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Date and Place of Birth 4th May 1981 - DOUALA, CAMEROON
Transfers to and from Burnley from ASTON VILLA - 11th January 2007 (loan) returned - 7th May 2007
First and Last Burnley Games SOUTHAMPTON (h) - 12th January 2007
COVENTRY CITY (h) - 6th May 2007
Other Clubs NANTES, MANCHESTER UNITED, ASTON VILLA ---------------------------------------- QATAR SC, ODENSE BOLDKLUB, HAPOEL TEL AVIV, PARTIZAN BELGRADE, ST. MIRREN |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 2006/07 | 13(2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 13(2) | - |
| Total | 13(2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 13(2) | - |
Profile by Tony Scholes
Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Manchester United in the summer of 2003 for a massive £12.5 million. He was one of five summer signings made by Sir Alex Ferguson alongside other hardly big name players such as David Bellion, Kleberson, Tim Howard and Eric Djemba-Djemba.
They cost a total of £26 million between them and I don't think many Burnley fans would have thought that any of them might be heading our way less than four years later. The last mentioned of those signings, Eric Djemba-Djemba, came from French club Nantes for £3.5 million. The Cameroon international midfielder's tough tackling displays had persuaded Ferguson to shell out as he looked for a replacement for Roy Keane.
He quickly made a name for himself, upsetting Arsène Wenger during the Community Shield for a challenge on Sol Campbell that the Arsenal boss described as obscene. It didn't help establish Eric at Old Trafford, In eighteen months he never fully established himself in the side and that led to a move in January 2005 to Aston Villa.
Villa had got a bargain, they paid just £1.5 million for him, but manager David O'Leary hardly played him. O'Leary was sacked in the summer of 2006 at a time when Djemba-Djemba looked set for a move to Spain. That didn't materialise and he stayed at Villa where under new manager Martin O'Neill he didn't get to play at all, other than one late sub appearance in the first game of the season.
After two years at Villa Park it was time to leave and it looked odds on that he would join Lille in France, but in January 2007 he was a shock loan signing for the Clarets until the end of the season. He did well on his debut at Southampton but he was a long way from match fitness and after getting sent off at Derby he wasn't able to win his place back in the side for some weeks.
He got back in at Preston, and for a couple of games he did nothing to suggest there had been much change. Then he found his form, and for much of the rest of the season he was a revelation in the centre of our midfield, winning a whole series of man of the match awards, as the Clarets returned to form and clawed themselves away from the relegation battle.
When it was time to go back to Villa we hoped it would only be temporary and that he'd be back at Burnley. Steve Cotterill said he wanted him to come back and we did everything to get him back.
Initially we tried another loan deal but at the beginning of August he was released by Villa and that led to an attempt to bring him in permanently. Talks were held, there were times when it looked very likely he would become a Burnley player, but his financial demands made in the end made it impossible.
Cotterill finally admitted defeat and said we couldn't get close to affording him. Two days after the start of the 2007/08 season he said: "If any club is prepared to pay for Eric, whatever they are prepared to pay for him is out of our league." We sat and waited to see where he went, we heard rumours of interest from both West Brom and Sheffield Wednesday, but there was never much hope of any Championship side signing him.
Eventually, in September, and after the transfer window closed he opted for a one year contract with Qatar SC - his time in England over after four years, a period when his only success was with Burnley.
After one year in Qatar Eric moved again. On 16th July 2008 he signed a three year deal with Danish Superliga club Odense Boldklub. He's since played for Hapoel Tel Aviv and Partizan Belgrade before signing a short term deal with St. Mirren in February 2014.
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