# Yannick Bolasie
**Yannick Bolasie** (full name Yannick Bolasie Yala, born 1989 in Lyon, France) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a winger, known for Premier League spells with Crystal Palace and Everton and for his long international career with the DR Congo national team.[1](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview) • [2](https://fieldinsider.com/scout-report/yannick-bolasie-yala-1432) Born in France to Congolese parents and raised in north-west London from infancy, he rose from non-league football through a season in Malta to the Premier League, and later played in Turkey, Portugal, Wales, and Brazil.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger) • [4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1989, Lyon, France; 188 cm tall[1](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview) |
| Position | Winger/forward; listed as forward by the Premier League and as a left winger and striker by FotMob[1](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview) • [4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) |
| Crystal Palace | August 2012 to August 2016, 143 appearances and 13 goals; played in the 2016 FA Cup final[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) • [5](https://www.lequipe.fr/fiche/yannick-bolasie/203893) |
| Everton | Joined in the 2016 summer transfer window; Premier League career there ended with 29 league appearances and 2 goals across 2016/17 and 2017/18[6](https://www.toffeeweb.com/club/business/annual_reports/AnnualReport16.pdf) • [1](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview) |
| Major injury | Left knee anterior cruciate ligament injury in late 2016, which ruled him out of DR Congo's 2017 Africa Cup of Nations squad[7](https://www.lesdepechesdebrazzaville.fr/_zbhfiles/download.php?doc=20161208_DBZ_KIN_ALL.pdf) |
| International career | DR Congo from January 2013 to May 2022; FotMob records 27 caps and 8 goals, while Field Insider records 41 caps and 12 goals[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) • [2](https://fieldinsider.com/scout-report/yannick-bolasie-yala-1432) |
| Later career | Loans to Aston Villa, Anderlecht, Sporting CP, and Middlesbrough, then Caykur Rizespor, Swansea City, and Brazilian clubs Cruzeiro, Criciuma, and Chapecoense[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) |
## Early career
Bolasie's route to professional football was indirect. He learned some of his biggest lessons while left on the shelf at Hillingdon Borough in non-league football, and his path included a season in Malta before he reached the Premier League.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger) He joined Bristol City in June 2011 on an undisclosed fee, signing a two-year contract.[8](https://www.skysports.com/yannick-bolasie) Earlier spells included loans at Barnet in 2009 and a return to Plymouth Argyle, where he made 54 appearances with 8 goals between January 2010 and June 2011.[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie)
## Crystal Palace
Bolasie signed for Crystal Palace in August 2012 and spent four seasons there, totaling 143 appearances and 13 goals.[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) His Premier League seasons at Palace included 29 league appearances (with 6 substitute appearances) and no goals in 2013/14, 34 appearances and 4 goals in 2014/15, and 26 appearances and 5 goals in 2015/16, plus 4 [FA Cup](https://www.edgepedia.org/fa-cup) appearances with 1 goal that season.[1](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview) With Palace he reached the 2016 FA Cup final.[5](https://www.lequipe.fr/fiche/yannick-bolasie/203893)
A 2014 Guardian profile described him as a fans' favorite whose finishing was the missing part of his game: at that point a recent goal against Everton was only his fourth in 79 league appearances for Palace. He credited manager [Tony Pulis](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-pulis) with restoring his confidence, quoting Pulis's instruction to "believe in myself" and calling him a "top, top player".[3](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger) His Everton Encyclopedia entry notes that in April 2014, when Palace visited [Goodison Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/goodison-park) during Everton's push for Champions League qualification, Bolasie repeatedly cut through the Everton defense in a 3-2 Palace win.[9](https://www.evertonencyclopedia.com/players/875/yannick-bolasie/)
## Everton and injury
Everton signed Bolasie from Crystal Palace during the 2016 summer transfer window.[6](https://www.toffeeweb.com/club/business/annual_reports/AnnualReport16.pdf) His Goodison career was, in the encyclopedia's words, "wrecked by serious injury": in December 2016 he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee, and the Congolese press reported that he would miss DR Congo's squad for the 2017 [Africa Cup of Nations](https://www.edgepedia.org/africa-cup-of-nations) in Gabon.[9](https://www.evertonencyclopedia.com/players/875/yannick-bolasie/) • [7](https://www.lesdepechesdebrazzaville.fr/_zbhfiles/download.php?doc=20161208_DBZ_KIN_ALL.pdf) He documented his rehabilitation from the ACL and meniscus injuries in a FourFourTwo video series in 2017.[10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UySDVBe-ZeI)
His Premier League output at Everton reflects the disruption: 13 appearances (1 start) and 1 goal in 2016/17, 16 appearances (5 as substitute) and 1 goal in 2017/18, and no league appearances from 2018/19 onward.[1](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview) Across his whole Premier League career he made 119 appearances, scoring 11 goals in 8,773 minutes.[11](https://www.extratime.com/player/11126222/yannick_bolasie/) • [12](https://fbref.com/en/players/715fc0fe/)
## Loans and later clubs
After the injury Bolasie moved between clubs on a series of loans and free transfers. FotMob's career record lists loans to Aston Villa (August 2018 to January 2019, 21 appearances, 2 goals) and [Anderlecht](https://www.edgepedia.org/anderlecht) (January to June 2019, 17 appearances, 6 goals), then [Sporting CP](https://www.edgepedia.org/sporting-cp) (September 2019 to July 2020, 24 appearances, 2 goals) and [Middlesbrough](https://www.edgepedia.org/middlesbrough) (January to June 2021, 15 appearances, 3 goals), before a free transfer to Caykur Rizespor in Turkey in August 2021, where he made 55 appearances with 20 goals through June 2023.[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) He then had a short spell at Swansea City from November 2023 to January 2024 (12 appearances, no goals) before moving to Brazil.[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie)
In Brazil he joined Cruzeiro on a free transfer in January 2025, after a 2024 season at Criciuma in which he made 34 league appearances with 8 goals and 4 assists, his best campaign on record by Field Insider's season rating; he was part of Criciuma's Catarinense title in 2024.[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) • [2](https://fieldinsider.com/scout-report/yannick-bolasie-yala-1432) He subsequently moved to Chapecoense.[2](https://fieldinsider.com/scout-report/yannick-bolasie-yala-1432)
## International career
Bolasie represented DR Congo from January 2013 to May 2022.[4](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie) His cousin is the DR Congo international [Lomana LuaLua](https://www.edgepedia.org/lomana-lualua).[3](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger)
## Style and off-field life
Bolasie built his reputation on pace and unorthodox dribbling on the left wing. A 2014 profile described him among the Premier League's top five for completed dribbles that season, and noted his methodical approach off the pitch: he carried a notebook logging sleep hours and meals under a program by his trainer Rayan Wilson, which he credited with changing his body from a "beanpole" to "a beast".[3](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger)
Music is his other pursuit. He grew up rhyming from school days, and with [Bradley Wright-Phillips](https://www.edgepedia.org/bradley-wright-phillips), whom he met while both played for Plymouth in 2009, he recorded grime battles featured by the rapper and producer Jammer on the DVD Lord of the Mics 6.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger)
## References
1. [Yannick Bolasie, Forward, Profile & Stats, Premier League](https://www.premierleague.com/players/4763/Pape-Souar%C3%A9/overview)
2. [Yannick Bolasie Yala, Stats, Rating & Scouting Report, Field Insider](https://fieldinsider.com/scout-report/yannick-bolasie-yala-1432)
3. [The life and grime of Crystal Palace's rapping winger Yannick Bolasie, The Guardian (11 October 2014)](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/11/crystal-palace-yanick-bolassie-grime-winger)
4. [Yannick Bolasie, stats, career and market value, FotMob](https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/160194/y.-bolasie)
5. [Yannick Bolasie, joueur de football, L'Équipe](https://www.lequipe.fr/fiche/yannick-bolasie/203893)
6. [Everton Annual Report 2016, ToffeeWeb](https://www.toffeeweb.com/club/business/annual_reports/AnnualReport16.pdf)
7. [Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, RDC/Kinshasa edition (8 December 2016)](https://www.lesdepechesdebrazzaville.fr/_zbhfiles/download.php?doc=20161208_DBZ_KIN_ALL.pdf)
8. [Yannick Bolasie, DR Congo, Player Profile, Sky Sports Football](https://www.skysports.com/yannick-bolasie)
9. [Bolasie, Yannick, Everton Encyclopedia](https://www.evertonencyclopedia.com/players/875/yannick-bolasie/)
10. [Yannick Bolasie, Road to recovery, ACL and meniscus injury rehabilitation, FourFourTwo (YouTube, 2017)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UySDVBe-ZeI)
11. [Yannick Bolasie, Everton, Player Profile, extratime.com](https://www.extratime.com/player/11126222/yannick_bolasie/)
12. [fbref.com](https://fbref.com/en/players/715fc0fe/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Association football › Football people and teams › People › Men's footballers of Africa › Central African footballers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license