Laurent Batlles

Laurent Batlles

Batlles as a Saint-Étienne player (2011)
Personal information
Date of birth	(1975-09-23) 23 September 1975 (age 41)
Place of birth	Nantes, France
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
	Toulouse
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1999	Toulouse	159	(10)
1999–2001	Bordeaux	70	(3)
2002	Rennes	28	(2)
2003	Bastia	38	(4)
2004–2006	Marseille	49	(11)
2005–2006	→ Toulouse (loan)	31	(3)
2006–2008	Toulouse	53	(5)
2008–2010	Grenoble	70	(2)
2010–2012	Saint-Étienne	68	(8)
Total		566	(48)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Laurent Batlles (born 23 September 1975) is a French retired footballer who played as a midfielder.

Battles was born in Nantes. In 1993, he emerged from the Toulouse FC academy into the senior squad, playing his first game in Ligue 1 on 2 April 1994 in a 0–1 away loss against Olympique Lyonnais.

In 1999, after scoring ten league goals in six seasons, two spent in Ligue 2, Batlles joined FC Girondins de Bordeaux, where he played exactly half of 1999–2000, adding eight appearances in the club's run in the UEFA Champions League, netting once. The following campaign he scored three in 32 matches, featuring in 19 league contests – with six goals – in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup before completing that campaign with Stade Rennais FC.

In January 2003, Batlles moved to Corsica and SC Bastia. He played in the remaining 19 games for his new team, a figure he repeated in the first half of 2003–04 (without finding the net) before joining Olympique de Marseille, in another January transfer window move.

In one-and-a-half seasons with l'OM, Batlles scored three goals in 15 appearances and played in eight of the side's matches in the UEFA Cup, which included the final, lost 0–2 to Valencia CF. The following campaign he netted eight in 30 games and, after starting 2005–06 at the club, he rejoined Toulouse initially on loan, only missing three games as the team barely avoided relegation.