Laurent Blanc

Laurent Robert Blanc (born 19 November 1965) is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back, and was most recently the manager of Ligue 1 club Lyon.

He has the nickname Le Président, which was given to him following his stint at Marseille in tribute to his leadership skills.

Blanc played professional football for numerous clubs, including Montpellier, Napoli, Barcelona, Marseille, Inter Milan and Manchester United, often operating in the sweeper position.

He is also a former French international, earning 97 caps and scoring 16 international goals.

His career started at Montpellier, where he signed his first professional contract in 1983.

A very technical, yet slow player, he played as an attacking midfielder and helped the club get promoted to Division 1 in 1987.

Only a few years later did he settle as a defender following the advice from Michel Mézy, a position in which his physical stature (1.92 m, 86 kg) and his temperament would prove invaluable.

His game being perfectly fitted for the French league, he managed to score at least 12 Division 1 goals per season in his last three seasons at Montpellier, for the most part penalties and headers.

He also won the Coupe de France in 1990, scoring a goal in the final match.

Blanc remains Montpellier's all-time leading goal scorer, with 83 in all competitions (76 altogether in Division 1 and Division 2).

In 1991, Blanc tried his luck abroad when he left Montpellier for Napoli in the Italian Serie A.

Despite a decent season during which he managed to score six goals, he felt like he could not fully express his potential and returned to France after just one year, to Nîmes and then Saint Étienne, where again he imposed himself as one of the best defenders in the league.

Although Blanc scored 13 goals in his last season at Saint-Étienne, les Verts were almost relegated, only staying up because Marseille were not allowed to return to the first division because of the club's financial difficulties.

Guy Roux, impressed by Blanc and looking for a replacement for Dutch international Frank Verlaat, convinced him to join Auxerre in 1995.

Despite injuring himself early in the season, Blanc came back strongly and played a great part in the team's double that year.

Blanc's success at Auxerre drew the attention of several big European clubs.

Blanc agreed to join Barcelona in Spain largely because manager Johan Cruyff wanted him and persuaded him to sign.

But on the very day that Blanc said yes to Barça, Cruyff was sacked, and Blanc's spell with the club was a less than happy one.

Blanc was in the side when Barcelona won the Supercopa de España against Atlético Madrid, but was injured soon afterwards.

He played regularly upon his return from injury, but was sent off during the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final against AIK.

He then injured himself again against Extremadura, which forced him to miss the Clásico and the Cup Winners' Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had attempted to lure Blanc several times since 1996 and finally succeeded in August 2001 when, at the age of 35, Blanc was brought in to replace the departing Jaap Stam.

He represented the country in several international tournaments, including the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, both of which France won.

On 28 June 1998, Blanc scored the first golden goal in World Cup history against Paraguay.

After this disappointing season and only one year away from the 1998 World Cup, he decided to leave.

Rolland Courbis managed to convince Blanc to join Marseille, which proved beneficial for both the club and Blanc.

Blanc quickly became a leader in a team that was desperately lacking confidence, and helped Marseille finish in fourth place in his first season, during which he scored 11 goals and earned the nickname "Le Président" ("The President").

The season following the World Cup was both successful and frustrating for Blanc and Marseille, as they finished runners-up in the championship, only one point shy of Bordeaux, and reached the UEFA Cup final, only to lose 3–0 to Parma, with Hernán Crespo intercepting Blanc's back pass to Stéphane Porato to score the opener.

Afterwards, Blanc left Marseille for Inter Milan, where he enjoyed some success, winning the Pirata d'Oro (Inter Player of the Year) in 2000.

He was criticised for poor performances in the early months of his stay at Old Trafford, when United suffered five defeats in the league by 1 December 2001 – with some critics even being keen to point out that the five teams who had beaten them in the league began with the letters which spelt out Blanc's surname – Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Chelsea. He initially arrived at Old Trafford on a one-year contract, and as his form and his team's form improved throughout the season (although it wasn't enough for United to catch Arsenal in the title race), he was eventually awarded a fresh one-year contract to give him a second season in Manchester.

He was nicknamed "Larry White" by fans as a loose translation of his name.

He scored four goals during his time at Manchester United.

One of these came in the league against Tottenham Hotspur, and the other three all came in the Champions League in games against Olympiacos and Boavista (both home and away).

He began his managerial career at Bordeaux in 2007, winning domestic honours including the 2008–09 Ligue 1 title.

After leaving Bordeaux in 2010 he became the manager of the France national team until 2012, replacing Raymond Domenech in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and leading the country to the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 2012.

In 2013, he was hired by Paris Saint-Germain, winning further honours.

After three successful years with Paris Saint-Germain he left the club in June 2016.

Following more than six years without coaching in Europe, he was appointed manager by Lyon in October 2022.

Blanc was born in Alès, France.

On 5 August 2017, Souleymane Camara scored the only goal (in the 59th minute) in Montpellier's Matchday 1 Ligue 1 1–0 win against SM Caen to register his 48th Ligue 1 goal for Montpellier, breaking Blanc's longstanding Montpellier record of 47 Division 1 goals scored in four seasons.