High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Valérien Ismaël (born 28 September 1975 in Strasbourg, France) is a former French footballer.Valérien Ismaël is married to Karolina. They have a son, Alexis. His hobbies are golf, tennis and watching movies.Ismaël made his debut for Strasbourg against AS Cannes on 15 January 1994. He went on to make 77 league appearances in his first spell with the club. Additionally he appeared in five UEFA Cup matches, scoring once.Ismaël became and remains the most expensive player Crystal Palace have ever brought when he signed for Pds. 2,750,000, from Strasbourg in January 1998. Despite this he only played 13 games for the London club and was only there for ten months (January October 1998), before moving back to his native France to Lens.