Players - Anthony Le Tallec

Anthony Le Tallec
Birthdate: 3 October 1984
Birthplace: Hennebont , France
Other clubs: Le Havre (1995-2003), Saint-Etienne (loan 2004-05), Sunderland (loan 2005-06), Sochaux (loan 2006-07), Le Mans (loan 2007-08 + transfer 2008-10), Auxerre (2010-12), Valenciennes (2012-15), Atromitos (2015-17), Astra Giurgiu (2017-18), US Orleans, (2018-19), Annecy (2019-21)
Signed from: Le Havre
Signed for LFC: 1500000 worth, 01.07.2003
International caps: U-21 14/8 caps/goals
Liverpool debut: 13.09.2003
Last appearance: 19.07.2005
Debut goal: 15.10.2003
Last goal: 15.10.2003
Contract expiry: 02.07.2008
Win ratio: 50% W:16 D:6 L:10
Games/assists ratio: 16
League games / goals / assists: 17 / 0 / 1
Total games / goals / assists: 32 / 1 / 2

Player Profile

Le Tallec was an exciting prospect, who had excelled for France at junior level, when he arrived at Liverpool from Le Havre along with his teammate Florent Sinama-Pongolle. The highlight of Le Tallec's international career was being voted the second best player of the Under-17 World Cup which France won in 2001. He possessed good vision and a great range of passing and was a potential superstar in his role just behind the strikers. Le Tallec didn't live up to his promise and his frustration got the better off him at the prospect of lack of first-team opportunities at Liverpool. France's Under-21 coach, Raymond Domenech, was displeased with Le Tallec's and Pongolle's progress. “It is abnormal for boys of their age to play so rarely. It is a true problem. When I think their coach is a former coach from the national team! He is not allowed to sign them and not play them. It is a mess.” Le Tallec was sent out on loan in his last few seasons at Liverpool to Saint-Etienne, Sunderland, Sochaux and Le Mans. He left Anfield permanently in the summer of 2008 for Le Mans where he excelled and earned himself a move to Auxerre in 2010. Le Tallec has been used quite regularly, but has had trouble guaranteeing a place in the starting 11. He made as many substitute appearances as starts, 24 in total, as Auxerre were relegated into the French second division at the end of the 2011/12 season.

Le Tallec was excited at the prospect of working with Gérard Houllier, but his move to Liverpool at such a young age stunted his progress as he explained to L'Equipe in 2010: "Everything started well for me at Liverpool but, unfortunately, the arrival of Rafa Benítez broke my entire career strategy. Even though I was able to get experience, I lost about four years. I arrived at Liverpool as an 18-year-old, but then had to join clubs that were, not weaker, but less rated. It was strange and sometimes it was difficult. What saved me was my passion for football."

Le Tallec stayed with relegated Auxerre but not for the whole of the 2012/13 season. After appearing in eight matches for the club from Burgundy, he moved back to Ligue 1 with Valenciennes and played in twenty-one matches there before the end of the season. He remained at Valenciennes in 2013/14 but the club was relegated to Ligue 2 after collecting only 29 points from 38 matches. Le Tallec played in 17 of those league matches scoring twice (against Rennes and Toulouse). He also played in the home League Cup defeat by Troyes. In the summer of 2015 he moved to Greek top flight club Atromitos citing the possibility of Europa League football as a factor. His three appearances in the qualifiers came as a substitute but in the league he had a respectable season, scoring eight goals in 27 appearances. In the summer of 2017 Le  Tallec moved to Romanian side Astra Giurgio and then in January 2018 returned to France with US Orleans. He scored seven goals in 2018-19 as they finished eighth in Ligue 2. 

After just two games of 2019/20 Le Tallec joined Annecy of Championnat National 2, the regionalised fourth tier of French football. They won promotion to Le Championnat and he remained there for 2020/21, making thirteen appearances. At the end of the season after twenty years as a professional, he announced his retirement from playing. 

Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 17 4 2 9 0 32
2003-2004 13 4 2 4 0 23
2004-2005 4 0 0 3 0 7
2005-2006 0 0 0 2 0 2
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
4 184 Bolton Wanderers
3 96 Portsmouth
2 159 Manchester City
2 148 TNS
2 147 Olimpija
2 96 Blackburn Rovers
2 79 Juventus
2 52 Newcastle United
1 90 Everton
1 90 Crystal Palace
1 48 Arsenal
1 33 Steaua Bucharest
1 33 Southampton
1 21 Manchester United
1 14 Leverkusen
1 10 Levski Sofia
1 8 Fulham
1 6 Charlton Athletic
1 3 Leeds United
1 3 Yeovil Town
1 2 Leicester City
Total Started/substitutions
13 Started
13 On the bench
19 Substitute
8 Substituted
Total Venue
16 Away
16 Home
Total Competition
17 Premier League
5 Champions League
4 FA Cup
4 UEFA Cup
2 League Cup
Total W D L Win % Manager
23 11 5 7 47.8% Gérard Houllier
9 5 1 3 55.6% Rafa Benítez
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 0 0 0 1 0 1
2003-2004 0 0 0 1 0 1
2004-2005 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005-2006 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Total Opponent
1 Olimpija
Total Started/substitutions
1 Started
0 Substitute
Total Competition
1 UEFA Cup
Total Goal minute period
1 16-30 minutes
Total Goal origin
1 Open play
Assists per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 1 0 0 1 0 2
2003-2004 1 0 0 0 0 1
2004-2005 0 0 0 1 0 1
2005-2006 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's assists
Total Opponent
1 Bolton Wanderers
1 Juventus
Total Competition
1 Champions League
1 Premier League
Total For player
1 Steven Gerrard
1 Luis Garcia
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 13.09.2003 Blackburn Rovers Ewood Park League
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 29 15.10.2003 Olimpija Anfield Europe
Related Articles
Liverpool overwhelm Olimpija

BBC report on Liverpool 3-0 Olimpija on 15 October 2003.

French class prevails

From the press on 1st of October 2001.

Related Quotes

"Looking back now it was the wrong decision for me to have made. I should have stayed here and fought for my place. I'm young and I just wanted to play. I have taken over the number 13 shirt - hopefully it won't be unlucky for me!"

Le Tallec went on loan to St Etienne in 2004

"We tried to sign Sinama and Le Tallec for Valencia. My scout said that he had seen two very good players - but Liverpool paid a lot of money for them so it came to nothing. We knew Le Tallec was the best player in the Under-17 World Cup, and Sinama was the top scorer. There's definitely the potential there - they are both good players.. They need to play at this level and then they will get more confidence."

"If you say to Sinama you must go the right side and leave a space for Kewell to go for the left side, and then he plays all the game on the right side and never touches the ball but leaves a space for Harry Kewell, then for me he's played well, but for you not very well. He needs to do the things that we talk about before. The only thing he can improve on is when he touches the ball, he needs to do more things and then afterwards he will have more confidence. Then all the supporters and journalists will say you played well."

Rafa in November 2004

Scrapbook
Poster in the LFC Magazine
Poster in the LFC Magazine
The French wonderkids
The French wonderkids
Other Clubs
Club Season Club rank League apps League goals Total apps Total goals
Le Havre 2001-2002 France 2 24 6 24 6
Le Havre 2002-2003 France 1 30 2 30 2
Saint-Étienne 2004-2005 France 1 7 1 7 1
Sunderland 2005-2006 England Premier League 27 3 31 5
Sochaux 2006-2007 France 1 25 4 25 4
Le Mans 2007-2008 France 1 26 5 26 5
Le Mans 2008-2009 France 1 34 6 34 6
Le Mans 2009-2010 France 1 36 8 36 8
Auxerre 2010-2011 France 1 22 1 27 1
Auxerre 2011-2012 France 1 24 3 27 4
Auxerre 2012-2013 France 2 6 4 8 4
Valenciennes 2012-2013 France 1 20 5 21 5
Valenciennes 2013-2014 France 1 17 2 18 2
Valenciennes 2014-2015 France 2 34 13 36 13
Atromitos 2015-2016 Greece 1 27 7 38 8
Atromitos 2016-2017 Greece 1 24 6 28 6
Astra Giurgiu 2017-2018 Romania 1 18 1 24 2
US Orleans 2017-2018 France 2 9 1 9 1
US Orleans 2018-2019 France 2 26 7 31 7
US Orleans 2019-2020 France 2 2 0 2 0
Annecy FC 2019-2020 France 4 1 1 3 2
Annecy FC 2020-2021 France 3 13 1 15 2
Total 452 87 500 94