François Modesto

François Joseph Modesto (born 19 August 1978) is a French professional footballer who plays for SC Bastia. He can operate as a right back or central defender, and also as a defensive midfielder.

Football career

Born in Bastia, Modesto started his career with hometown's SC Bastia. On 20 February 1998 he made his first-team – and Ligue 1 – debut, in a 2–0 home win against AS Monaco FC, and was sparingly played by the Corsicans over the course of two seasons.

Aged 21, Modesto signed with another island club, Cagliari Calcio in Italy. He appeared in 22 Serie A games in his first year, suffering team relegation; in the 2003–04 campaign he played in a career-high 43 matches to help the Sardinia side return to the top level, as runner-up.

Late into the 2004 summer, after a brief loan spell with Modena FC, Modesto was sold by Cagliari to Monaco. In his second season he appeared in 29 league games (two goals) as his team finished in tenth position, adding seven matches in the campaign's UEFA Cup, which ended in round-of-32 against FC Basel, 1–2 on aggregate.