Jimmy Briand

Jimmy Briand is a French footballer who plays as a winger at football club Lyon and France national team.

Jimmy’s football career began at FC Ivry where he was one of the members of the youth team. He joined the club when he was 7 and left it at the age of 13. The footballer entered the Clairefontaine academy in 1998. It happened after Jimmy’s signing a contract with FC Rennes which presupposed his joining the club after attending the academy within three years. During that time Jimmy collected good references (he was often compared with Thierry Henry). Quite soon the football player started appearing in France national youth team.

In 2001 Briand joined the academy of the FC Rennes, where he was soon noticed by many leading European clubs (for instance, the Manchester United coach came to see the young talent in person in March 2003). Several weeks later, on 20 March 2003 he first appeared in the Ligue 1 team. He played as a substitute in a match against PSG, and several days later he became the winner of Coupe Gambardella in Rennes youth team. In 2004 the footballer signed a professional contract with the club. However, in the first several seasons he did not get to the main 11. He managed to become a first-team player only by 2005/06. On 26 March 2009 the player was badly injured while he was training with the France national team. He had to leave the team for 6 months due to that blow.

In June 2010 Lyon president (Jean-Michel Aulas) announced that the player had been acquired by the club. The parties reached a 4-year agreement.