Eric "The King" Cantona

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HAIL KING ERIC !!!



WHAT DOES CANTONA EXPECT FROM REDS?

Manchester United legend Eric Cantona believes the Reds will finish the season with a wealth of silverware and has praised the influence of Jose Mourinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the club.

The former France international striker was in Manchester last week for some special shows where he spoke to fans about his illustrious career at Old Trafford.

During his stay in the city, he sat down exclusively with ManUtd.com to discuss the Reds and he also spoke of his admiration for Mourinho and Ibrahimovic.

“I think they will win more than one trophy this season and the first one will be this one,” he declared in reference to Sunday’s EFL Cup final against Southampton. “Mourinho is a winner, he has won a lot of things and he is a great manager. I think United will win many things.

“The first one is important, I think. In a club like United, of course, you have the pressure of winning things so, when you win one, you have less pressure but people ask for more of course, and Mourinho doesn’t have any kind of problem with the pressure. He has been around for many years, he has been a manager of many great clubs and has won things with all of them, and improved the team every time, so he will win. They will win it, don’t worry! [Smiles].

“I think he plays more attacking football than he used to play and he tries to understand the expectation all the time [of the club],” added Cantona. “He is a very intelligent man, very clever, and he has a great sense of humour. I always said that before he came to United. He takes all the pressure on him, he doesn’t care about any kind of pressure. He’s great psychologically. He takes all the pressure on him so it’s less pressure on others and so the players can enjoy [it].”

Comparisons have already been made between Cantona and Ibrahimovic, in regards to their character and the impact both have made at the club. What has impressed Eric so much is the Swede’s support for the young players in the squad, something Cantona feels strongly about having helped the Class of '92 youngsters settle into the first team back in the 1990s.

“He is a great player and a strong personality, he played for Milan, he played for Barcelona so he knows all the about the pressure, he understands it and he has proved that he is also a great man,” explained Cantona, whose new film, Anka, for which he learnt Croatian, has just been released. “There are two kinds of older players, the ones that don’t like the young ones because they want to play and they can destroy them, and the others who will help.

“I remember when I was 17, I played with [Andrzej] Szarmach. He was Polish, he played in two World Cup semi-finals, he was a great player and he helped me so much. I remember this and said to myself when I am older, I will try to do the same, and I’m sure Ibrahimovic does the same. He is very helpful for young players because he is a great player with a strong personality, and he is the right older player who wants to help the younger ones. It’s very important to have an experienced player who gives examples to the other ones.”

www.manutd.com

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Eric Cantona ditangkap polisi karena edarkan narkoba
Pewarta: Bayu Adha



Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Eric Cantona ditangkap polisi di Bengkalis, Riau, karena memperdagangkan narkoba.

Tapi, Eric Cantona yang ditangkap ini bukan bintang sepakbola Prancis, yang kondang dan bermain di Manchester United itu.

"Barang bukti berupa 49 butir pil diduga narkotika jenis ekstasi," kata Kepala Pokres Bengkalis, AKBP Hadi Wicaksono, melalui pesan elektronik diterima di Pekanbaru, Jumat.

Wicaksono menjelaskan, polisi mendapat informasi awal bahwa Cantona berdagang narkoba dari masyarakat.

Polisi mengintai dan mengregebeg dia. Hasilnya, polisi menyita 49 butir pil ekstasi.

www.antaranews.com

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Video keprihatinan dan simpati Cantona atas tragedi bom di Manchester beberapa waktu lalu...

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Cantona Kecam Conte yang Depak Diego Costa Lewat Pesan Singkat
Yanu Arifin - detikSport

Jakarta - Mantan pemain Manchester United, Eric Cantona, mengecam sikap Antonio Conte yang mendepak Diego Costa hanya lewat sebuah pesan singkat. Apa katanya?

Costa beberapa waktu lalu mengaku tak lagi dibutuhkan Conte. Striker internasional Spanyol itu menyebut dirinya mendapat pesan singkat dari Conte yang berisi pernyataan bahwa dirinya tak lagi masuk dalam rencana Chelsea musim depan.

Apa yang dilakukan Conte membuat Cantona marah besar. Ia meminta manajer asal Italia itu jangan berbuat seenaknya.

"Marah dengan mengirim pesan singkat bukan ide yang bagus dan memutuskan hubungan lewat teks jauh lebih buruk lagi," ucap Cantona seperti dilansir Manchester Evening News.

"Gabungkan keduanya dan anda akan mendapatkan kalimat Antonio Conte yang sekarang menggemparkan itu: 'Semoga beruntung musim depan, tapi Anda tidak masuk dalam rencana saya lagi.'"

"Setiap huruf dari kalimat yang dialamatkan ke Diego Costa itu mungkin akan membuat Chelsea rugi satu juta euro. Jangan jalankan tim lewat ibu jarimu!" kecam legenda sepakbola Prancis tersebut.

Dengan pesan singkat itu, Costa semakin dekat dengan pintu keluar dari Chelsea. Sejauh ini klub-klub Liga China, AC Milan, dan Atletico Madrid kabarnya jadi yang paling tertarik mendatangkannya.

Musim lalu, Costa sebenarnya tampil bersinar bersama Chelsea. Striker yang terkenal temperamen itu bikin 22 gol dari 42 pertandingan untuk mengantar The Blues menjuarai Liga Inggris.

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Sebut Deschamps Tak Visioner, Cantona Ingin Zidane Latih Timnas Prancis
Rifqi Ardita Widianto - detikSport

Paris - Secara kualitas dan kuantitas, Prancis punya segala talenta melimpah. Tapi sejauh ini Les Bleus dinilai tak tampil sesuai potensinya.

Sorotan itu diungkapkan oleh pemain legendaris Prancis Eric Cantona. Pandangan itu diungkapkan menyusul kekalahan 1-2 Prancis dari Swedia di Kualifikasi Piala Dunia 2018 belum lama ini.

Hasil itu membuat Prancis turun ke posisi dua Grup A, kalah selisih gol dari Swedia yang sama-sama mengumpulkan nilai 13. Sementara itu, masih ada Belanda yang siap membuat situasi persaingan lebih ketat lagi, dengan hanya tertinggal tiga poin dari kedua tim tersebut.

Cantona menilai dengan komposisi skuat saat ini, Prancis seharusnya bisa menunjukkan hasil dan penampilan lebih baik. Dia menilai pelatih Didier Deschamps kurang punya imajinasi dan kreativitas untuk memaksimalkan para pemain yang dipunya.

Di Piala Eropa 2016 lalu misalnya, Paul Pogba disoroti karena gagal bersinar. Karena ditempatkan sebagai gelandang poros, Pogba tak bisa menampilkan permainan terbaiknya yang kreatif dan gemar merangsek ke depan.

Cantona khawatir Deschamps tak bisa memaksimalkan potensi saat ini, apalagi dengan munculnya talenta-talenta muda seperti Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, dan Thomas Lemar. Cantona pun berharap Zinedine Zidane, yang saat ini menangani Real Madrid, bisa kembali ke timnas dan melatih.

"Kuantitas talenta dan potensi yang dipunya Prancis itu gila. Tapi kenapa semua talenta ini tak terlihat di lapangan ketika sangat dibutuhkan? Itu membingungkan," kata Cantona kepada Eurosport.

"Seorang pelatih hebat dinilai dari kemampuannya menemukan sistem taktik di mana para pemain terbaiknya seluruhnya bisa mengekspresikan diri mereka di saat bersamaan."

"Itu takkan terjadi kalau Anda dilatih oleh seorang akuntan alih-alih seorang visioner. Zizou, Zizou, tolong pulang. Negara membutuhkan Anda," imbuhnya dikutip Soccerway.

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Premier League at 25: the best player – Eric Cantona

In the first of a five-part series we pick the division’s finest player. Cantona was the enigma who exploded the doubt at Manchester United, his arrival sparking a first title win for 26 years and a sustained run of success under Sir Alex Ferguso

We can’t be putting Tina Turner on for just any old hero, nor merely for the most skilful. And the toughest, longest-lasting or most prolific can go whistle because only one player can be serenaded as simply the best and it must be the one who has done more than any other to shape the Premier League years. Show us another player who has radiated as much influence as Eric Cantona and we will show you a figment of your imagination.

The rebranding of English football’s First Division as the Premier League coincided with the dawn of Manchester United’s imperial age. Before that they had been champions seven times in 89 years; since then they have won 13 of 25 available titles. There is a fair chance that followers of Manchester’s red team would be (much less numerous and) still harking back to the black-and-white era if it were not for Cantona, the enigma who exploded doubt.

When Cantona moved from Leeds United to Old Trafford in November 1992 the sole certainty was that it was shocking. Even Alex Ferguson could not believe his luck when United’s chance inquiry about buying the Frenchman did not result in the Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson slamming down the phone. Cantona had joined Leeds only the previous February but was already an idol to the Elland Road faithful. His panache and strength of will had helped the Yorkshire club to hold off Manchester United to win the last title before the introduction of the Premier League and he then scored the first hat‑trick of the newfangled top flight when Leeds thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 5-0 just a couple of weeks after his three goals in the Charity Shield victory against Liverpool.

But Wilkinson, who had acted decisively to sign Cantona when Sheffield Wednesday dithered, was not convinced that a game could be built around a player whom he saw as a wild card. Wilkinson is the last English manager to win the title but must also be remembered for his unwitting contribution to Ferguson’s survival and the transformation of Leeds’ arch-rivals into the Premier League’s dominant force. Leeds got £1.2m from the Cantona deal, and a queasy feeling that may never fully heal.

But the transfer was mostly about Ferguson’s gut. There were, in fairness to Wilkinson, good grounds for believing Cantona’s arrival at Old Trafford might have worked out another way and destabilised Ferguson’s team. The player had more baggage than a travelling circus and his stays at clubs tended to be short and spectacular before ending with someone getting a face full of custard pie. Even United players had concerns, Lee Sharpe summing up them by blurting: “Yeah, right, the bloke’s a total nutter.”

But Ferguson, under pressure to deliver the title in his seventh year in charge, erred on the side of adventure. “I’m not interested in all the tittle-tattle ... we all have to remember that he is a truly gifted player.”

United were eighth when Cantona strode in and were finding goals hard to come by. Dion Dublin, the striker signed the previous summer, was out with a broken leg and United could not persuade Sheffield Wednesday to sell David Hirst. It was unclear how Cantona would fit into the team; in the end Ferguson sort of sacrificed his son to make way for the Frenchman, Darren’s run of starts for United coming to an end after Cantona’s arrival, as, with Bryan Robson injured, Brian McClair dropped into midfield so the newcomer could be deployed up front with Mark Hughes.

In Cantona’s first start United beat the league leaders Norwich City 1-0. He scored in each of his next four matches, including a 4-1 victory against Tottenham. But it was a pass against Spurs that demonstrated his most precious contribution to United: his flipped chip with the outside of his right foot to Denis Irwin for United’s second goal in that game encapsulated how he freed his team-mates from the anxiety that had hobbled them, inspiring them with his conviction that together they could be great.

“He just had that aura and presence,” said Paul Ince. “He took responsibility away from us. It was like he said: ‘I’m Eric, and I’m here to win the title for you.’”

United went on to win their first title since 1967 by 10 points. Then they signed Roy Keane to give Cantona an even more solid platform on which to perform. They won the league again, with Cantona their top scorer despite missing five matches through suspension. He also scored twice in the FA Cup final win against Chelsea and was named PFA player of the year. And he underperformed in Europe, establishing another recurring trend for Premier League teams.

Cantona’s impact on the next season’s title race was sensational in a different way. United were chasing down the upstarts at the top of the table, Blackburn Rovers, when a red mist descended on Cantona and he jumped into the crowd at Selhurst Park to dispense street justice. Later, in a more formal procedure, the FA hit him with an eight-month ban. Nerves infected a United team shorn of their strutting leader and they allowed Blackburn to creep over the line for the title.

When Cantona returned from his ban, against Liverpool the following October, he brought back the certainty. He created one goal and scored another in a 2-2 draw. And when he returned to Selhurst Park for the first time since his kung-fu lesson, he scored twice in a United victory. His temper may have been brittle but his mentality was to conquer. In the second half of the 1995‑96 season, United won five matches 1-0, Cantona scoring the decisive goal each time. He demanded a big stage to hog. The title was clinched with a 1-1 draw against Queens Park Rangers, you-know-who scoring for United to claim the first part of a Double that he completed by scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup final against Liverpool.

It was no surprise when Cantona, after being given the armband to go with his guru role, led United to the 1996‑97 title, the fourth in his five years at the club. But his next step was a shock. A week after lifting his latest crown, Cantona, aged 30, announced that he was retiring from football forthwith. No one had seen it coming. But his work was done. He had proven he and United could be masters of their own destiny.

The contenders

Strong claims could be made for three other former Manchester United players. Peter Schmeichel remains the best goalkeeper the Premier League has seen and one of very few world‑class players during that period to have spent all of their prime years with an English club. Roy Keane is another. Cristiano Ronaldo’s finest years came at Real Madrid but for a few seasons he was untouchable in the Premier League. Arsenal’s Thierry Henry was peerless for even longer before heading to Barcelona to win the Champions League. Yaya Touré’s best years, by contrast, came after he left the Camp Nou; at Manchester City he became a uniquely dominant attacking midfielder. In different ways Keane, Ronaldo, Henry and Touré uplifted their teams and gladdened the hearts of football lovers.

• This article was amended on 24 July. Eric Cantona’s first match on his return from suspension ended in a draw, not a win, against Liverpool.

www.theguardian.com

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Iklan TVC terbaru Cantona nih

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Manchester United lied about Eric Cantona's real transfer fee to save Leeds from embarrassment



Eric Cantona remains one of the most iconic players to have graced the Premier League. There have been better, and more consistent, players in the division over the past 25 years, but the former Manchester United forward was a unique talent, and unlike any player before him in the English top flight.

Built like a boxer, with the grace and balance of ballerina, Cantona's spatial awareness, technique and power made him a formidable prospect. The nomadic striker found a home at United, and a manager who would indulge his individuality and offer the perfect stage to fully express his considerable talent.

With his collar up, back straight and chest out, Cantona would stride onto the Old Trafford pitch. At the time, English football played in two banks of four, with two burly strikers leading the line. Cantona drifted between the lines, and suddenly it all clicked for Alex Ferguson's team. The player United fans had waited two decades for was the catalyst to restore the club to the summit of English football. Fans of the club still sing about him two decades later.

The story of how Cantona ended up at Old Trafford has been told several times since November 1992, when he made the move from Leeds United to their bitter rivals. United needed a striker, after new signing Dion Dublin suffered a terrible injury and Alan Shearer turned down the club for Blackburn Rovers. Then a chance phone call led them to Cantona.

According to Ferguson's account, Leeds' chairman Bill Fotherby rang Martin Edwards, the United chairman, inquiring about the availability of Denis Irwin. Ferguson wouldn't entertain any notion of selling the full-back, but the topic of Cantona came up. The French forward and Howard Wilkinson, the Leeds manager, had fallen out and Leeds wouldn't stand in the player's way if a transfer could be arranged. The league champions agreed a fee, worth a reported £1.6m, for Cantona and he arrived at United. He would become a club legend and spark a spell of dominance.

Edwards, in a new book about his time at United, has contradicted Ferguson's account somewhat, and revealed that United got Cantona for a lesser fee than the one widely reported. The former United chairman says he kept the actual fee for Cantona secret, as Leeds wanted to appease their fans. Edwards also claims Ferguson wasn't present when the deal was made, and that it was his idea to try sign Cantona.

"I am in my office and Bill Fotherby rang and asked about buying Denis Irwin. I said no but, thinking on my feet, just said: 'What about Cantona?'," Edwards said.

"I had never had a conversation about Cantona with Alex but had read that Howard Wilkinson and him didn't get on. So I blurted it out. I actually rang Alex at the training ground and told him. He said: 'Too right I would have Cantona'. So the next day I called Bill and said we would take Cantona off their hands. As though we were doing them a favour! We got him for £1million but Bill asked that we say it was £1.6m to appease the Leeds fans. I said: 'You can say what you like…'

While £600,000 is derisory in the current market, where squad players cost £40m, it wasn't a small fee at the time. For example, Irwin cost United £650,000 from Oldham Athletic in 1990, and he would go on to be one the best full-backs to play in the Premier League.

www.joe.co.uk

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How Manchester United and Eric Cantona benefited from deal struck by Martin Edwards

Former chairman of Premier League club details in autobiography successful attempt to keep Frenchman and provide motivation for him to perform.



Martin Edwards, Manchester United’s president and formerly chairman between 1980-2003, was the man who negotiated signing some of the club’s best players.

“Looking back on my time with Manchester United I’ve always said that my best two buys were Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel, but if I had to pick a third, Denis Irwin would definitely be the one,” explains Edwards, whose autobiography Red Glory is released this week.

The story of Edwards bringing in Cantona from Leeds United in 1992 after asking speculatively about his availability is well known. What is not known is how he negotiated a contract to keep Cantona at Old Trafford after he had been banned from playing football following a Kung Fu kick against a fan at Crystal Palace in 1995.

“When Eric returned from his suspension, I renegotiated a new three-year contract with his agent Jean-Jacques Bertrand,” Edwards explains. “I played it canny: ‘Look, we’ve got to be protective towards the club here, because if Eric does anything crazy again we can’t be paying big wages with him sitting on the touchline for eight months.’

"So the idea was for the new contract to be related to results. Eric would still get a wage, although there would be no monetary increase, but if we won the league he’d get a big bonus. And it would be the same if we won the Cup.”

Edwards needed to sell the idea to Cantona and his agent.

“Eric was training the day Jean-Jacques Bertrand and I were going through this new contract, and I could see that the agent was not entirely won over by it,” he explains. “‘Eric could end up with less than he was getting before,’ Jean-Jacques pointed out.

‘But if we win things, he’ll get more,’ I replied. ‘And we have been winning things.’

‘We’ll have to put this to Eric when he’s finished training,’ Jean‑Jacques said.

“After training, Eric arrived at my office and I began to explain what we had done; that if we lost the league he could end up with less, but if we won it he got more. ‘So what do you think for the next three years, Eric?’ I asked. ‘How many times do you think we’ll win the league?’ His reply was immediate. ‘Three times,’ he said. Jean-Jacques Bertrand’s face fell. ‘Eric, no, be quiet, it is not in your interest to say that; there is no guarantee that you will win the league.’ But Eric looked at me: ‘Of course we are going to win the league three times.’

"Even though it was against his own bargaining position, Eric couldn’t bring himself to say anything less. No, we will win the league three times in the next three years.”

Cantona would win the league in 1996 and 1997, the year he decided to quit football. He was 31.

“It came as a complete surprise to everyone at the club and was revealed to me during a private meeting Eric had requested in my office on the afternoon of 15 May,” Edwards explains. “He gave a number of reasons for his decision. First, he didn’t believe that United were capable of winning the [Uefa] Champions League. He also said that having played football for thirteen years, which he said was a long time, he wanted to take his life in another direction and pursue other things.

“Added to that, it had always been his plan to retire at the top. Eric wanted it known that his four and a half years at Manchester United were the happiest of his football career, along with his relationship with the manager, coaching staff and players, and not least the fans. And he wished Manchester United even more success in the future. Finally, he asked me to release the statement about his retirement while he was on holiday, when the press would be unable to contact him.

“Obviously we didn’t want Eric to leave and I tried my hardest to persuade him to stay, but if a player wants to retire you can’t do anything about it. You have to let him go.”

News of Cantona’s retirement stunned football, but he is still remembered as a hero among United fans, one of the club’s greatest ever players. And as for that contract deal, it could not have worked out better for both sides.

www.thenational.ae