Julian Jeanvier
Julian Marc Jeanvier (born 31 March 1992) is a professional footballer who plays as a central defender for club Brentford and the Guinea national team. He rose to prominence with Reims, before joining Brentford in 2018. Club career. Early years and Nancy. A central defender, Jeanvier began his career in 2000 with hometown club US Clichy-sur-Seine. He moved to L'Entente SSG in 2006 and trained concurrently at Clairefontaine, before joining the academy at Nancy in 2008. Jeanvier progressed into the reserve team and made 54 appearances and scored two goals in the Championnat de France Amateur  between 2009 and 2013. The appointment of former head of youth Patrick Gabriel as first team manager midway through the 2012–13 Ligue 1 season saw Jeanvier promoted into the first team squad and he made 10 appearances between January and April 2013. He refused the offer of a new two-year contract extension and departed the Stade Marcel Picot at the end of the 2012–13 season. Lille. Jeanvier joined Ligue 1 club Lille on a four-year contract during the 2013 off-season. Behind Simon Kjær, Marko Baša, David Rozehnal and Adama Soumaoro in the central defensive pecking order, he  was completely out of favour with manager René Girard, who had replaced Rudi Garcia soon after Jeanvier's arrival at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. He instead played for the reserve team and spent the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons on loan at Mouscron-Péruwelz and Red Star respectively. He failed to make a first team appearance and left the club in August 2016. Reims. In August 2016, Jeanvier dropped into Ligue 2 to join Reims. He established himself in the starting lineup and was voted into the UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Year at the end of the 2016–17 and  2017–18 seasons. Jeanvier had a successful 2017–18 season, vice-captaining the team and helping the club to the Ligue 2 championship and promotion to Ligue 1. He departed the Stade Auguste-Delaune in July 2018, after making 67 appearances and scoring five goals for the club. Brentford. On 30 July 2018, Jeanvier moved to England to join Championship club Brentford on a four-year contract, with the option of a further year, for an undisclosed fee, speculated to be £1.8 million. He scored a goal in each of his first two appearances for the club, which came in the  early rounds of the EFL Cup, but a foot injury suffered in October 2018 ruled him out for two months. The unavailability of Chris Mepham and new head coach Thomas Frank's deployment of three centre backs saw Jeanvier win a starting place on his return to fitness in December 2018 and he remained a near-ever present starter until the end of the 2018–19 season. Despite being behind Pontus Jansson and Ethan Pinnock in the pecking order when either was available, Jeanvier made 27 appearances and scored one goal during the 2019–20 season, but he did not feature during  the Bees' unsuccessful playoff campaign. After the signing of Charlie Goode during the 2020 off-season saw Jeanvier demoted further down the pecking order, he departed the Community Stadium on a season-long loan on 3 September 2020. He suffered a season-ending ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury in October 2020 and though he would have not been eligible to play if fit, Brentford won promotion to the Premier League after victory in the 2021 Championship playoff Final. Jeanvier was included in Brentford's 25-man Premier League squad for the 2021–22 season and by mid-November 2021, he had  returned to non-contact training. He made his return to non-competitive match play with Brentford B in late March 2022. On 10 April 2022, illness suffered by Pontus Jansson saw Jeanvier named in a matchday squad for the first time since the 2020 Championship play-off Final and he remained an unused substitute during a 2–0 Premier League victory over West Ham United. Kasımpaşa (loan). On 3 September 2020, Jeanvier joined Turkish Süper Lig club Kasımpaşa on loan for the duration of the 2020–21 season. In late October 2020, after making four appearances, he suffered a season-ending ruptured  anterior cruciate ligament injury. International career. Jeanvier was a member of the France U18 team which finished runners-up at the 2010 Copa del Atlántico, but he failed to win a cap. He made his debut for Guinea in a 1–0 friendly defeat to Gambia on 7 June 2019 and made one appearance at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Personal life. Jeanvier was born in France and is of Guinean and Guadeloupean descent. His father was also a footballer and played for Red Star. He is married to a Guinean woman and has a Guinean passport. Honours. Reims Individual