Olembe: Rene Salomon (Salomon)

2003-2004 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Yaounde, Cameroon: 08-12-1980

Debut: v Leicester City (a) (Substitute): 15-09-2003

5’7” 10st 5lb (2003)

Olembe played for Cameroon at the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, as well as the 2004 African Cup of Nations. Salomon Olembe began his European career at Nantes in August 1997, having been invited to join the club’s youth academy as a sixteen-year-old. The Cameroonian was well developed for his age. He had already been turning in mature displays for his hometown club Diamant Yaoundé before Nantes took him to France, where he started with their Junior team before signing professional in 1997. Les Canaris boss Raynald Denoueix handed him his Ligue 1 debut shortly before his seventeenth birthday and, though Nantes lost 1-0 to Olympique Marseille at the Stade Vélodrome, the evening had a profound affect on Olembe. He was so taken by the atmosphere that he secretly made it his ambition to play for the Mediterranean giants one day. That day arrived in January 2002, just seven months after Olembe had helped Nantes clinch their eighth French title. The versatile Cameroonian played thirty matches in the victorious 2000/01 campaign, mainly as a holding midfielder, scoring four goals and adding a championship medal to the two Coupe de France medals he had picked up in 1999 and 2000. While with Nantes, he scored seven goals in one hundred and three League appearances and a total of one hundred and seventeen. Olembe could, by now, have become an established name in the Premiership. But, despite being linked with Liverpool, Chelsea and Fulham, the Cameroon midfielder instead joined former French champions Marseille in January 2002. He had already proved he possesses the capabilites to play on the European stage, having impressed with Nantes en route to the French title. Olembe was all the while establishing himself as an integral member of the Cameroon set up, helping the Indomitable Lions win the African Cup of Nations in 2002. It is ironic that Olembe’s medal haul dried up after he sealed his ‘dream’ move to Marseille. He initially went on loan to Olympique Marsaille from Nantes, playing eight games before signing permanently for 2 million Euros in July 2002. Life in the South did not work out how he would have liked initially. Regular changes to the coaching staff meant that Olembe was in and out of the side during his first eighteen months. He had only made twenty-seven starts and ten substitute appearances before he was loaned to Leeds United in August 2003. He was with them for the 2003-04 season but struggled in a struggling team being played in several positions but never given a chance to prove his worth as Leeds tried desperate means to avoid their ultimate relegation by reverting to players brought up at Leeds at the expense of foreign loan players. He returned to Olympique Marsaille in May 2004 and made twenty starts and nineteen substitute appearances before being released in 2007. Olembe had experienced something of a renaissance under Philippe Troussier, who, after his appointment as Coach in November 2004, selected the ex-Nantais as his first-choice left-back following the sale of Bixente Lizarazu. During that time he had also been loaned to Al Rayyan of Qatar in the 2005-06 season and scored three times in fourteen games while there. Olembe spent the pre-season of 2007 on trial at Derby County, where he scored in a friendly match against Burton Albion. However, he was not offered a contract by the Rams, and on 4th September 2007, he was snapped up by Wigan Athletic, signing initially on a one-year contract. A midfielder by trade, Olembe had attacking instincts and often marauded up the left flank whenever possible. Though his distribution could be haphazard, his energy, speed and powerful left foot remained useful attacking weapons. While at Wigan he started two League games and came on as a substitute in six more and also started one F.A. Cup tie. In April 2008, he was transferred to Turkish club Kayserispor. He started six League games and came on in another six as a substitute and scored in the final game of the season. He also made two starts and had two more from the bench in the Turkish Cup. He was contracted with the club until the end of 2009-10 and while often used as a substitute or often substituted he was an integral team player. In 2009-10 he made three starts and came on twice as a substitute. He had scored once in seventeen games, including as a substitute, before joining Greek side Larissa FC. He had a trial with Burnley in March 2010 and played in a Reserve game, but did not impress and was not signed. At International level he had scored five times for Cameroon in sixty-five appearances when he played his final international game for Cameroon in a 3-0 home win over Equatorial Guinea in an African Cup of Nations qualifier on 7th October 2006 in which he played seventy-nine minutes before being replaced by Stephane Mbia.