, though he was also skillful and pacy enough to move into midfield or even the left wing.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Chelsea 1.2 Blackburn Rovers 1.3 Return to Chelsea 1.4 Southampton 1.5 England 2 After football 3 Private life 4 Honours 5 External links

Le Saux started his career at St Paul's of Jersey before moving to Chelsea in 1987 after being spotted playing in a local tournament by manager John Hollins. He made his debut for the club two years later against Portsmouth and had become a regular by the 1990-91 season. His first stint at Chelsea ended in controversy, though. Angry at continually being substituted, he snapped when he was subbed again during a match with Southampton and threw his shirt to the ground as he stormed past manager Ian Porterfield. He was sold to Blackburn Rovers in March 1993 for £700,000.

Le Saux arrived at Blackburn as part of wealthy benefactor Jack Walker and manager Kenny Dalglish's plan to establish the club as one of the country's top sides, and joined an impressive side containing the likes of Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton and Tim Flowers. Blackburn finished 2nd in Le Saux's first season, and were crowned Premier League champions a year later, with Le Saux a near ever-present. He missed the second half of the following season due to a broken ankle which also ruled him out of Euro 96, but was still caught up in controversy after fighting with team-mate David Batty during a UEFA Champions League tie with FC Spartak Moscow.

In August 1997, Le Saux became the most expensive defender in English football when he returned to Chelsea in a £5 million deal. Always a regular when fit, Le Saux's second spell with Chelsea was often interrupted by injury or suspension. He remained there for six seasons, and was an important part of the side which won the League Cup and Cup Winners' Cup in 1998 and the FA Cup in 2000, though he missed two of those finals through injury.

He was swapped in a part-exchange deal with Southampton for Wayne Bridge in 2003. Le Saux played for another two seasons before announcing his retirement in May 2005 following Southampton's relegation from the Premiership.

Le Saux was capped 36 times for England. He made his first appearance in a friendly win over Denmark and played at the 1998 World Cup, appearing in every game as England reached the second round. Le Saux's only international goal came against Brazil with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area. It came 18th in a recent poll of the greatest ever England goals.

Following his retirement he worked as a pundit for the BBC on both Match of the Day 2 and BBC Radio 5 Live. He quit the BBC on 31 March 2006 after losing his commentary place on England's World Cup games to Mark Lawrenson.

In 2006, Le Saux joined ABN AMRO Bank’s UK private banking team in the role of Ambassador for their Sports Desk. He is one of the few professional English players who came to the league with a degree (Kingston University).

Throughout his career Le Saux has been dogged by controversy surrounding his sexuality. An example of this is in British comedy Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, in which a cast member said, (after being told by a female friend 'every time I really like a guy football gets in the way') "you sound like Graeme Le Saux". These rumours remain unsubstantiated though he is married.

Chelsea

• Second Division championship: 1988-89
• League Cup: 1998
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998

Blackburn Rovers

• FA Cup 1997
• Premier League championship: 1994-95
• Premier League runner-up : 1993-94

• Graeme Le Saux career stats at Soccerbase

	England squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
1 Seaman | 2 Campbell | 3 Le Saux | 4 Ince | 5 Adams | 6 Southgate | 7 Beckham | 8 Batty | 9 Shearer | 10 Sheringham | 11 McManaman | 12 Neville | 13 Martyn | 14 Anderton | 15 Merson | 16 Scholes | 17 Lee | 18 Keown | 19 L. Ferdinand | 20 Owen | 21 R. Ferdinand | 22 Flowers | Coach: Hoddle