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Eric Bertrand Bailly (; born 12 April 1994) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays for the Ivory Coast national team. Although he mainly plays as a centre-back, he can also play as a right-back.
Bailly began his professional career at Spain's RCD Espanyol, before transferring to Villarreal CF. He spent two seasons at the club, before signing for Manchester United in June 2016. Bailly made more than 100 appearances for United and had a loan spell at Marseille.
He made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in 2015 and helped them win that year's Africa Cup of Nations. He played in two further African tournaments and the 2020 Olympics.
On 5 October 2014, Bailly made his first-team – and La Liga – debut, coming on as a late substitute in a 2–0 home win against Real Sociedad. He was promoted to the main squad shortly after.
On 18 October 2015, Bailly was sent off shortly after the interval in a 2–1 loss to Celta Vigo at the Estadio El Madrigal. He made seven appearances as the team reached the last four of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League; on 22 October he scored his first career goal and only one for the team, to conclude a 4–0 home group win over Dinamo Minsk.
He was voted Manchester United's Player of the Month for August 2016. He said to MUTV: "The Man-of-the-Match awards are something I hadn’t thought about, but I got them through the hard work I have put in. I hope to see more of that in the weeks ahead of us." On 23 October 2016, Bailly was substituted off in the 52nd minute after suffering a serious knee injury during the 4–0 loss at Chelsea. He made 11 appearances as the Red Devils won the Europa League, and was named in the Squad of the Season.
On 8 November 2017, Bailly suffered an ankle injury, and he was sidelined for around 100 days and returned to action on 17 February 2018, coming on as a substitute for Romelu Lukaku in the final 90-minute added additional time in a 2–0 win over Huddersfield in the FA Cup. He went on and made a total of 18 appearances and scored one goal in all competitions at the end of the season.
In July 2019, Bailly was ruled out for a further four months after suffering a knee injury in a pre-season friendly against Tottenham Hotspur in China. On 10 January 2020, he made his return from injury by playing in a game with Manchester United's under-23 team against Newcastle United. On 17 January 2020, Bailly signed a two-year contract extension with United, tying him to the club until the end of the 2021–22 season. He made a comeback in the Premier League and played his first match of the season on 17 February, featuring for the whole 90 minutes in a 2–0 win against Chelsea.
He made his 100th appearance for the club in a 1–1 draw against AC Milan in the Europa League at Old Trafford. On 26 April 2021, he signed a contract to 2024, with the option of one more year. On 23 September 2021, Bailly made his first appearance of the campaign in an EFL Cup tie against West Ham United, which Manchester United lost 1–0.
On 11 December 2023, Beşiktaş announced that Bailly had been excluded from the squad along with Vincent Aboubakar, Valentin Rosier, Rachid Ghezzal and Jean Onana due to poor performance and incompatibility within the team. On 29 December 2023, it was announced that Bailly's contract had been terminated.
On 12 October 2018, Bailly scored his first international goal in a 4–0 win over the Central African Republic in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Stade Bouaké. The following April he suffered a knee injury, ruling him out of the finals in Egypt.
On 3 July 2021, Bailly was selected as one of the designated overaged players in the Ivory Coast Olympic team for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Bailly made his Olympics debut in a 2–1 win against Saudi Arabia on 22 July. He made four appearances in the tournament and scored one goal, in a quarter-final defeat against Spain.
At the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, held at the start of the following year in Cameroon, Bailly suffered a head injury at the end of a 2–2 draw with Sierra Leone in the second game, thereby missing the third against Algeria. He wore a scrum cap in the goalless last 16 match against Egypt and was the only player to miss in the penalty shootout, with his shot being saved by substitute goalkeeper Mohamed Abou Gabal.
Ivory Coast
Individual
Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
!rowspan=2 Club
!rowspan=2 Season
!colspan=3 League
!colspan=2 National cup
!colspan=2 League cup
!colspan=2 Europe
!colspan=2 Other
!colspan=2 Total Espanyol B 2013–14 Segunda División B 0 2014–15 Segunda División B 0 RCD Espanyol 2014–15 La Liga 0 Villarreal CF 2014–15 La Liga 0 2015–16 La Liga 1 Manchester United 2016–17 Premier League 0 2017–18 Premier League 1 2018–19 Premier League 0 2019–20 Premier League 0 2020–21 Premier League 0 2021–22 Premier League 0 Marseille (loan) 2022–23 Ligue 1 0 Beşiktaş 2023–24 Süper Lig 0 Villarreal 2023–24 La Liga 0 2024–25 La Liga 0
International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and year Ivory Coast 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 + List of international goals scored by Eric Bailly 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Honours
Manchester United
runner-up: 2020–21
External links
Categories: 1994 Births, Living People, Sportspeople From Bingerville, Ivorian Men's Footballers, Ivory Coast Men's International Footballers, Men's Association Football Central Defenders, Rcd Espanyol B Footballers, Rcd Espanyol Footballers, Villarreal Cf Players, Manchester United F.c. Players, Olympique De Marseille Players, Beşiktaş J.k. Footballers, Segunda División B Players, La Liga Players, Premier League Players, Ligue 1 Players, Süper Lig Players, 2015 Africa Cup Of Nations Players, 2017 Africa Cup Of Nations Players, 2021 Africa Cup Of Nations Players, Africa Cup Of Nations–winning Players, Ivorian Expatriate Men's Footballers, Expatriate Men's Footballers In England, Expatriate Men's Footballers In Spain, Expatriate Men's Footballers In France, Expatriate Men's Footballers In Turkey, Ivorian Expatriate Sportspeople In England, Ivorian Expatriate Sportspeople In Spain, Ivorian Expatriate Sportspeople In France, Ivorian Expatriate Sportspeople In Turkey, Footballers From Abidjan, Footballers At The 2020 Summer Olympics, Olympic Footballers For Ivory Coast, Uefa Europa League–winning Players, 21st-century Ivorian Sportsmen
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