Stathis Tavlaridis (; born 25 January 1980) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Tavlaridis has earned the nickname "Taureau" in France which means "The Bull" due to his aggressive style of play. Club career Iraklis and England (Arsenal, Portsmouth) Tavlaridis was born in Serres. He started his career at Iraklis Thessaloniki and in 2001 was transferred to Arsenal at the age of 21 for £1m. He never fully broke into the first team, unable to displace Sol Campbell and Kolo Touré, and spent a period on loan to Portsmouth. Whilst at Portsmouth he contributed four appearances as they won the First Division Championship and promotion to the Premier League. He made eight appearances for Arsenal, all but one of them in the League Cup. He made his Premier League debut in 2002–03 season against Southampton, where Arsenal rested many of their players for the upcoming FA Cup Final, also against Southampton. In early 2004 he was sent on a loan deal for the remainder of that season to French club Lille OSC. Lille On 29 April 2004, Tavlaridis was transferred from Arsenal to Lille OSC on a four-year contract. In his spell with the club he continually created a great deal of interest and attention from several other teams. With regard to Tavlaridis's time at Lille, he has regularly featured within both Champions League and Ligue 1 games for Les Dogues. Of such was the first leg of a Champions League tie against AEK at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in October 2006, of which eventually finished 3–1 to the hosts. All in all, Tavlaridis in 2011 described his spell with Lille as "the most beautiful page of his career". Saint-Étienne Despite being linked with a hosts of Ligue 1 clubs, notably Bordeaux, Marseille, and Monaco, Tavlaridis announced that he was signing with AS Saint-Étienne for €2.5m after agreeing to a three-year deal with the club. Tavlaridis was handed the number 4 shirt and quickly inserted into the first eleven forming partnerships with Moustapha Bayal Sall. Tavlaridis made his debut against his former club Lille and was applauded by the Lille home fans. Tavlaridis got off to a great start for the 2007–08 season scoring his first goal with AS Saint-Étienne in a 2–1 victory over Sochaux the following week. Tavlaridis was contract in the summer of 2009 with AS Saint-Étienne and a number of Premier League