Cyril Chapuis ⭑ From A-Z since '92

This is part of my (eight year long, it'll fly by) attempt to write about every Leeds United player since 1992. For more about why I'm doing this, go back to Aapo Halme, and to read all the players so far, browse the archive here.

It's a story everyone knows. A mercurial French striker, branded a 'mystery' at Marseille and looking for a club in England, is offered a chance — a trial. But why should he, who has played in Ligue 1 and in Europe, have to prove himself? He comes to England but tells the manager he won't train, and the manager tells him, cheerio. Leeds United hear of this and swoop, signing him on a loan deal. The rest is history.

It was Eric Cantona's history, when he refused to show Sheffield Wednesday manager Trevor Francis what he could do on their outdoor pitches in 1992. But this was Cyril Chapuis' history, when he arrived at Everton's training ground in summer 2003, told manager David Moyes that a trial was out of the question, and a fortnight later signed for Leeds.

It's fair to say that history did not repeat itself when Leeds signed this French forward, unless the history we're talking about now was Pierre Laurent's. Although the nickname was true — his Marseille teammates had dubbed him, 'The Mysterious One', for mysterious reasons — no other comparison with Cantona holds up. But still, for a few moments at the start of 2003/04 season, it was nice to dream.

Chapuis had been briefly glimpsed in England, scoring for Rennes against Aston Villa in the Intertoto Cup in 2001. Villa started keeping tabs on him, and after a move to his boyhood club Marseille didn't work out and Didier Drogba was signed in his place, Chapuis set his sights on the Premier League. Marseille claimed they'd turned down a £6m bid from Newcastle in March 2003, and Spurs and Southampton were linked in the summer. He was initially being shopped around by agent Bruno Heiderscheid, who was later embroiled in years of legal wrangling over his claims on Frank Ribery's career. Then it was Willie McKay, who later etc legal wrangling etc etc, and he arranged the link up with Everton. Perhaps something was lost in translation. "I have not had a trialist here," David Moyes said. "A player did arrive but didn't want to train, so we sent him away."

To Leeds, then, where McKay had been working busily with the manager, Peter Reid, and flustered stand-in chairman Professor John McKenzie, to revamp United's squad without it looking like a firesale. Chapuis was one of three players loaned in from Marseille, five in total from France, and he had the least impact of any of them.

He started against Swindon in the League Cup, the night Paul Robinson scored a header. He came off the bench in the next round against visitors from Old Trafford and, in extra-time, was hauled down in the penalty area. Referee Paul Durkin ignored the foul and moments later Diego Forlan scored at the other end. Chapuis was then in the queue to equalise behind Roque Junior who, with his second goal of the night, did. Otherwise he was screamed at by assistant manager Kevin Blackwell, like Sybil Fawlty shrieking 'See-rall! See-ralll!' through the cold Beeston night.