Whatever happened to Jeremie Aliadiere

Seven years ago as a new era was beginning at Celtic the club were in the process of signing a wonderkid from the famous Arsenal Academy.

Jeremie Aliadiere was the name with expectations sky high for the 22-year-old striker who was about to use Celtic to launch his career into the big time.

The young Frenchman was no Chris Sutton or John Hartson but with spending reigned in Aliadiere and Adam Virgo were the type of signings to herald in a new era at the club.

Unfortunately for Aliadiere both Shaun Maloney and Craig Beattie struck form at the same time while Macij Zurawski showed the first signs that he was a 20 goal striker.

Shunsuke Nakamura arrived inbetween the two legs of the disastrous Artmedia Bratislava Champions League qualifier and Aliadiere was back to London without starting a game with West Ham the destination for another loan.

Aliadiere appeared as a substitute in both games against Artmedia but didn’t play a single minute in the SPL before moving to Upton Park where he had a similarly unhappy time.

A loan to Wolves in January 2006 brought 2 goals in 14 matches but a year later Middlesbrough splashed out £2m to take the Frenchman to the Riverside Stadium.

In three seasons in the north-east he scored 11 goals with two of them coming against Arsenal in 1-1 draws.

After a season out through injury Aliadiere returned to France last season where in a more withdrawn role he scored twice in 15 games for L’Orient who avoided relegation for a point.

Amongst the list of strikers to have played for Arsenal and Celtic it’s likely that Aliadiere is more likely to be grouped with Ian Wright and Freddie Ljungberg than John Harston and Charlie Nicholas when it comes to their contributions to the hoops.

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