Charles N'Zogbia (born 28 May 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right or left winger, but also as an attacking midfielder. He was capped for the France under-21 team on thirteen occasions, and made his debut for the senior side in 2010. He spent over a decade at Premier League sides Newcastle United, Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa, having begun his career at Le Havre.
Club career
Early career
N'Zogbia began his career at the academy of Le Havre. When he was 16, he was spotted by the former chief scout of Newcastle United, Charlie Woods, who arranged for him to have a trial at the club. After training with Newcastle for a month, he impressed the club and they were keen to sign him. However, his transfer to Newcastle proved controversial. Le Havre had tied him to an educational contract, but Newcastle claimed that the player had freedom of contract to move on a free transfer, an assertion which FIFA supported.
Newcastle United
After a protracted saga involving the threat of a case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Newcastle eventually paid a fee in the region of £250,000 to sign N'Zogbia from Le Havre, for compensation on youth development cost. His transfer to Newcastle officially completed on 2 September 2004. He was the last player to be signed by the late Sir Bobby Robson.
N'Zogbia earned the nickname 'Zog', with supporters chanting Zog on the Tyne (in reference to the Lindisfarne song "Fog on the Tyne"), in appreciation to his contribution to the team.
His debut for the club came in a 3–0 win over Blackburn Rovers on 11 September 2004. In the 2005–06 season, N'Zogbia established himself as a first-team regular, appearing in 41 matches. He scored Newcastle's first goal of the season in the 1–1 draw at home to Fulham, with a skilful free kick. He further displayed his goalscoring ability with 6 goals in total that season, including a solo effort in the 4–1 win over fierce rivals Sunderland. He was the fourth highest goal scorer for Newcastle in the 2005–06 season and also contributed seven assists. This good form attracted interest from clubs such as Arsenal but he instead signed a three-year contract extension with Newcastle at the end of the season.
He found himself playing less regularly during the 2006–07 season under new club manager, Glenn Roeder, who favoured Damien Duff over N'Zogbia. He also missed matches due to an injury sustained during the 1–0 defeat to Chelsea on 13 December 2006 and did not return until late February 2007. He was left out of the Newcastle squad on 13 May 2007 for the final game of the season against Watford, after he refused to be used as a substitute.
Despite rumours that N'Zogbia would leave Newcastle during the summer, he stayed at the club and was named in the starting line-up in the opening game against Bolton Wanderers. He repaid new manager Sam Allardyce's trust in him by scoring the opening goal of the game, which Newcastle won 3–1. On 4 September 2007 he signed a new five-year contract, keeping him at the club until 2012.
In December 2008, N'Zogbia announced his desire to leave Newcastle during the January 2009 transfer window, saying "After four years at Newcastle, I want to reach a higher level of ambition. I don't think that is possible here." On 29 January 2009, following a 2–1 away loss to Manchester City, Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear angered N'Zogbia by mispronouncing his name as "insomnia". N'Zogbia then issued a statement which, while apologising to the fans, announced he would not play for the club while Kinnear was manager.
Wigan Athletic
On 30 January 2009, just hours ahead of the transfer deadline, Newcastle agreed a £6 million fee with Wigan Athletic for N'Zogbia with the player signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. The deal involved Ryan Taylor moving the other way to St James' Park. N'Zogbia scored his first league goal for Wigan on 29 March in a 2–1 away victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, with a run beginning from behind the halfway-line. The following season, on 18 April 2010, N'Zogbia scored the winning goal to complete a late comeback against Arsenal to win the match 3–2. This result all but secured Wigan's Premier League survival. He was named Wigan's Players' Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Season for 2009–10.
