Jérémy Ménez French Footballer From Longjumeau

Early life

Jérémy Ménez was born on 7 May 1987 in Longjumeau, in the Essonne department south of Paris, and grew up nearby in Vitry-sur-Seine. His father and older brother both played football, and he started out at a local club before spending several years at the Centre de Formation de Paris. After a further year with CSF Brétigny, he moved east to the youth academy of Sochaux, where he combined football with school at a sports-oriented high school.

Career

Ménez signed his first professional contract with Sochaux on 24 March 2004, aged sixteen, which made him the youngest professional player in the history of the French top flight. He made his debut on 7 August 2004 in the opening match of the 2004–05 season and scored his first goal in November against Monaco. In January 2005 he scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Bordeaux, again a record for the youngest scorer of one in the league. That season he also played in the UEFA Cup and was nominated for the UNFP Young Player of the Year award, which went to Jérémy Toulalan.

In June 2006 Ménez joined Monaco on a four-year contract. He wore the number 10 shirt and spent two seasons there before moving to Italy in August 2008, when he signed with Roma. At Roma he made his UEFA Champions League debut against Bordeaux and scored his first goal for the club in December 2008 in a win over Chievo. In three seasons he scored a dozen goals in more than 100 appearances, and the team finished second in Serie A in 2009–10.

He returned to France in July 2011 to sign for Paris Saint-Germain on a three-year deal. In his first season there he recorded seven league goals and twelve assists, and in December 2011 he scored the club's 2,000th goal in the top flight. He won Ligue 1 with the club in 2012–13 and 2013–14, and the Coupe de la Ligue in 2013–14.

AC Milan signed him on a free transfer in June 2014. He scored on his debut, a penalty against Lazio, and finished his first season as the club's top scorer with 16 goals in all competitions, a personal best for a single club. Further spells followed: Bordeaux from 2016, Antalyaspor in Turkey from June 2017, and Club América in Mexico from January 2018. With América he won the Liga MX Apertura 2018 title, then the Copa MX in the Clausura 2019 and the Campeón de Campeones in 2019. He left América by mutual agreement in August 2019.

He then signed a one-year contract with Paris FC, moved to Reggina in Serie B in June 2020 on a three-year deal, and joined Bari in July 2023. His contract at Bari was ended by mutual consent in March 2024. On 28 September 2024 he announced his retirement from football.

Ménez represented France at every youth level from the under-16 side, which he joined in 2002, and is part of the age group often called Génération 1987. He was in the under-17 team that won the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship at home, scoring twice in the tournament, and at the 2005 Meridian Cup with the under-18s he scored five goals in four matches. He also played for the under-19 and under-21 teams.

Laurent Blanc called him up to the senior squad for the first time in August 2010, and he made his debut against Norway on 11 August. He assisted Karim Benzema's goal in a 1–0 win over Brazil in February 2011. He was named in the squad for UEFA Euro 2012, scored his first international goal in a warm-up match against Estonia, and then scored the opening goal of France's 2–0 group win over Ukraine on 15 June 2012. His national team record on file runs from 2010 to 2013.

Recognition

The honours listed for Ménez are Ligue 1 (2012–13 and 2013–14) and the Coupe de la Ligue (2013–14) with Paris Saint-Germain, the Liga MX Apertura 2018, the Copa MX Clausura 2019 and the Campeón de Campeones 2019 with Club América, and the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship with France.