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The 22-year old midfielder was born in Douala, Cameroon on 4 May 1981. A boyhood United fan, he was given the nickname "Little Cantona" when he was growing up. He used to play as an attacker but evolved into a defensive midfielders with abox-to-box style.
Scouted playing for a local team, he joined the many other African footballing-hopefuls in the French League joining Nantes in the summer of 2000.
And played a big role in helping Nantes reach the second group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2001/02. His best performance in that campaign was in a surprise victory over Lazio.
The second group stage saw Djemba-Djemba pit his wits against Roy Keane, the man he's was tipped to succeed in the Reds midfield. The Cameroon star was said to be open-mouthed with awe at Keane's colossal performance at Old Trafford in February 2002 when United thrashed Nantes 5-1.
Eric made many impressive displays during his first full season for Nantes. An abrasive style of play caught the eye the national team when he was picked for the African Cup of Nations Finals - but had to wait until Spring for his first cap. He also was part of the World Cup squad in Japan/Korea 2002 but did not make any appearances.
That summer, Djemba-Djemba was an integral part of Cameroon's Confederations Cup campaign, in which they did not concede a single goal until the final. A product of the youth set-up at the French side, he is a tenacious midfielder comfortable in the middle or on the right-flank. Eric is not afraid to go in where it hurts, getting his fair share of yellow cards, but that is not surprising given his all-action style. In 2002/03, he picked up one red and 11 yellow cards.
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Djemba-Djemba was signed on 3rd of July 2003 for £3.5 million pounds, with an extra £700,000 based on appearances. He made his debut in the Community Shield and we got to see his firey side during an incident with Sol Campbell. His league debut came a week later in th first game of the season against Bolton. Eric scored his first United goal in a Champions League game at home to Panathinaikos but made only 12 starting appearances.
In his first year at Old Trafford the Cameroon star failed to make much of an impact due to continual interruption. Not only did he pick up injuries but his mother became seriously ill and he was forced to return to Africa to look after her. Then a call up to Cameroon for the African Nations Cup meant he missed at least the entire months of January and Feburary. Eric took a lot of flak for the team's failure with the general opinion being he just was'nt good enough. Sir Alex will hoping next season is free of disruption so the midfielder can have a decent run in the team and allow everyone to see the real Eric Djemba Djemba.
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