Faye: Amdy Moustapha (Amdy)

2010-2011 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Central Midfield/Central Defender

Born: Dakar, Senegal: 12-03-1977

Debut : Nil

6’0” 12st 4lb (2010)

Faye started his football career with AS Monaco and progressed through their Youth system in the 1996-97 season, but never made the first team. This was followed by a spell with another French club ES Frejus, where he scored five goals in twenty-two League appearances in the Championnat National, or third tier of the French League, in 1997-98, before he was signed by Ligue 1 Auxerre on 7th February 1998. He had to be content with Reserve team football and it wasn't until the 1999-2000 season that he made the first team with two games from the bench and one start. 2000-01 saw him score his first goal and play in twenty-three games, of which four were as a substitute, and he made his debut for the Senegalese national team and went on to feature regularly. The following season saw a further sixteen starts and four games from the bench, until in 2002-03 he claimed regular status with two goals from thirty-four games, including two as a substitute. After scoring three goals in sixty-eight starts and twelve games as a substitute for Auxerre, and making a further eight appearances in European competition, on 5th August 2003 Portsmouth paid a fee of £1.5 million to take him to Fratton Park. He soon established himself in the first team, but ultimately was restricted to twenty-seven League games, after being sidelined by a knee injury for five months of the campaign, but he still played a major part in Pompey making a miraculous recovery to avoid relegation. The injury also caused him to miss the 2004 African Nations Cup. He did recover his spots both in the Pompey first team and with the National team, but midway through the 2004-05 season after forty-four League starts and three games from the bench, together with two League Cup starts and two more and a game from the bench in the F.A. Cup, on 25th January 2005, Newcastle United paid £2 million for his services and he moved to St James' Park on a four year contract. His move to Tyneside was not a success, as he only featured in eight League starts and one game from the bench, but he did start three F.A. Cup games and eight UEFA Cup games in his first season. His second season was also restricted to twenty-two League games of which eight were from the bench, together with four UEFA Cup games and two League Cup games, one of which was as a substitute. So after forty-five appearances in all games, ten of which were off the bench, Newcastle were happy to recoup the £2 million fee and he signed for Charlton Athletic on 8th August 2006. He registered his first League goal in England on 20th January 2007, against his former club Portsmouth, but life at the Valley was not easy and the club suffered relegation from the EPL at the end of his first season there. He was loaned out to Scottish League side Rangers on 31st August 2007 for the season, but he could not get many games in the first team and only featured in six games in all competitions, of which three were as a substitute. In January 2008 he trained with Blackburn Rovers but was unable to obtain a transfer to them because FIFA Rules did not allow a player to play for three different clubs in one season. He returned to the Valley at the end of the loan period and after one goal in twenty-five League starts and four as substitute, three starts and one game fron the bench in the League Cup and one F.A. Cup tie, he signed for Stoke City on 15th August 2008. Injury and ill-discipline kept his appearances for the Potters down to just eighteen starts and four games from the bench in all competitions in his first season, while in the 2009-10 season his only appearance for the first team came in the League Cup and he was released by the club at the end of the season. He had amassed thirty-one caps for Senegal to the end of that season. In September 2010 he sought a trial with Leeds United and after a a game for the Reserve team against Grimsby Town, on 9th September 2010, he was taken on a short term contract until January 2011. After proving his fitness in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Middlesbrough, he was included in the first team squad for the game at Doncaster Rovers on 17th September 2010, but remained an unused substitute. On 2nd October 2010 he made his Leeds debut at Ipswich Town and started to settle into the team. He was substituted five minutes from time after picking up a knock in the away win at Middlesbrough on 16th October 2010. He was fit enough to play in the following fixture on 19th October 2010 when he was replaced by Neil Kilkenny with twenty-minutes left on the clock. A spell on the bench ensued as Bradley Johnson took over the midfield role and Faye's game involvement became almost no existent. After first saying, on 1st January 2011, that he was considering extending Faye's contract, Manager Simon Grayson announced on 12th January 2011 that Faye's contract was not being renewed and that he was now a free agent.