By Mark Heys
November 14 2005

Fabrice Fernandes

Born: Paris, France, 29th October 1979

International Honours: France U21

Position: Right Winger

Squad Number: 23

Former Clubs: Stade Rennes (France), Fulham (loan), Glasgow Rangers (loan), Olympique Marseille (loan), Southampton

Former French U21 international winger who signed for Bolton on the eve of the transfer deadline in August 2005 following the termination of his contract with relegated Southampton.

Fernandes had spent nearly four years with the Saints but wanted a quick return to the Premiership following relegation and a public fall out with Harry Redknapp

He first came to England at the start of the 2000-2001 season when joining Fulham on loan from Rennes as part of Jean Tigana's new revolution which also included fellow Frenchmen Louis Saha, Sylvain Legwinski and Steed Malbranque.

Whilst with the Cottagers he won a Division 1 championship medal in 2001 but ended his year long spell in West London abruptly to sign for the Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers .

His spell at Ibrox did not go according to plan and he made just a handful of appearances during his time North of the Border before returning to Rennes for the start of the 2001-2002 season.

In December 2001 he completed a £1.2 million move back to England with the ever improving Southampton team lead by Gordon Strachan, one of Fernandes team mates at the time was the current Bolton favourite Kevin Davies.

In his first full season with the Saints he missed just one Premiership game and contributed a seasonal best of three goals in a campaign which ended with an FA Cup Final appearance against Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium.

2003-2004 saw less consistency for Fernandes due to an off the field problem and he found himself in and out of the side as the likes of Paul Telfer, Rory Delap and David Prutton took over the midfield positions.

He started last season as a regular on the right wing which included a game against the Wanderers at St Mary's Stadium. A change of manager saw him once again out of the side and he mutually agreed to end his bitter-sweet spell on the South Coast earlier in the month.

On his day an energetic and skillfull midfielder who is an excellent striker of the ball in open play or dead ball situations. He will be hoping his spell at the Reebok Stadium will maximise his obvious potential

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