Whatever happened to: Denílson de Oliveira AraújoDenílson, full name Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, (born August 24, 1977 in Diadema, Brazil) is a football winger, who in 1998 became the most expensive footballer in the world. He is currently playing with Saudi premiership side Al-Nasr.
Denílson broke the record when Real Betis paid São Paulo euro32 million (UK £21.9 million or US $40.5 million) for his services. Denílson had been with São Paulo since 1995. In 1999/2000 he went on a brief loan to Flamengo. After becoming a World Cup winner in 2002, Real Betis sold the Brazilian in 2005 to French club Bordeaux for an undisclosed amount.
A player of outstanding close control and dexterity, Denílson is renowned for his 'stand still' stepovers, with many referring to the skill as the "Denílson".
In interviews, Denílson is known for talking plainly. In a 2003 interview with Wanderley Nogueira, Denílson offered some advice to Brazil's younger prospects, like Gil, Robinho and Kaká, suggesting that they should avoid thinking about money, and focus instead on the joy of playing football in a great footballing centre.
Since his debut in November 1996 against Cameroon and as of 2005, Denílson has been capped 61 times for Brazil, scoring nine goals. After helping his country to a second place finish at the 1998 World Cup, he made five substitute appearances to become a World Cup winner after Brazil won the tournament in Japan and South Korea in 2002. However, he fell out of favour when Carlos Alberto Parreira became the Brazil coach in 2003 and was not included in the 2006 squad.
Despite a slow start at Bordeaux, Denilson managed to find his form in the second part of the season, but his excessively high wage demands prevented the french club from extending his contract. His contract expired in 2006, and he had been linked with free transfers to Tottenham Hotspur, Vestel Manisaspor and Celtic. Even with UEFA Champions League football next season, Bordeaux struggled to match the winger's wage demands, and he left to sign for Saudi Arabia's Al-Nasr quashing rumours of him signing for Middlesbrough or Portsmouth.
Career
Club1995-1998: São Paulo FC 112 apps
1998-2000: Real Betis 32 apps
2000-2001: Flamengo (on loan from Betis) 34 apps
2001-2005: Real Betis 145 apps
2005-2006: Bordeaux 35 apps
2006-2006: Al-Nasr 15 apps
National1996-2003: Brazil
Honours and awardsFIFA World Cup winner: 2002
Copa del Rey winner: 2005
Quotations"I'm twice as good as the number 10" - on why he chose the number 20 for Brazil.
On David Beckham: "He's pretty. So he's very lucky: he's both a footballer AND pretty. I'm this ugly and still the women are all over me."
On playing overseas: "Everybody will miss home and feel saddened; the important thing is to be with trusted people in the beginning, when you still haven't adapted".
Added on March 29, 2007, 6:00 pmWhatever happened to: Dwight YorkeDwight Eversley Yorke (born November 3, 1971 in Canaan, Tobago) is a Trinidad and Tobago football player. He currently plays for Sunderland, having previously played for Aston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City and Sydney FC.
Trinidad & Tobago» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Yorke has been capped 59 official times for the Trinidad and Tobago national team, scoring 26 goals, but has played over 100 matches for T&T that were not recognised as international friendlies. He retired from international football in 2001 with his friend Russell Latapy after a disagreement with the side's coach; however he returned to the team for the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, in which the team qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in their history after a 2-1 aggregate qualifying victory over Bahrain. Yorke retired from international football in March 2007, choosing to focus on his domestic career at Sunderland AFC.[1] He captained the side in Germany, and up until his retirement.
Aston Villa» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Dwight Yorke was first discovered by Graham Taylor, at the time the Aston Villa manager, on a tour of the West Indies in 1989. Yorke appeared in a team that played a friendly match against Aston Villa, Taylor was impressed and offered Yorke a trial at Villa. Yorke was subsequently given a permanent contract and he made his First Division debut for Aston Villa against Manchester United on December 29, 1990: the game ended 1-1. During his time with Aston Villa, from 1989 to 1998, Yorke played initially as a right winger until the 1995-96 season, he then switched to centre forward and quickly established himself as one of the Premiership's top strikers. Yorke was an integral member of the Villa team that reached the League Cup Final in 1996. Villa won 3-0 with Yorke getting on the scoresheet. On September 30, 1996 he scored a brilliant hat-trick against Newcastle United in a 4-3 defeat. Newcastle were leading 3-1 at half-time and Aston Villa were down to ten men, with Mark Draper being sent off late in the first half. Yorke showed great character in leading his team in a brave fight back by scoring two more goals in the second half to complete his hat-trick, although it was to no avail as Aston Villa still lost the game. Yorke scored a fourth goal to equalise the game at 4-all, only for his goal to be ruled offside. It was performances like this that led to interest from Manchester United in August 1998. Yorke appeared for Aston Villa on 231 occasions, scoring 97 times.
The circumstances of his departure from Aston Villa were very controversial; Manchester United were accused of making an illegal approach for the player. John Gregory, Aston Villa manager at that time, made it known that the club did not want to sell Yorke to Manchester United unless they were prepared to exchange Andy Cole, a striker at Manchester United. Yorke then approached Gregory to state that he wanted to leave the club, to which Gregory was famously attributed to saying that he would shoot Yorke if he had had a gun in his office. Yorke played in a match for Villa at Everton early in the season in August 1998, however it appeared he made no effort during the match as he was unhappy at not being allowed to leave the club. Aston Villa was left with no option but to sell the player and he was transferred to Manchester United for £12.6 million in August 1998. Despite spending 9 years at Villa he is widely disliked by its fans due to his behaviour at the time he left the club and also due to the fact he later joined Birmingham City, the arch-rivals of Aston Villa.
Manchester UnitedIn his first three seasons, Yorke was a key player in guiding his club to three successive Premiership titles including a unique treble of the Premiership title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, and at the same time forming a deadly attacking partnership with Andy Cole in the 1998-1999 season. Yorke finished the season as the top league goalscorer. His partnership with Cole in United's treble winning 1999 season is reminiscent of the great Dalglish-Rush partnership in the eighties and with their demolition of Barcelona in the Champions League a key highlight . Yorke made, in total, 95 league appearances for Manchester United, scoring 47 goals.
However, in the 2001-02 season, Yorke lost his place in the line-up following the arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy. It was also rumoured that Yorke had a fall-out with United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, following his much publicised relationship with British supermodel Jordan. The following summer he was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £2 million.
In June 2006, Yorke trained with Manchester United in a bid to achieve a higher level of fitness prior to the 2006 World Cup, although he was at that time contracted to Sydney FC.
Blackburn Rovers» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Yorke spent two years at Blackburn Rovers, where he rejoined his old United strike partner, Andy Cole, but never made the same impact that he made at United, there he fell out with manager Graeme Souness. It was rumoured that Souness, accusing him of not trying hard enough, hit Yorke with a tackle that could have broken his leg. Subsequently he joined Birmingham City in 2004 on a free transfer.
Birmingham City» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Yorke started his Birmingham career well enough with a goal on his debut which went a long way in winning over skeptical fans due to his lengthy association in the past with city rivals Aston Villa F.C.. However, Yorke ended up spending most of the remainder of his time at the club on the bench and was eventually released by Steve Bruce and was snapped up by Australian A-League team Sydney FC.
Sydney FC» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
By signing for Sydney FC Yorke opted to continue his career in Australia for less money than might have been available in some other leagues, notably those in the Middle East (a common destination for ageing stars seeking a lucrative final contract before retirement). Qatar's football league were most interested, but Yorke opted for the Australian club instead. He scored the first goal for Sydney FC in its first A-League regular season match, a spectacular diving header against the Melbourne Victory. Dwight Yorke came to Sydney FC with the biggest pedigree of all players in the new A-league, having won the treble with Manchester United. He signed for two years and impressed the fans with his vision and enormous experience. Yorke scored 7 goals in the A-League, with three of them being from penalty kicks. Former Sydney FC coach Pierre Littbarski moved Yorke into a midfield role. The move from striker to playmaker paid off, with Yorke's vision, and midfield experience playing for Trinidad and Tobago, coming into practice. Yorke's tantalising form, and crowd appeal did not go unnoticed and he was rewarded with the captain's arm-band.
He played a major role in leading Sydney FC to victory in the inaugural A-League Grand Final on March 5 against regional rivals Central Coast Mariners. He set up the only goal, scored by Steve Corica, in front of a sell out crowd of over 41,000 at Aussie Stadium, and was awarded the Joe Marston Medal as best player in the grand final.
Yorke was the "marquee" player for Sydney FC - meaning that his salary fell outside the salary cap. He was also a star name for the A-League as a whole. Aside from his footballing talents, the drawing power and credibility he brought both locally and internationally proved to be beneficial for the competition in its inaugural season, leading the FFA to use his image and name for the promotion of the A-League's second season.
Sunderland A.F.C.» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
On August 31, 2006, Yorke's transfer to Sunderland was announced. [1] The transfer, for a fee of £200,000, re-united Yorke with ex-teammate Roy Keane, now manager of Sunderland. Yorke made his debut in the home match against Leicester City, and received a rapturous standing ovation from home fans when he came on as a substitute in the first half. He scored his first goal for Sunderland in the 2-1 loss against Stoke, and has become firmly accepted by the people of Sunderland, switching on the city's Christmas lights in 2006.
Life outside footballHe was once in a much-publicised relationship with the British Page three model Jordan, and has a child with her called Harvey. Yorke disputed paternity until Jordan's claims were proven by a DNA test.
The Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, constructed for the 2001 U-17 World Cup, was named in Yorke's honour.
One of Yorke's closest friends is fellow countryman Brian Lara, who is currently the all time leading run scorer in test match cricket. During the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Yorke made regular appearances bringing on drinks for the West Indies cricket team.
He was said to have been dating former Miss Wales and Big Brother UK 2006 contestant Imogen Thomas. She reportedly finished her relationship with Yorke because "he was no longer famous enough".[2]
After moving to Sydney, Yorke made public his liking of Australian night life and was also rumoured to have been in a relationship with a well known Australian model. During his time at Sydney FC some fans called him "All Night Dwight" because of the times he spent all night at Star City Casino.
Yorke featured extensively in an episode of Australia's The Biggest Loser TV show, which aired 28 February 2006. The episode involved Yorke coaching the "red team" of contestants while they competed against the "blue team" in a game of football. Mark Rudan, Yorke's Sydney FC team-mate, was the manager of the "blue team".
For his contribution to the national team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup he was made a Sports Ambassador for Trinidad and Tobago.
This post has been edited by zenix: Mar 29 2007, 06:00 PM 
Mar 29 2007, 03:20 PM, updated 19y ago
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