Eric Cantona is considered to be one of Manchester United's greatest ever players. Born in France in 1966, he began his professional football career with Auxerre, making his first team debut in 1983. After establishing himself in the first team and gaining his first French international caps, Cantona transferred to Marseille in 1988 for a then French record transfer fee of 22 Million Francs.
Cantona was instrumental as Marseille went on to win the French Cup and First division title, but while he was excelling at football, his disciplinary record on and off the field was poor. He was banned from the team on several occasions, and ultimately this resulted in his transfer to N?mes.
Unfortunately things didn't improve at Nimes, and Cantona was banned for a month In December 1991 when he threw the ball at a referee, and during a disciplinary hearing the ban was extended to three months, after he insulted the members of the committee, in response to this Eric Cantona announced his retirement from football.
After much persuasion Cantona decided to re-commence is football career in England, and he joined Leeds United in a ?900,000 transfer from Nimes. His effect on the team was immediate, as Leeds went onto win the First Division title, although he made only 15 appearances and scored three goals in the 1992 title winning team, Cantona's contribution was decisive to Leeds winning the league.
Cantona scored a hat-trick for Leeds against Liverpool in the 1992 Charity Shield match at Wembley and then scored another hat-trick against Tottenham in the Premier League a few weeks later, which was the first hat-trick ever to be scored in the newly formed Premier League. Cantona then signed for Manchester United in November 1992 in a ?1.2m transfer deal.
Cantona settled quickly into the United team, and he transformed United's season as they went onto win the inaugural Premier league by ten clear points. He also became the first player to win consecutive titles with different teams. It was not only his goal scoring that attracted so much attention, but his creative play that presented so many other goal scoring opportunities for the team. This was Manchester United's first League Title since 1967.
During the 1993-94 season United retained the Premier league, and they also beat Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, with Cantona scoring two penalties in an emphatic 4-0 win, he was also awarded the FA Player of the year Award. United missed out on an amazing treble when they lost in the final of the League Cup to Aston Villa.
During the 1994-95 season Cantona continued his impressive form as United pushed for their third consecutive Premier League title. In January, however, he was involved in one of the worlds most controversial moments when following his sending off in an away game at Crystal Palace, he became involved in an altercation with a supporter, launching a 'kung-fu' kick and a series of punches towards the fan. This resulted in Cantona being banned from football for a total of eight months and a fine of ?30,000. United lost the title to Blackburn Rovers this season.
Despite much speculation that Cantona would leave English football, he decided to stay and made his comeback in a game against Liverpool in October 2005, where he scored one goal and set up another. In a dramatic second half of the season Manchester United clawed back a huge gap at the top of the Premier League to beat Newcastle to the title, which was inspired by a 10 match winning run into the new year. United also won the FA Cup, beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final thanks to a great goal from Cantona with five minutes of the game remaining.
Cantona was made the Manchester United captain at the beginning of the 1996-97 season, which saw United again claim the Premier League title, he had now won four titles in five years with United, and two FA Cups.
To the surprise of the football world he announced his retirement from football at the end of the season, at the age of 30 after making 185 appearances and scoring 82 goals for the club, despite some controversial moments in his career, he was a true Manchester United legend.
Steve Goodwin is an expert author, football fan and retailer of Manchester United football gifts which are available from the man united shop all items are available to ship worldwide
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