Anelka, the sulk
Talking about Nicolas Anelka is talking about a great player with great finishing ability, coolness and technique, but it is also talking about a person who is a bit complicated due to a personality that not everyone gets along with. He had stints at some of the best clubs in Europe, in a career that even some of the best players would envy. During his career, he always saw football as a job and not a passion, something he did to make money but which was not something he felt particularly comfortable with, preferring other environments such as acting, for example.
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Beginnings
Nicolas Anelka was born on 14 March 1979 in Le Chesnay (now Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt), a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France. His parents were immigrants from Martinique who arrived in France in 1974. At just 4 years old, he began playing for Trappes-St Quentin, a small club in the area, where he remained for ten years until he moved to the prestigious Clairefontaine academy, where he coincided with, for example, Louis Saha, who would go on to play for Manchester United and the France national team. It only took a couple of years at the academy for one of the most powerful teams in France to notice him, Paris Saint Germain, where he would make his professional debut at just 16 years old.Going abroad
In February 1997, just a little over a month before his 18th birthday, Anelka signed for Arsenal, where his compatriot Arsene Wenger had joined a few months earlier. The transfer was for just 760 thousand euros, as the English team relied on certain legal loopholes in the recent Bosman ruling. In his first six months in London, he had virtually no playing time, mainly due to Wenger's policy of foreign players need to adapt to English football. In his first full season he managed to get more time on the pitch, and even being a key part in achieving the double in the 1997-98 season, with important goals such as his first against Manchester United or the one in the FA Cup final against Newcastle.In 1998-99, due to an injury to Ian Wright, he made his way into the Gunners' starting eleven and stood out by scoring 17 Premier League goals, being the club's top scorer that season, which earned him the award for best young player of the tournament. The striker considered that his splendid season deserved to be rewarded with a new contract with an increase in salary, something that Arsenal did not agree to and that led to Anelka leaving for Real Madrid for 35 million euros, which made him one of the most expensive signings in history at that time.
A very turbulent year in Madrid
Anelka would have a short but very turbulent stay at the white club, both for the good and the bad. He never managed to adapt very well to the team, nor to understand the always complicated Real Madrid fans, nor to have good communication with the manager, Vicente del Bosque, who usually used him on the right side of the attack since the primary strikers were Raúl and Morientes. On one occasion, due to a substitution, he refused to train with the team, which led to the club sanctioning him financially and banning him for 45 days. The French striker made some controversial statements regarding the matter for which he later had to apologize, which allowed him to return to the team.That year at Real Madrid, Anelka scored 7 goals, which might not seem like much. However, two of those goals were in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League against Bayern Munich, which took the white club to the final, a final where the Frenchman would play from the start. Those two goals were the highlight of his time at Madrid because they were key to achieving the eighth European Cup/Champions League title.
In the summer of 2000, Florentino Perez became president of Real Madrid for the first time, which brought with it the signing of Figo for a record fee, so in order to balance the accounts, some sales had to be made and among those was that of Anelka to one of his former clubs, PSG, for 34.5 million euros, and by doing so Real recovered almost the entire investment in Anelka.
The globetrotter
That year at Real Madrid was the start of a long period in his career where he would constantly change teams. He would spend a year and a half at Paris Saint Germain where his performance was not particularly outstanding despite having a good start and even being named captain. However, he had problems with his coach and that is why he was loaned to Liverpool for 6 months. At Anfield, he scored some important goals but his stay was not permanent because the club decided to bet on another striker, El Hadji Diouf, who had just have had a great FIFA World Cup with Senegal.Anelka would not leave England as Manchester City would pay 20 million to sign him, making him the most expensive signing in their history at that time (very different times than today), with the hope that the Frenchman would be the team's big star. In his first season he would score goals against his two former clubs (Arsenal and Liverpool) and would be the team's top scorer that season. On a trip to the United Arab Emirates and after some thought, he decided to convert to Islam and even declared that he wanted to stay playing in the Arab country and not return to Europe. However, that did not happen, but in the winter of 2005 he did leave City, but only to sign for Fenerbahce in Turkey.
He would remain in Turkey for only a year and a half before returning to England once more, this time to Bolton, where he also became their most expensive signing at the time. At Bolton he performed well although his relationship with the club was a little strange since on a couple of occasions, he hinted at the idea of going to a bigger club. In January 2008, it was Chelsea who would sign him, beginning his longest period at a club during his career. In his first full season with the Blues (2008-09), he took advantage of Didier Drogba's injury and not only became the team's top scorer, he also won the top scorer title in Premier League that season.
In 2010, Anelka played a key role in France's qualification for the FIFA World Cup that year and was named in Raymond Domenech's squad for the tournament. During the tournament, Anelka had an argument with the manager that ended with the striker being forced to leave the French camp, something that caused the rest of the team to not show up for training the following day in protest. The federation asked Anelka to make a public apology, something that the player refused to do and for this he was banned for 18 months from the national team. Anelka responded by saying that he had already decided to leave the France national team and so he found the ban amusing.
Nicolas Anelka while playing for Shanghai Shenhua
In the summer of 2013, he terminated his contract in China and went to West Bromwich Albion, in what would be his last return as a professional football player to England. His time at the club was most notable for a controversy over a celebration that included a gesture that was taken as anti-Semitic, although Anelka would later clarify that it was a gesture that had been popularized by a comedian friend, Dieudonne. In September 2014 he would sign for Mumbai City in India, where he would stay for a couple of years, first as a player and then as player-manager, before finally retiring from professional football.