Emmanuel Petit

Where is Emmanuel Petit now?

After an illustrious Premier League career with Arsenal and Chelsea, Emmanuel Petit retired in 2005 after he was told he required a knee operation that would mean he would never regain full fitness.

Starting his career with AS Monaco in 1988 he went onto make 522 first-team appearances for just four teams over a 16-year period winning the Ligue 1 title and French Cup with Monaco as well as two Premier League titles with Arsenal. A huge fan’s favourite in North London, they used to sing, ‘He’s French, he’s quick, his name’s a porno flick……Emmanuel.’

In addition to his stellar club career he was also an important member of the France national side and went onto win 63 caps between 1993 and 2000. This was a golden era for the French team in which they won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championships which led to the squad, including Petit, winning the Knight of the Legion of Honour which is the country’s highest order of merit.

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In his 2008 autobiography ‘A Fleur de Peau‘, Petit revealed that he went ‘off the rails’ after winning the 1998 World Cup and had numerous ‘encounters’ with the opposite sex in both France and England. However, he eventually settled down and married the French actress Agathe de La Fontaine in 2000 only to divorce two years later.

In a 2014 interview he caused controversy within his native country by saying France would have been better off if Germany had overrun it in the Second World War. He was referring to his country’s “smug, untruthful and hypocritical” attitude towards former team-mate Thierry Henry when he announced his retirement. He later apologised for his outburst.

Since 2011, Petit has been an ambassador for the Homeless World Cup and is also a major shareholder in digital sports media company Netco Sports which develops sports apps for Canal + and the Australian Open, amongst others.

He also works as a match analyst across many global stations but it wasn’t until March 2015 that he made his first appearance as a pundit on British television on ITV’s Champion’s League coverage.

His style and demeanour was a hit with the UK viewing public and he went onto become one of the station’s match analysts for their Euro 2016 coverage. He has since appeared on BT Sport’s coverage of Premier League football and the UEFA Champions League.

Follow on Twitter @Manu_Petit98

Back to Arsenal / Chelsea



#One2Eleven (4-3-3 Formation)

Emmanuel Petit was a guest on Sky Sports programme The Fantasy Football Club in November 2015 where he picked the eleven best players he had ever played with in their #One2Eleven section of the show.

Emmanuel Petit One2Eleven

GK – Fabien Barthez – he was the first to play as a modern goalkeeper where he would come out of his box and play with the central defenders. He was very good with the ball at his feet.

RB – Lillian Thuram – he wasn’t the best defender with the ball but for me he was the best defender. You couldn’t get past him even with two players. It was impossible.

CB – John Terry – a hard decision between Tony Adams and Terry but I have chosen him because he is the blood of Chelsea and has had a remarkable career.

CB – Marcel Desailly – a defender who defended properly like Terry and Thuram. These players are like walls and you have to be 100% if you play against them.

LB – Manuel Amoros – a guy from Michel Platini’s generation who was amazing and one of the first left backs to play offensive football.

CM – Xavi – one of the new generation of holding midfielders who knew how to control the game just by controlling the ball.

CM – Rivaldo – a special player who was a game-changer. He had a free role on the pitch and we used to leave him to it.

CM – Zinedine Zidane – one of the greatest. I played with him for 10 years and sometimes looked at him and thought he wasn’t playing the same football as I was playing.

ST – Dennis Bergkamp – technically what can I say about Dennis? If you want to win a game you have to control the ball and with Dennis and the others in this team the opponents wouldn’t see the ball

ST – George Weah – people used to focus on what Brazillian Ronaldo used to do but Weah was doing it before him. Football for him was a game you played on the street.

ST – Thierry Henry – what can you say about Henry? The guy has even got a statue of him outside the Emirates!


Emmanuel Petit: Premier League Statistics

NationalityFrench
PositionMidfielder
Appearances140
Goals11
Yellow Cards23
Red Cards3
Premier League Teams Played forArsenal, Chelsea

Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com

Last Updated on 17 March 2021 by Admin