In our new series at Everything Orient, we take a look at ex-Orient players and see where their careers have taken them since their departure from Brisbane Road.
The Congolese defender began his career right here in east London, joining the Leyton Orient youth set up in the year 2000. Zakuani was spotted as a 14-year-old playing in a school game and was later snapped up by the O’s.
Gabriel was then thrown into the first team at the age of just 16, as he made his first professional debut in March 2003 against Bournemouth. He later established himself as a first team player and one of the first names on the team sheet during the 2004/05 season. Furthermore, the defender went onto make 87 appearances for the O’s and was considered to be an exciting talent at the time.
However, Zakuani undoubtedly caught the attention of clubs across the country but it was Fulham who got his signature. In January 2006, Leyton Orient famously defeated Fulham 2-1 in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, then a Premier League side. Zakuani played magnificently in this fixture, tempting the west London side to sign him.
Therefore, at just 19-years-old, Zakuani switched to the other side of London for a club record fee of £1m, which still stands to this day alongside Moses Odubajo’s departure. However, this transfer didn’t exactly work out for the young man.
Zakuani didn’t make a single league appearance for the Premier League side and was shipped out on loan on multiple occasions. The defender had stints at Stoke City and Peterborough United but decided to join Peterborough on a permanent basis in 2009.
Including his loan spell, Gabriel made nearly 200 appearances for Peterborough in a five year stay with the Posh. In addition to this, the Congolese international earnt the captaincy in 2012. However, following the Posh’s relegation from the Championship, Zakuani left the club in 2014.
Despite this, he returned to the ABAX Stadium following his year stint with Greek side, Kalloni, who played in the Greece Superleague. He went onto play for the club another 45 times before departing once again.
This time his destination was Northampton Town where he played for them for just a single season and is now playing for League One side Gillingham.
Furthermore, during his career he also represented the Democratic Republic of Congo on 25 occasions – an established career to say the very least. Despite this, it would have been great to see where Zakuani’s career and Leyton Orient would be if they never sold him to Fulham all those years ago.