ROUGE Mémoire
Saliou LASSISSI
Presentation
Retired
IVORY COAST| Born | Aug 15, 1978 Abidjan, IVORY COAST | |||||||||
| Age | 46 years old | |||||||||
| Size | 1.85 m | |||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg | |||||||||
| Position | Centre-back Defensive midfielder | |||||||||
| Arrival(s) | From academy | |||||||||
| Departure(s) |
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| Numbers | 2129 | |||||||||
| Selections | Côte d'Ivoire A | |||||||||
| Career |
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Freshly arrived from a small village in the Ivory Coast, Saliou Lassissi joined the Stade Rennais Academy at the tender age of 15. He learned the basics of football, and training as it was his first real experience of football. Nevertheless, Rampillon saw him as a rough diamond, and got Lassissi to sign his first professional contract in 1996. After two appearances in the Intertoto Cup, he convinced Colleu to make him a key member of his squad aged 18. On the bench at the start of the campaign, he soon overtook the competition of Jensen, Smith and Papura to become undisputed first-choice as central defender or defensive midfielder. He suffered from physical problems, however, and was plagued by injury, disappearing from the team altogether in the Spring of 1997. He returned under new Manager, David, and gave loyal service during the winter months, before relapsing. Sold to Parma for 2 Million Euros in June 1998, he managed to make a name for himself in Italian football in spite of his repeated injury problems.