Player profile: Claude Makelele

Makelele is the type of player probably every manager wants in his team. Someone who’ll come and do a job well game in, game out, and who’ll follow the coaches instructions to the letter.

A defensive midfielder who could be a perfect example of Cantona’s ‘water carriers’, Makelele is brillant at protecting his defence, breaking up attacks, winning the ball and then giving it to someone else to go forward with.
That’s his game and he’s a master at it.

He’s not big, only 5′7 tall, but has good positional sense and can read the game well so is always in the right place to stop the oppositions flow.
If you look at his record with the clubs he’s been at, Nantes, Marseille, Celta Vigo, Real Madrid and now Chelsea he’s played a lot of games, almost 600 and managers know they can rely on him.

One thing he isn’t is a goalscorer, he’s only scored 16 times in his career and in 40 games so far this season for Chelsea and France hasn’t scored once. That hasn’t stopped him being an almost ever present for Mourinho’s Chelsea although he hasn’t been picked that regularly for France, he only has 33 caps so far.
He retired from internationals in 2004 but came back along with Zidane and Thuram when qualification started to look tricky.

Makelele’s 33 now so this will probably be his last major tournament and if he’s used in tandem with Patrick Vieira should give France a very solid barrier in front of their back four.

He seems to be one of those players who’s importance to a team only shows up once he’s not there. After three seasons at Real Madrid, where they won the Spanish league twice and the Champions League he left for Chelsea after Real refused to pay him anywhere near what the Galacti-ego’s were making.
Real haven’t won anything in the three years since.

One thing he needs to cut out of his game is the imaginary card waving to referees when he’s been fouled, which he does a often and which winds up people in England a lot.