The Unlikely Comeback Of Chelsea's Champions League Winner Florent Malouda

Common wisdom has it that aging stars have two options; to finish their careers abruptly, or to slowly and ingloriously fade from view and widespread interest. Neither of these two fates factors into the plans of Florent Malouda, which, to those familiar with this quite atypical footballer, should be no particular surprise.

After all, the very pinnacle of his career was an unexpected one, when he came on below full fitness (a condition which had prevented him from starting the match) to help Chelsea complete their astonishing Champions League final triumph over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

It turned out to be his swan song for the Blues. Marginalised, forced to clear his locker and sent to train with the academy at Cobham in the final year of his contract, Malouda refused to be broken. He continued on his way with dignity and took the opportunity to work feverishly on his fitness.

This season, he has sprung another surprise, returning to Ligue 1 (after a good season at Turkish SuperLig side Trabzonspor) to join modest Metz. This week, he will be back at the sharp end as his new side take on high-flying Bordeaux, coached by his former France teammate Willy Sagnol, at Stade Saint-Symphorien.

Malouda’s choice to move back to France, and more specifically to a relatively unheralded club in the chilly northeast, says much about his outlook. He received offers from Italy, England, the United States and even—perhaps unsurprisingly given the level of French involvement on the playing side—the new Indian Super League. Since rescinding his contract with Trabzon in mid-August, he had been training with Chateauroux, the club whose academy he came through after arriving in mainland France from Guyana at the age of 15.

The link with Metz was made via Robert Duverne, freshly arrived at the Ligue 2 champions as their fitness coach and an old friend of Malouda. “I have an immense trust in him,” Malouda told L’Equipe (subscription only) in a September interview. The pair had worked together extensively for Lyon and France, and between 2003 and 2007 won three Ligue 1 titles, before Malouda left to join Chelsea.

He is less senior player than borderline royalty at the Saint-Symphorien (“It’s FC Malouda here now,” laughed his new teammate Yeni Ngbakoto when popping his head around the door during the aforementioned L’Equipe interview) but is fully dedicated to the cause.

At 34, Malouda has already silenced any whispers that he is drifting towards retirement, offering a number of committed displays in a variety of midfield positions. He has scored a last-gasp penalty winner against Caen, while providing two assists and extensive guidance to the squad’s younger players.

Petros Karadjias/Associated Press

It was something that the 80-cap winger became used to during that year in exile at Chelsea, which he described in his L’Equipe interview as a “political decision, like with Alex and Nicolas Anelka.” This year, his departure from Turkey was mired in controversy, when a confrontation with new coach Vahid Halilhodzic (as per Goal Croatia, via Goal France) saw Malouda photographed leaving the club’s training centre with his shirt ripped.

The veteran has remained tight-lipped on the exact nature of the incident. “We rescinded the last year of my contract there by mutual consent, amiably, and I left on excellent terms with the president, Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu,” Malouda told L’Equipe in his September interview. “In my whole career, I’ve never been fined once, nor been the object of a disciplinary procedure.”

He went on to add that Halilhodzic had recognised him as one of the Turkish side’s fittest players, despite their differences. That focus and motivation which remains will be a major threat to Sagnol and company when they travel north this week. As always, Malouda won't be going quietly.