Gabriel Zakuani

Born in Kinshasa, Zakuani moved to London as a young child. Leyton Orient spotted him playing in one of his school matches as a 14-year old and signed him. After two seasons in Orient's youth team, Zakuani was given his first-team debut against AFC Bournemouth in March 2003, aged 16.[3] In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons, he became a regular in Martin Ling's plans, making the central defence position his own and scoring three goals in almost 100 first team appearances for Orient.

In January 2006, Zakuani was part of the Leyton Orient side that defeated Premier League, Fulham 2–1 in the FA Cup third round. His performance attracted the attention of the West London side, who signed him in July that year for a fee of £1 million, rising to £1.5 million depending on appearances, on a four-year contract. The fee represented a club record for Leyton Orient.[4]

Zakuani only played twice for Fulham in his three-year spell with the club, in the League Cup against Wycombe Wanderers and in the FA Cup against Leicester City.

Zakuani signed for Stoke City on loan for the remainder of the 2006–07 season.[5] Despite being a centre back, Zakuani also deputised as a right-back during his loan spell. He made his debut for Stoke in a 2–0 win away at Derby County in February 2007.[6] He went on to make another eight appearances for Stoke during the 2006–07 season as City narrowly missed out on a play-off place.

On 31 August 2007, Zakuani re-signed for Stoke on loan for the rest of the 2007–08 season.[7][8] This time he made 19 appearances as Stoke were promoted to the Premier League. Zakuani later admitted he would like to make a permanent move to Stoke: "The gaffer [Tony Pulis] said he'd like me here so I'll wait and see what happens in the summer. Obviously Stoke would be my first choice but you always think where you will be wanted the most."[9] Despite this, a move never happened.

Gabriel Zakuani was then sent to Peterborough United on a three-month loan.[10] On 25 November 2008, it was confirmed that he would make his loan move permanent when the transfer window re-opened on 1 January 2009, for a fee in the region of £375,000.[11]

On 8 July 2012, Zakuani was given captaincy of Peterborough United, where he would succeed Grant McCann.[12] On 12 November 2012, he was transfer listed and fined following a breach of club discipline following a night out in Peterborough.[13] Zakuani wrote on Twitter, explaining: "I went out on a weekend whether there's no midweek game, those that know me know I don't drink or smoke, I was up at 8am for church the next day."[14] He was later taken off the transfer list and had his fine repealed. As a result of not being transfer list, Zakuani was available for the next match.[15] Zakuani says the incident changed his attitude, and he vowed to stay behind more in training.[16]

At the end of the 2012–13 season, which resulted in Peterborough United relegation, Zakuani was placed on the transfer list for the second time after rejecting a three-year contract with the club, due to his increasing international commitment.[17]

On 2 January 2014, Zakuani signed a contract with Kalloni, who are competing in Superleague Greece, the top flight of Greek football.[18]

On 8 June 2014, Zakuani made a return to Peterborough, signing a two-year contract stating: "I missed the club and this feels like a homecoming. I feel like there is unfinished business here. I want to get this club back to the Championship."[19]

Zakuani signed for Northampton Town in June 2016.[20] He scored his first goal for Northampton in a 4–2 win at Shrewsbury Town on 22 October 2016.[21]

Zakuani signed for League One side Gillingham on a one-year deal on 7 June 2017, after rejecting a new contract offer from Northampton Town.[22] He made his full debut in the 0–0 draw away to Doncaster Rovers on the opening day of the 2017–18 League One season.[23]

He was offered a new contract by Gillingham at the end of the 2017–18 season.[24] He left the club in September 2019 when his contract was terminated. At the time he had not played a game for seven months due to injury.[25]

On 4 October 2019, Zakuani signed a short-term contract with Swindon Town following a long-term injury to club captain Dion Conroy. He made his first appearance the following day in a 2–1 defeat at Bradford City. Zakuani was released in January 2020 after his short-term deal expired.[26]

On 13 January 2020, Zakuani signed for National League club Dagenham & Redbridge on a six-month deal.[27] He made one appearance for the Daggers before the season was cut short due to Covid-19 and subsequently retired from the game in September 2020.[28]