Djimi Traoré

Djimi Traoré is a Malian footballer who features as a left back and centre back at Seattle Sounders.

Djimi Traoré began his career at his native town’s football club Laval. In February 1999 he was acquired by Liverpool. But he didn’t manage to get in the Merseyside first team, so he was loaned to Lens for the 2001/02 season. Nevertheless he didn’t lose the chance to play as a substitute during the whole season after his teammate’s injury.

During the last Traoré’s season when Houllier was the club’s manager the footballer was appearing in the reserve team, so he was about to join Everton in 2004. However the player changed his mind and stayed, not in vain as it turned out. When a new coach (Rafael Benítez) headed the team Djimi started featuring in the first team again. He was sometimes criticizes for choosing wrong positions and making schoolboy howlers (the case when he tried to repeat Zidane feint and scored an own goal from the penalty area).

He continued playing in the first team anyway. He managed to participate in the Champions League final against Milan. The player didn’t show himself to good advantage in the first half – he committed an infraction in the first minute which gave Milan a right to a direct kick. A footballer of the opponent team used the right and opened the score against Traoré’s team. The second half was a success – he began to play with more confidence and helped the team on to Liverpool victory. Traoré in his turn became the first Malian footballer to win the Champions League.

In the 2005/06 season the competition was too fierce and Traoré was unseated; thus he decided to transfer to Charlton in the summer 2006. But the debut here didn’t work out for the footballer either (he was sent off after he drew two yellow cards). Very soon the player was seriously injured which made his position in the new club even worse. The coach allowed the footballer to find a new club; six months later Portsmouth became his new club. In January 2008 Traoré was loaned to Rennes, France and later on to Birmingham City.

During his French run from 2009 to 2012 the Malian played for Monaco and Marseille.

Since 2013 he has featured for an American side Seattle Sounders.