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Fullname: Marc-Antoine Fortuné
aka: N/A
Born: 2 July 1981
Birthplace: Cayenne, French Guiana
Height: 6ft, 1.83m
Signed: 8 July 2009
Fee: £3.8m
Position: Striker, Forward
Internationals: ? [which international team played for]
International Caps: TBC
International Goals: TBC

KDS Honours

KDS Honours
MOTM Winners 2009-10
24-Jan-10	St Johnstone 1-4 Celtic	SPL
27-Jan-10	Celtic 1-2 Hibernian	SPL
Jan-10	Jan-10 Player of the Month
02-Feb 10	Kilmarnock 1 0 Celtic	SPL
10-Feb-10	Celtic 2-0 Heart of Midlothian	SPL
Feb-10	Feb 10 Player of the Month

Biog

Marc-Antoine became the first signing of Tony Mowbray's reign as Celtic manager when he joined the Hoops in a reported £3.8 million deal from French side Nancy on July 9th 2009.

The 6ft striker has previously played under Mowbrary at West Brom, having joined the midlanders on loan for the second half of their 2008/09 Premiership campaign. During his spell at the Hawthorns Fortuné bagged 5 goals in 17 appearances but his impressive performances were not enough to prevent the Baggies returning to the Coca-Cola Championship.

During his time in the Premiership Fortuné caught the attention of several managers and once his loan with West Brom expired Hull, Fulham and Portsmouth all declared their intent to sign him from Nancy on a permanent deal. Now installed as boss at Celtic Park, Mowbrary was also keen to bring the player back to the UK and after several weeks of speculation and rumours Fortuné eventually decided to turn his back on England and head north to Parkhead.

A hard working, pacy and intelligent forward, Fortuné began his professional football career at Angouleme, before moving to Lille, Rouen (loan) and Stade Brest. In 2005 he moved to Dutch side Utrecht before returning to France in 2007 with Nancy.

Fortuné made his Celtic debut as a substitute in the Bhoys 3-0 pre-season win in Australia against Brisbane Roar on July 12th. His competitive debut came at Celtic Park on July 29th in the Champions League defeat (1-0) against Dynamo Moscow and the striker would open his goal account for the Bhoys with a double in the 5-2 home defeat of St Johnstone August 22nd.

Fortuné naturally took a little time to adjust to the Scottish game and before the striker had a chance to really get settled he and Celtic suffered a bitter blow when he was ruled out for eight weeks after damaging knee ligaments in the Champions League Qualifier defeat at Arsenal. On return from that injury Fortuné was given little opportunity to regain his match fitnees and form before the Scottish media began to pile the pressure on a man they were only too eager to label an expensive flop.

That particular campaign would blow up in their face in spectacular fashion. Giving no thought to the fact that Fortuné was not only in his first few months with a new club but had also just returned from a serious injury, the media were falling over themselves to give the player a hard time. Newspaper articles, radio phone ins and TV debates were all discussing this supposed waste of money.

With Celtic drawing 2-2 at Motherwell on a live TV game Fortuné emerged from the bench with little more than 12 minute remaining. The Sky commentary team - Ian Crocker and Andy Walker - could not resist a couple of digs as Fortuné entered the play. But within a minute their smug smirks were wiped off in memorable fashion. Fortuné's immediate contribution to the game was to neatly flick on a long ball forward to the feet of Scott McDonald. He then made a fine looped run into space on the edge of the Motherwell area and on receiving a return pass from McDonald he smashed home a spectacular winner for the Bhoys. As Crocker and Walker acclaimed a truly wonderful goal they could not disguise a real sense of chagrin in their voices.

Celtic entered 2010 with Fortuné begining to find his best form yet in a Celtic jersey. He put in a fine performance in a 1-1 draw with Rangers and was hugely unlucky to have a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out. While that was disappointing if Marc can stay free from injury there is every chance that he will go on continuing to prove the doubters very wrong.

Playing Career

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Honours

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KStreet

• Fortuné signs for Celtic (July 09)