french football player

Alban Marc Lafont ( bear 23 January 1999 ) is a french professional football player who plays as goalkeeper and captains Ligue 1 cabaret Nantes. Having progressed through the academy of AS Lattoise, Lafont signed for Toulouse in 2014 where he became the youngest goalkeeper ever to play in Ligue 1 upon making his debut the follow year. He went on to make over 100 appearances for the club across all competitions before joining Fiorentina in 2018. In 2019, he returned to France in a loan cope to Nantes ; the batch was made permanent wave in 2021.

Lafont has besides represented France at diverse young person levels and featured for the nation at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup .

early life [edit ]

Lafont was born in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, to a french father and Burkinabe Dyula mother. [ 4 ] His parents separated when he was nine years old and Lafont moved to France to live with his father in Herault. His mother remained in Burkina Faso, where she late became a Member of Parliament for the People ‘s Movement for Progress in the Burkina Faso National Assembly. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] Lafont comes from a sporting family. His maternal grandfather played football for ten-spot years and later served as president of Ouagadougou Shooting Star while his mother was a extremity of the national handball team. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] His forefather besides played tennis. [ 7 ]

Club career [edit ]

toulouse [edit ]

Lafont started his career at amateurish side AS Lattoise where he initially began playing as an attacking midfielder, before converting to a goalkeeper. [ 8 ] He spent six years with Lattoise before signing with Ligue 1 side Toulouse in 2014. [ 9 ]

2015–16 temper [edit ]

Lafont spent little more than a year in the academy at Toulouse before club coach Dominique Arribagé handed him his Ligue 1 introduction on 28 November 2015 against OGC Nice. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] Upon doing so, he became the youngest always goalkeeper to play in Ligue 1 at the historic period of 16 years and 310 days, surpassing the record previously held by Mickaël Landreau. [ 12 ] Having replaced Ali Ahamada and Mauro Goicoechea as Toulouse ‘s starting goalkeeper, Lafont kept clean sheets in his first two competitive fixtures before last conceding in a 3–2 loss against Lorient on 5 December 2015. In January 2016, Lafont was named as the 34th best U-20 player in the populace by italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport and featured as one of only two goalkeepers on the number alongside A.C. Milan ‘s Gianluigi Donnarumma. [ 13 ] Having been 10 points adrift of safety at the time of Lafont ‘s introduction into the first team, Toulouse managed to avoid delegating on the final day of the season, thanks in part to the eight scavenge sheets he kept in his 24 appearances for the campaign. [ 14 ] He was rewarded for his form on 30 June 2016 when he signed a new abridge with Toulouse, extending his stay with the club until 2020. [ 15 ]

2016–17 temper [edit ]

Lafont became the youngest goalkeeper to play in Ligue 1 upon making his debut for Toulouse in 2015. Lafont retained the phone number one topographic point for Toulouse in the follow season and started the campaign by keeping a clean sheet against Marseille on the opening weekend. [ 16 ] On 22 October he was named as the man of the meet for his performance in Toulouse ‘s 0–0 absorb with Angers, with his form in goal earning him his fourthly clean sheet in merely his tenth league appearance for the crusade. [ 17 ] Lafont ‘s previous three clean sheets had come against esteemed opposition in the form of Marseille, Saint-Étienne and defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain. [ 18 ] Four days by and by, Lafont made his Coupe de la Ligue debut and kept another clean tabloid in a 1–0 succeed over Ligue 2 side Auxerre. [ 19 ] He then made his first ever appearance in the Coupe de France on 8 January 2017, starting in a 2–1 extra-time defeat to Marseille. [ 20 ] The following month, he became the youngest goalkeeper in 30 years to reach 50 Ligue 1 appearances, achieving the milestone in a 0–0 hook with PSG. [ 21 ] He ended the campaign with 38 appearances to his name across all competitions, and having kept 11 cleanse sheets, as Toulouse ended the Ligue 1 season in 13th position. [ 22 ]

Read more: FIFA 21 Pro Clubs

2017–18 temper [edit ]

In February 2018, having continued to impress in finish for Toulouse, Lafont was named by the CIES Football Observatory as the universe ‘s second-most promise football player under the age of 20. Gianluigi Donnarumma was the merely musician rated higher than him while countryman and Golden Boy achiever Kylian Mbappé was ranked third base. [ 23 ] He made his hundredth appearance for the clubhouse on 29 April 2018, starting in a 2–1 league defeat to Rennes. He kept 12 clean sheets for the season and featured in Toulouse ‘s play-off victory over Ajaccio to help the cabaret avoid relegation. [ 24 ]

Fiorentina [edit ]

On 2 July 2018, Lafont signed a five-year softwood with italian side Fiorentina for a report fee €7 million plus bonuses. [ 25 ] His debut followed on 26 August when he started in a 6–1 succeed over ChievoVerona on the day of Fiorentina ‘s 92nd anniversary. [ 26 ] [ 27 ] He ultimately made 38 appearances for the season but the crusade was one of nonchalance, with Lafont ‘s impressive repertory of saves matched by a string of high-profile errors. [ 28 ]

Nantes [edit ]

On 29 June 2019, having lost his invest to Bartłomiej Drągowski, Lafont returned to France where he joined Nantes on a two-season-long lend as a substitute for the deviate Ciprian Tătărușanu. Nantes besides secured an option to sign Lafont permanently for a €7 million transfer fee. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] On 26 May 2021, Nantes made Lafont ‘s hand a permanent one, triggering his €7 million choice to buy article. [ 31 ]

International career [edit ]

Lafont has represented France at diverse youth levels. He made six appearances for the France U16 team and captained the side on three offprint occasions. [ 12 ] He then made his debut for France U17 on 20 October 2015 against Northern Ireland, keeping a clean sheet in the process. Lafont was, however, not selected for France ‘s 2016 european Under-17 Championship squad after Toulouse lobbied for him to remain with the club for their concluding two games of the season to aid their delegating battle. [ 32 ] In September 2016, Lafont was named in the 20-man France U18 team by director Bernard Diomède for the 2016 Limoges Tournament. [ 33 ] He was an ever-present as France ended the tournament on top of the standings having won 2 out of their 3 matches and drawn the other. [ 34 ] He was promoted to the U20 side the follow year and made his debut against England on 25 March. [ 35 ] In May the like year, he was named in the France team for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea. [ 36 ] Throughout the tournament, he alternated with Paul Bernardoni as France ‘s starting ‘keeper before the nation was eliminated by Italy in the Round of 16. [ 37 ]

personal life [edit ]

In January 2016, relatives of Lafont were among the 30 people killed in the Ouagadougou attacks when a group of armed gunmen opened fire in a Cappuccino restaurant. [ 5 ] On 25 September 2016, Lafont became the youngest ever footballer to be invited as a node on French football program Téléfoot. [ 38 ] [ 39 ]

career statistics [edit ]

club [edit ]

As of match played 1 July 2021[3]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[a] League Cup[b] Europe Other Total
League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Toulouse 2015–16 Ligue 1 24 0 0 0 0 0 24 0
2016–17 Ligue 1 36 0 1 0 1 0 38 0
2017–18 Ligue 1 38 0 1 0 3 0 2[c] 0 44 0
Total 98 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 106 0
Fiorentina 2018–19 Serie A 34 0 4 0 38 0
Nantes (loan) 2019–20 Ligue 1 27 0 2 0 0 0 29 0
2020–21 Ligue 1 38 0 0 0 2[d] 0 40 0
Total 65 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 69 0
Career total 190 0 8 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 206 0

Honours [edit ]

Individual

  • Youngest goalkeeper to play in Ligue 1: 16 years and 310 days in 2015[12]

References [edit ]