Jonathan Assous
Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Victor Gerard Assous
Date of birth	2 September 1983 (1983-09-02) (age 26)
Place of birth	Sarcelles, France
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defensive Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Hapoel Petah Tikva
Number	TBD
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2003 2003–2004 2004–2006 2006–2007 2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–	AS Nancy Nîmes Angers SCO AS Cannes Créteil Stade Reims Maccabi Tel Aviv Hapoel Petah Tikva	06 (0) 21 (0) 22 (0) 06 (0) 15 (1) 16 (1) 34 (1) 00 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:06, 26 November 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jonathan Victor Gerard Assous^[1] (born September 2, 1983 in Sarcelles) is a French Jewish^[2] football (soccer) player who is currently contracted to Hapoel Petah Tikva in Israel.^[1] In France, Assous was widely known for his temper and rough play.^[3]

[edit] Playing career

Assous began his professional career in the Ligue 2 with club AS Nancy. Sparingly making a league appearance, he moved down to the Championnat National to play with Nîmes. Fine performances in the Championnat earned him a contract with Angers SCO. There he grabbed headlines for his rough play which got him sent off on numerous occasions.^[3] During his stint with Créteil, he trialed with Nice and impressed then-manager Frédéric Antonetti. Unfortunately, contractual problems with Créteil ended his chance of making it to Ligue 1 for the first time in his career. Instead, Assous joined Stade Reims where he was able to carve out a spot in the starting eleven, and earned praise for his maturity from press.

After the successful acclimation of French midfielder Rudy Haddad to life in Israel, Maccabi decided to look for more Jewish footballers who would not count against the foreign player cap.^[4] Frenchman Kevin Pariente and Americans Benny Feilhaber and Jonathan Bornstein were originally scouted for the club. After Maccabi could not come to terms with their respective clubs, they turned to Assous who was having a good season in France. ^[2] Some fans were vocally opposed to signing Assous because of his previously unsuccessful trial with Hapoel Kfar Saba and lack of "star quality". ^[5]

Immediately after being bought, Assous went to the Jewish Agency offices in Paris to fill out all necessary forms for receiving Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.^[6]

In 2008, he was joined in Israel by his brother, Gary who signed with Maccabi Netanya.^[7]

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Assous Jonathan Victor Gerard
2. ^ ^{a b} Spunder, Or (2008-01-24). "הקשר ג'ונתן אסוס מועמד למכבי ת"א" (in Hebrew). One.co.il. http://www.one.co.il/Article/109149.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Maruani, David. "Mac. Tel Aviv's new French signing: 'I'm not a mad dog'". Ha'aretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/949358.html. Retrieved 2008-02-16. 
4. ^ Bar-Dayan, Shirley (2008-01-28). "מכבי ת"א רכשה את אסוס, גם דגאנו מסושו מועמד להצטרף" (in Hebrew). Sport 5. http://www.sport5.co.il/HTML/Articles/Article.64.31761.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
5. ^ Kessler, Barak (2008-01-28). "אבי נמני מציג: כדור הרגעה לאוהדים" (in Hebrew). One.co.il. http://www.one.co.il/Oppinion/154/109400.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
6. ^ Botz, Lee (2008-01-28). "מכבי ת"א רכשה את אסוס, בני פילהאבר לא יגיע" (in Hebrew). Yedioth Ahronoth. http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3499771,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
7. ^ Michelle, Hen (2008-04-30). "אחיו של ג'ונתן אסוס חתם במכבי נתניה [Brother of Jonathan Assous Signs With Maccabi Netanya]" (in Hebrew). One.co.il. http://coop2.one.co.il/Article/115166.html. Retrieved 13 September 2009. 

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