Jonathan Kodjia

Jonathan Kodjia
Personal information
Full name Jonathan Kodjia[1]
Date of birth (1989-10-22) 22 October 1989
Place of birth Saint-Denis, France
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team
 Aston Villa
Number 26
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2014 Reims 9 (0)
2011–2012 → Cherbourg (loan) 16 (3)
2012–2013 → Amiens (loan) 32 (9)
2013–2014 → Caen (loan) 27 (5)
2014–2015 Angers 28 (15)
2015–2016 Bristol City 49 (19)
2016– Aston Villa 61 (23)
National team‡
2016– Ivory Coast 10 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:37, 1 October 2018 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:53, 24 March 2017 (UTC)

Jonathan Kodjia (born 22 October 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for English club Aston Villa and the Ivory Coast national team.

Born in the suburbs of Paris, France, Kodjia started his career at Reims and gained experience in the Championnat National (French third division) and Ligue 2 with Cherbourg, Caen and Amiens. Kodjia moved to Angers in 2014, ultimately winning Ligue 2 Player of the Year 2015 and being named in the Ligue 2 Team of the Season.

Early career

Born in the suburbs of Paris, France, Kodjia started his career with Reims before loan moves to Cherbourg, Caen and Amiens.

Angers

Kodjia moved to Angers in 2014 where he won the Ligue 2 Player of the Year 2015 and was also named in the Ligue 2 Team of the Season, after scoring 15 goals in 29 games during the 2014–15 Ligue 2 to help Angers gain promotion to the French top flight after finishing in 3rd place.[2]

Bristol City

Kodjia joined Bristol City on a three-year deal for £2 million from Angers, with the option of a further year on 20 July 2015.[3] He scored his first competitive goal for Bristol City on 15 August 2015 in a 4–2 defeat to Brentford, converting a pass from Luke Ayling to give City a 1–0 lead.[4]

He scored 20 goals in 48 appearances in his debut season at Bristol City.[5]

Aston Villa

On 30 August 2016, Kodjia signed with Aston Villa on a four-year contract for an initial fee of £11 million, that could potentially rise to £15 million.[6] He scored his first league goal for the club, on his debut, against Brentford.[7] Kodjia's next goal came in a 1–1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers from the spot after Jack Grealish was fouled in Steve Bruce's first game as Villa manager. He then scored the opener in a 2–1 win away at Reading just 3 days later. His late acrobatic goal against Fulham on 22 October won the game 1–0 for Villa, making it 3 goals in 3 games and back to back wins for the club.

Kodjia started November in top form bagging 2 goals against a struggling Blackburn Rovers on side on Bonfire night to help Villa come from 1–0 down to win the game 2–1. His 7th goal of the season then came later in the month with a fine header in a 3–1 win over Cardiff City at Villa Park. Kodjia scored 6 goals in Steve Bruce's first 7 games in charge and his form helped propel Villa from the relegation zone up to 11th within Bruce's first month at the club. Kodjia's performances won him the PFA Championship player of the month for November. He broke his ankle in April 2017, which prematurely ended his season and would see him miss the beginning of the 2017/18 season.[8] He finished the season with 19 goals in 36 games in his first season.[9]

Kodja injured his ankle again in the derby match against Birmingham City in October 2017 which was further aggravated on international duty, the injury required surgery which ruled him out until March 2018.[10] He returned from injury to help Villa reach the 2018 EFL Championship play-off Final,[11] playing in the final as a substitute, as Villa lost 1–0 to Fulham in the final and thus missed out on promotion to the Premier League.[12]

International career

Kodjia was born in France to Ivorian parents.[13] He was contacted first by the Benin Football Association as his surname has origins in that country but was not eligible.[13] He was later called up by the Ivory Coast national football team and made his debut in a friendly 0–0 tie with Hungary in May 2016.[14] He scored his first international goal against Gabon on 4 June 2016, volleying home to score the first goal of the game. Ivory Coast would go on to win 2–1.[15]

Career statistics

As of matches played 22 August 2018.

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup League cup Other Total
Division AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Angers 2014–15 Ligue 2 2815—10—2915
Total 28 15 0 0 1 0 0 0 29 15
Bristol City 2015–16 Championship 45192110—4820
2016–17 Championship 40———40
Total 49192110005220
Aston Villa 2016–17 Championship 3619———3619
2017–18 Championship 151—— 3[a]018 1
2018–19 Championship 10 3 — 1 0 — 11 3
Total 61230010306523
Career total 1385721303014658

[a] – EFL Championship play-offs

    International goals

    Scores and results list Ivory Coast's goal tally first.[16]
    NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
    1.4 June 2016Stade Bouaké, Bouaké, Ivory Coast Gabon1–02–1Friendly
    2.3 September 2016Stade Bouaké, Bouaké, Ivory Coast Sierra Leone1–01–12017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
    3.8 October 2016Stade Bouaké, Bouaké, Ivory Coast Mali1–13–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
    4.11 January 2017New York University Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Uganda1–03–0Friendly
    5.24 March 2017Krasnodar Stadium, Krasnodar, Russia Russia1–02–0Friendly
    6.9 September 2018Stade Régional Nyamirambo, Kigali, Rwanda Rwanda1–02–12019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

    Honours

    Club

    Angers

    Individual

    References

    1. ↑ "EFL: Retained list: 2015/16" (PDF). English Football League. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
    2. ↑ "Bristol City sign striker Jonathan Kodjia for about £2m". BBC Sport. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
    3. ↑ "Bristol City sign striker Jonathan Kodija for around £2m". BBC Sport. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
    4. ↑ "Bristol City 2–4 Brentford". BBC Sport. 15 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
    5. ↑ "Jonathan Kodjia | Football Stats | Aston Villa | Season 2015/2016 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
    6. ↑ "Jonathan Kodjia: Aston Villa sign Bristol City striker for initial £11m fee". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2016-08-30.
    7. ↑ "Aston Villa 1–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
    8. ↑ "Aston Villa injury blow: Jonathan Kodjia to miss start of next season with broken ankle". Express. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
    9. ↑ "Jonathan Kodjia | Football Stats | Aston Villa | Season 2016/2017 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
    10. ↑ "Aston Villa 'fear the worst' over Jonathan Kodjia injury". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
    11. ↑ "Aston Villa 0–0 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
    12. ↑ "Aston Villa 0–1 Fulham". BBC Sport. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
    13. 1 2 "Jonathan Kodjia: 'People are going to be pleasantly surprised by Aston Villa'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
    14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-06-28. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
    15. ↑ "Côte d'Ivoire vs. Gabon – 4 June 2016 – Soccerway". us.soccerway.com. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
    16. ↑ "Kodjia, Jonathan". National Football Teams. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.