Armand Traore

Club

_Free Agent Soccer

Position

Defender

Nationality

Senegal

Date of birth

1989-10-08

Birthplace

Paris, France

Height

1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)

Weight

79.37

Signing / transfer fee

Signed

Armand Mouhamed Traoré (born 8 October 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back. Traoré is a product of the Arsenal Academy. He has represented France at under-19 and under-21 levels, but has since opted to represent his parents' native country, Senegal, at senior level.

Traoré joined Arsenal on 1 August 2005, having previously been at Racing Paris and Monaco. Although mainly a reserve team member, making six appearances in the FA Premier Reserve League in 2005–06, he played in Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial against Ajax in the first game at Emirates Stadium in July 2006 and he was an unused member of Arsenal's 18-man squad for their UEFA Champions League match against Dinamo Zagreb the following month.


Traoré during a football match at Emirates Stadium in 2008.
Traoré went on to sign a professional contract with the club in August 2006 before making his first team debut in the League Cup in a third round match against West Bromwich Albion on 24 October, as a 24th minute substitute for Emmanuel Adebayor. Traoré went on to start Arsenal's League Cup matches against Everton, Liverpool, both legs of the semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur and the final against Chelsea, which Arsenal lost 2–1. On 28 February 2007, he started the FA Cup quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers in a 1–0 defeat at Ewood Park.

At the beginning of the 2007–08 campaign, Traoré said he wanted to prove his quality to manager Arsène Wenger. He put in numerous impressive performances for the Reserves and even scored a few goals including a spectacular long-range effort against Tottenham Reserves. In September 2007, Traoré returned to White Hart Lane, but this time only as a spectator when he was arrested for carrying knuckle dusters into the stadium. Traoré and a friend were taken into custody for questioning and he was given a formal warning. Traoré later apologised the situation and said that he did not know it was wrong because the laws were different in France. He also started Arsenal's FA Cup tie against Burnley, before being replaced by Justin Hoyte in the 71st minute, and was on the bench during Arsenal's 3–1 Premier League victory over Manchester City on 2 February 2008, but did not actually make it onto the pitch. On 16 February 2008, he started and played the full 90 minutes against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a 4–0 defeat in the FA Cup fifth round. He finally received his Premier League debut on 5 April 2008, against Liverpool. He