Djimi Traoré will probably always be defined by a high and low at Liverpool
The Seattle Sounders player who won the Champions League and became a figure of fun over an own goal, will retire
You suspect as an increasingly valedictory-feeling interview goes on that Djimi Traoré is holding something back and then, 20 minutes in, comes a reluctant truth. “I think I’m going to retire soon,” says the former Liverpool defender, who now hopes that his Seattle Sounders side can progress to their first MLS Cup final when they play LA Galaxy on Sunday. Think, or know? “Yeah, I am. We’re talking about the next few weeks.”
It does not come as a surprise because the conversation has been dotted with rather final, summative statements and has quickly come to be a retrospective of a career that Traoré, now 34, is quite happy to defend.
He is, in turn, a figure of fun and a Champions League winner; scorer of an own goal that will probably follow him to the grave and the man whose second-half clearance from Andriy Shevchenko in Istanbul was one of several moments that allowed Liverpool to cross the thickest of margins. If his presence on that seismic night nine and a half years ago verges on pub-quiz-question material, Traoré is unapologetic about any of his accomplishments during a seven-year spell that, if you catch an Anfield regular on the right day, is recalled with a mixture of exasperation and fondness.
“I’m not ashamed of anything I did about at Liverpool,” Traoré says. “It was hard for me – when I went there I was 19, coming from a small club in France [Laval] to one of the best in England. When I look back I’m very proud of what I achieved.
“When you look at the foreign players who came to Liverpool around that time I played more games than most of them. I know I was not the best but I certainly tried my hardest and I’m very proud because in winning the Champions League I achieved something that few people have.”
Traoré made 141 appearances for Liverpool and it seems a trick of the light that he was 26 when he finally departed for Charlton. Sparingly used by Gérard Houllier, save for a run at centre-back in 2002-03, he found favour under Rafael Benítez during the Spaniard’s first season at Anfield and, by then used as an imposing but sometimes awkward left-back, became a required part of the set-up without really feeling as if he was a long-term option. Fame arrived in Istanbul but it had already knocked four months previously when Traoré, playing in an FA Cup tie at Burnley, won the game for Liverpool’s opponents with an implausible pirouette and drag-back into his own net that has kept compilation makers in hot dinners ever since.
“Maybe some people only think about that goal when they think of me, but there were players next to me who scored many more – it’s not like I scored six or seven. I think I showed my character after that: a lot of players can be dragged down after that kind of incident but I kept my confidence and it paid off. I was always strong in my mind and had a belief in my ability and that’s why I stayed so long at Liverpool. Both managers I worked for knew what they would get from me.”
The reference to multiple offenders brings Jamie Carragher’s name foremost to mind but Traoré was never to reach his team-mate’s heights and the move to Charlton, at the start of 2006-07, felt necessary. A red card against West Ham on his debut was not the brightest of starts – he would also concede a penalty against Liverpool in December – but he had joined a club that would rattle through Iain Dowie, Les Reed and Alan Pardew in a confused relegation season and he was never in favour with the latter.
“I needed to move on and find a new challenge,” he says. “Charlton were a good club but it was tough; I was injured for two or three months during the season and then the new manager came in and it was clear that things were not going well but I don’t regret that move, or any of the clubs I played for. They gave me the experience and knowledge that I am able to use now.”
Portsmouth gave Traoré his next opportunity but this was time spent on the fringes, too and he played no part in the 2007-08 FA Cup-winning run, later being loaned to Rennes and Birmingham. He was moved on in 2009, avoiding direct complicity with Pompey’s fall from grace but finding himself attuned to the warning signs.
“What happened there was a pity. The fan base was great but the facilities were not the best in the league. I think they raised their ambitions too high, with the wages they paid and the players they brought in, but it was fun, always enjoyable to train there every day and guys like Sylvain Distin, Sol Campbell and Benjani were good to play with. And I’d never met a manager like Harry Redknapp before.”
The numbers that have are dwindling but that was it for Traoré in England and next came two years at Monaco, with what seemed like a revival being cut short by a cruciate injury, and another season at Marseille. He rarely returns, although he will be present at Liverpool’s 10-year celebration of the Champions League win in May. Traoré appreciates that the club “made me what I am today”. The player of the present has probably kicked the last ball of his career now, with an adductor injury having dogged his 2014 season after a successful first year in Major League Soccer, but he has found his Indian summer across the Atlantic to be a source of fascination and, it has turned out, a new life. A green card awaits – as, it is hinted, might be some form of backroom role at Seattle.
“This was exactly what I had been looking for after a long career in Europe but I never thought I would stay here,” he says. “I fell in love with the city and the club and my family did too. I didn’t know a lot about it at first – I watched videos on YouTube before coming over – but as soon as I arrived I knew I was at a special place and that I was very lucky. The atmosphere in the stadium is similar to England and I have loved every minute here.”
They have enjoyed him as well – a remarkable long-range goal in the Concacaf Champions League against Tigres on his home debut expediting his settling-in process and giving the showreel some balance. Even if 300 career appearances seems a modest return for a seasoned professional, Seattle has proved the ideal vantage point from which to look back in satisfaction.
“I’ve been fortunate with the clubs I have played for and it shows that there is something about my qualities,” he says. “It has not just been luck. My attitude has always been the same and I think people have seen that.
“I could never have imagined that I would have any of this. I grew up in a suburb of Paris, not from a rich family at all, and I think I can be very proud of what I have achieved – and it’s not finished. I will do something where I can help players in the way that so many people helped me when I was young.”
As justifications of a long and chequered career go, it has been spirited. They may not spend the evening merrily counting up the own goals among them when Traoré finally reunites with Liverpool’s class of 05 in six months’ time, but it is clear he should not feel out of place.
The Seattle Sounders player who won the Champions League and became a figure of fun over an own goal, will retire
You suspect as an increasingly valedictory-feeling interview goes on that Djimi Traoré is holding something back and then, 20 minutes in, comes a reluctant truth. “I think I’m going to retire soon,” says the former Liverpool defender, who now hopes that his Seattle Sounders side can progress to their first MLS Cup final when they play LA Galaxy on Sunday. Think, or know? “Yeah, I am. We’re talking about the next few weeks.”
It does not come as a surprise because the conversation has been dotted with rather final, summative statements and has quickly come to be a retrospective of a career that Traoré, now 34, is quite happy to defend.
He is, in turn, a figure of fun and a Champions League winner; scorer of an own goal that will probably follow him to the grave and the man whose second-half clearance from Andriy Shevchenko in Istanbul was one of several moments that allowed Liverpool to cross the thickest of margins. If his presence on that seismic night nine and a half years ago verges on pub-quiz-question material, Traoré is unapologetic about any of his accomplishments during a seven-year spell that, if you catch an Anfield regular on the right day, is recalled with a mixture of exasperation and fondness.
“I’m not ashamed of anything I did about at Liverpool,” Traoré says. “It was hard for me – when I went there I was 19, coming from a small club in France [Laval] to one of the best in England. When I look back I’m very proud of what I achieved.
“When you look at the foreign players who came to Liverpool around that time I played more games than most of them. I know I was not the best but I certainly tried my hardest and I’m very proud because in winning the Champions League I achieved something that few people have.”
Traoré made 141 appearances for Liverpool and it seems a trick of the light that he was 26 when he finally departed for Charlton. Sparingly used by Gérard Houllier, save for a run at centre-back in 2002-03, he found favour under Rafael Benítez during the Spaniard’s first season at Anfield and, by then used as an imposing but sometimes awkward left-back, became a required part of the set-up without really feeling as if he was a long-term option. Fame arrived in Istanbul but it had already knocked four months previously when Traoré, playing in an FA Cup tie at Burnley, won the game for Liverpool’s opponents with an implausible pirouette and drag-back into his own net that has kept compilation makers in hot dinners ever since.
“Maybe some people only think about that goal when they think of me, but there were players next to me who scored many more – it’s not like I scored six or seven. I think I showed my character after that: a lot of players can be dragged down after that kind of incident but I kept my confidence and it paid off. I was always strong in my mind and had a belief in my ability and that’s why I stayed so long at Liverpool. Both managers I worked for knew what they would get from me.”
The reference to multiple offenders brings Jamie Carragher’s name foremost to mind but Traoré was never to reach his team-mate’s heights and the move to Charlton, at the start of 2006-07, felt necessary. A red card against West Ham on his debut was not the brightest of starts – he would also concede a penalty against Liverpool in December – but he had joined a club that would rattle through Iain Dowie, Les Reed and Alan Pardew in a confused relegation season and he was never in favour with the latter.
“I needed to move on and find a new challenge,” he says. “Charlton were a good club but it was tough; I was injured for two or three months during the season and then the new manager came in and it was clear that things were not going well but I don’t regret that move, or any of the clubs I played for. They gave me the experience and knowledge that I am able to use now.”
Portsmouth gave Traoré his next opportunity but this was time spent on the fringes, too and he played no part in the 2007-08 FA Cup-winning run, later being loaned to Rennes and Birmingham. He was moved on in 2009, avoiding direct complicity with Pompey’s fall from grace but finding himself attuned to the warning signs.
“What happened there was a pity. The fan base was great but the facilities were not the best in the league. I think they raised their ambitions too high, with the wages they paid and the players they brought in, but it was fun, always enjoyable to train there every day and guys like Sylvain Distin, Sol Campbell and Benjani were good to play with. And I’d never met a manager like Harry Redknapp before.”
The numbers that have are dwindling but that was it for Traoré in England and next came two years at Monaco, with what seemed like a revival being cut short by a cruciate injury, and another season at Marseille. He rarely returns, although he will be present at Liverpool’s 10-year celebration of the Champions League win in May. Traoré appreciates that the club “made me what I am today”. The player of the present has probably kicked the last ball of his career now, with an adductor injury having dogged his 2014 season after a successful first year in Major League Soccer, but he has found his Indian summer across the Atlantic to be a source of fascination and, it has turned out, a new life. A green card awaits – as, it is hinted, might be some form of backroom role at Seattle.
“This was exactly what I had been looking for after a long career in Europe but I never thought I would stay here,” he says. “I fell in love with the city and the club and my family did too. I didn’t know a lot about it at first – I watched videos on YouTube before coming over – but as soon as I arrived I knew I was at a special place and that I was very lucky. The atmosphere in the stadium is similar to England and I have loved every minute here.”
They have enjoyed him as well – a remarkable long-range goal in the Concacaf Champions League against Tigres on his home debut expediting his settling-in process and giving the showreel some balance. Even if 300 career appearances seems a modest return for a seasoned professional, Seattle has proved the ideal vantage point from which to look back in satisfaction.
“I’ve been fortunate with the clubs I have played for and it shows that there is something about my qualities,” he says. “It has not just been luck. My attitude has always been the same and I think people have seen that.
“I could never have imagined that I would have any of this. I grew up in a suburb of Paris, not from a rich family at all, and I think I can be very proud of what I have achieved – and it’s not finished. I will do something where I can help players in the way that so many people helped me when I was young.”
As justifications of a long and chequered career go, it has been spirited. They may not spend the evening merrily counting up the own goals among them when Traoré finally reunites with Liverpool’s class of 05 in six months’ time, but it is clear he should not feel out of place.
