Eric Cantona (1992) 34 appearances, 11 goals
Cantona gave Leeds some much-needed impetus in 1992, but while his subsequent sale to the Theatre of Short Memories has been widely used to damn Howard Wilkinson, nobody, including I suspect Sir Alex Ferguson, could have envisaged the bit-part player becoming such a global icon. "I don't recall him getting too many clinchers," Gordon Strachan said of the 1992 title campaign, but there were occasional moments of brilliance. It was scarcely a surprise that Leeds's Rimbaud-reading maverick did not gel with Sergeant "Last of the Summer Wine" Wilko. "Eric likes to do what he likes when he likes and then f***s off," Wilkinson said. "We'd all want a bit of that."
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona | ||
| Date of birth | 24 May 1966 (1966-05-24) | ||
| Place of birth | Marseille, France | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Playing position | Forward (retired) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| ?-1981 | SO Les Caillols | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1983-1988 | Auxerre | 82 | (23) |
| 1985-1986 | → Martigues (loan) | 15 | (4) |
| 1988-1991 | Marseille | 40 | (13) |
| 1989 | → Bordeaux (loan) | 11 | (6) |
| 1989-1990 | → Montpellier (loan) | 33 | (10) |
| 1991 | Nîmes | 16 | (2) |
| 1992 | Leeds United | 28 | (9) |
| 1992-1997 | Manchester United | 144 | (64) |
| Total | 369 | (131) | |
| National team | |||
| 1987-1995 | France | 45 | (20[1]) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||