 Beausejour in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jean André Emanuel Beausejour Coliqueo | ||
| Date of birth | 1 June 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Santiago, Chile | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Left winger / left wing-back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Wigan Athletic | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Universidad de Chile | |||
| Universidad Católica | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002 | Universidad Católica | 16 | (3) |
| 2002–2003 | U. de Concepción | 30 | (3) |
| 2004–2005 | Servette | 11 | (1) |
| 2005 | Grêmio | 55 | (7) |
| 2006 | Gent | 0 | (0) |
| 2007 | Cobreloa | 22 | (0) |
| 2008 | O'Higgins | 34 | (13) |
| 2009–2010 | América | 45 | (3) |
| 2010–2012 | Birmingham City | 39 | (3) |
| 2012– | Wigan Athletic | 50 | (1) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2004– | Chile | 57 | (5) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:03, 4 May 2013 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 07:19, 15 August 2013 (UTC) | |||
Jean André Emanuel Beausejour Coliqueo (born 1 June 1984), nicknamed Palmatoria, is aChilean footballer who plays for English club Wigan Athletic. He previously played for Universidad Católica, U. de Concepción, Cobreloa and O'Higgins in the Chilean Primera División, for Servette in the Swiss Super League, for Grêmio in the Brazilian Série A, for América in the Mexican Primera División, and for Birmingham City in the English Premier League and Football League Championship. He has more than 40 caps for the Chilean national team, and represented his country at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Club career
Early life and career
In 2004 he signed a contract with Servette and stayed in Switzerland for a year[2] before joiningGrêmio in 2005 and then Gent in 2006. In 2007 he returned to Chile spending one year with Cobreloabefore joining O'Higgins in 2008.Beausejour was born in Santiago,[2] the son of a Haitian father and a Chilean-Mapuche mother.[3] He began his professional career at Universidad Católica in 2001 and has since played for several clubs.
Since joining O'Higgins Beausejour has impressed Chile national coach Marcelo Bielsa and has been called up for national duty three times. On 1 December 2008 Club América of Mexico signed him for three and a half years.
After a full season and a half at Club América, he moved to the English Premier League.
Birmingham City
On 31 August 2010, Beausejour signed a three-year contract withPremier League side Birmingham City for an undisclosed fee. Manager Alex McLeish stated that Beausejour was a player that had been on their "list of targets for a long time because he is strong and quick with the ability to beat his man and get crosses in."[4] His debut was delayed while he awaited a working visa,[5]but he made his first appearance on 18 September as a late substitute, replacing Alexander Hleb in the 83rd minute as Birmingham lost 3–1 at West Bromwich Albion.[6] He made more impact on his first start, setting up goals for Hleb and Nikola Žigićin the 3–1 League Cup victory over MK Dons.[7] Described by the Sunday Mirror as "at the heart of everything good about Birmingham" in the FA Cup third round against Millwall,[8] Beausejour provided the assist for the opening goal and "crashed a 20-yard strike off the bar".[9] He scored his first goal for the club, six minutes into the FA Cup fifth-round defeat ofSheffield Wednesday, with a side-footed shot from a Lee Bowyer cut-back.[10] He was a second-half substitute as Birmingham won the 2011 League Cup, beating favourites Arsenal 2–1 at Wembley Stadium,[11] thus earning qualification for the Europa League. On 5 March 2011, Beausejour scored his first league goal for the club in a 3–1 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion,[12] and his second came four days later in a 1–1 draw at Everton.[13] But his club struggled with injuries for most of the 2010-11 season, and The Blues were eventually relegated from the Premier League.
Beausejour was the Birmingham Mail's man of the match in Birmingham's first appearance in major European competition for nearly 50 years, the Europa League play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, which finished goalless.[14] Just days after manager Chris Hughton suggested he wanted more from Beausejour in an attacking role,[15] the player had an eventful man-of-the-match performance as Birmingham beat Leicester City 2–0. In the first few minutes of the second half, he "hit the angle of post and bar with a fierce shot", was considered fortunate by visiting manager Sven-Göran Eriksson to escape a second yellow card, and was tripped by Andy King to earn a penalty kick from which Marlon King opened the scoring.[16] In the Europa League group stage, an error by Beausejour led to Club Brugge's second goal, but he scored from the rebound after Žigić's shot was blocked and was fouled for the penalty from which King equalised.[17] His first league goal of the season came against Burnley in November, again from a rebound, in the second minute of a match that Birmingham won 2–1 in stoppage time.[18]
Wigan Athletic
On 25 January 2012, Beausejour joined Premier League club Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract.[19] He made his debut in the 3–1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on 31 January.[20] On his home debut, against Everton, his man-of-the-match performance featured a "low cross [that] struck Phil Neville on the foot, before heading in the direction of Tim Howard, but the ball spun sharply, slipping through the American's grasp" for an own goal.[21] Since joining Wigan Beausejour has slotted well into the 3-4-3 formation playing at left wing back.[citation needed] With The Latics he won the FA Cup in 11 May 2013, even though Beausejour was unavailable for the final at Wembley againstManchester City due to an injury. However, three days later Beausejour was relegated from Premier League for the second time in his football career, following the 4-1 defeat of Wigan at the hands of Arsenal.
International career
Beausejour made his debut for Chile national team in 2004, and scored his first international goal on 10 June 2009 against Bolivia in a 2010 World Cup qualifier.[22] A member of Chile's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, he scored the only goal of the group H match against Honduras on 16 June, the first match Chile had won at a World Cup since 1962.[23] He played four matches at the tournament as Chile were eliminated by Brazil in the second round.[24]
Together with four team-mates, Beausejour was dropped from the national team before a World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay in November 2011 after arriving late and in a condition described by coach Claudio Borghi as "not adequate for the Chilean national team, for a professional player", reportedly drunk.[25] The Chilean Football Federation later suspended them for ten matches, and Borghi said he would not select either Beausejour or Jorge Valdívia in the near future.[26] He has since been called up and has returned to play for the national team.
