Nicolas Anelka

Nicolas Anelka is undoubtedly one of the greatest French talents of his generation, yet despite a significant number of big clubs through which he has passed, his career gives a feeling of unfinished business.

737

Games

223

Goals

109

Assists

Trophies

1995/97 Paris SG (FRA) 12 matches, 1 goal

(French Championship: 10 matches, 1 goal)

(League Cup: 1 match)

(Cup Winners' Cup: 1 match)

1997/99 Arsenal (ENG) 90 matches, 28 goals

(English Premier League: 65 matches, 23 goals)

(English Cup: 14 matches, 3 goals)

(English League Cup: 3 matches)

(Charity Shield: 1 match, 1 goal)

(Champions League: 5 matches, 1 goal)

(UEFA Cup: 2 matches)

1999/2000 Real Madrid (ESP) 33 matches, 7 goals

(Spanish Championship: 19 matches, 2 goals)

(Spanish Cup: 1 match)

(Champions League: 10 matches, 2 goals)

(Club World Cup: 3 matches, 3 goals)

2000/02 Paris SG (FRA) 56 matches, 18 goals

(French Championship: 39 matches, 10 goals)

(League Cup: 1 match)

(Champions League: 9 matches, 5 goals)

(UEFA Cup: 4 matches, 1 goal)

(Intertoto Cup: 3 matches, 2 goals)

2002 Liverpool (ENG) (Loan) 22 matches, 5 goals

(English Premier League: 20 matches, 4 goals)

(English Cup: 2 matches, 1 goal)

2002/05 Manchester City (ENG) 103 matches, 45 goals

(English Premier League: 89 matches, 37 goals)

(English Cup: 5 matches, 4 goals)

(English League Cup: 4 matches)

(UEFA Cup: 5 matches, 4 goals)

2005/06 Fenerbahçe (TUR) 57 matches, 16 goals

(Turkish Premier League: 39 matches, 14 goals)

(Turkish Cup: 8 matches, 2 goals)

(Champions League: 10 matches)

2006/08 Bolton Wanderers (ENG) 61 matches, 23 goals

(English Premier League: 53 matches, 21 goals)

(English Cup: 3 matches)

(English League Cup: 1 match, 1 goal)

(UEFA Cup: 4 games, 1 goal)

2008/12 Chelsea (ENG) 184 games, 59 goals

(English Premier League: 125 games, 38 goals)

(English Cup: 15 games, 7 goals)

(English League Cup: 5 games, 2 goals)

(Community Shield: 2 games)

(Champions League: 37 games, 12 goals)

2012/13 Shanghai Shenhua (CHI) 22 games, 3 goals

2013 Juventus Turin (ITA) 3 games

(Italian Championship: 2 games)

(Champions League: 1 game)

2013/14 West Bromwich Albion (ENG) 12 games, 2 goals

2014/15 Mumbai City FC (IND) 13 matches, 2 goals

With the National Team :

69 caps, 14 goals

(Friendly matches: 30 caps, 4 goals)

(World Cup qualifiers: 8 matches, 3 goals)

(World Cup: 2 matches)

(Euro qualifiers: 14 matches, 5 goals)

(Euro: 8 matches)

(Confederations Cup: 5 caps, 1 goal)

(Hassan II Tournament: 2 caps, 1 goal)

1st cap: April 22, 1998 against Sweden (0-0)

Last cap: June 17, 2010 against Mexico (0-2)

Under-21s: 10 caps, 4 goals

U18s: 21 caps, 12 goals

U16s: 8 caps, 3 goals

Nicolas Sébastien Anelka

Born March 14, 1979 in Le Chesnay (FRA)

French, Second Striker, Striker, Right-Winger, 1m85

The jewel of PSG

Nicolas Anelka was born on March 14, 1979 in Le Chesnay, France. He touched his first balls in his city and impressed the recruiters of INF Clairefontaine who already detected great physical and technical qualities. In terms of his character, he is cited as a player who is discreet and does not particularly like to speak.

On the field, he is a very complete second striker, with great speed, surgical finishing and elegance in his technical game. He joined PSG with whom he made his debut in May 1996 against AS Monaco. Considered a true football prodigy, he scored his first goal in the French first division against RC Lens after a 40-meter run with the ball at his feet.

However, his playing time did not take off, particularly blocked by the competition with Patrice Loko, Rai and Patrick Mboma for the various positions in attack. He left France in 1997 to join the Arsenal Gunners and the French coach Arsène Wenger.

From the second most expensive player in the world to a return to PSG

With other legendary French players Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit, he won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Community Shield and had a great first season in England with 40 games played for 9 goals and 6 assists while he was still only 19 years old.

With his great performances with Arsenal, he was called up for the first time with the French national team in April 1998 for a match against Sweden, final score 0-0. Finally, Aimé Jacquet who favored the group over individuals ruled out the player during the 1998 World Cup.

Anelka then resumed his international career in 1999 for a match against England, France won 2-0 with a double from Anelka. And while we think that the player will continue his career in England, he abruptly leaves Arsenal to join Real Madrid, the player being disappointed to see the public of the London club largely prefer Ian Wright.

Anelka signs for 33 million euros in Spain, he is then the second most expensive player in the world behind Christian Vieri. In Madrid, he experiences a failed adaptation, he struggles to assert himself both on the field and in the club's locker room. With a strong character, he does not get along with many Madrid players, he will even go so far as to refuse to train for a few days, earning him a fine of 365,000 euros and a 45-day suspension by the club.

Finally, we find the talented player during the second half of the season and in particular during the semi-finals of the Champions League, he scores 2 crucial goals during these against Bayern Munich. He won the Champions League with Real but the divorce was announced, the player already left Madrid to return to PSG.

A strong character

His second stint at PSG was not conclusive and he ended up being loaned to Liverpool in 2002 before finally joining Manchester City. His transfer to Manchester City was not supposed to happen, the player having wanted to join Liverpool with whom he had found an excellent level alongside Owen.

With Euro 2000 won, he was logically called up regularly with the French team in a secondary role. As Euro 2004 approached, he was called up with the French national team at the last minute to replace Sidney Govou for a friendly match against Yugoslavia. The vexed player responded negatively to the offer and spoke to the press: "I do not want to play stopgap. I do not need the French team. Santini, let him kneel before me, apologize first, and then I will think about it."

The break with the coach was complete, and it was finally Anelka who publicly apologized in order to regain a place in the French team under Domenech in 2005. But once again, the 3rd time already in his career, he was not selected to play in the World Cup, this time the 2006 edition.

Back to the top level

After his 2005/06 season played in Turkey at Fenerbahçe, he returned to England to the Bolton club where he played 61 matches for 23 goals and 10 assists. And in January 2008 he was finally rewarded for his good performances with Bolton by signing for Chelsea.

At Chelsea, he formed an extremely good duo with Didier Drogba. During the 2008/09 season, he scored 19 goals in the league and finished top scorer in the Premier League. After a 2009/10 season with 45 matches, 15 goals and 9 assists, he was finally called to play in the 2010 World Cup, the first and last of his career, he was then 31 years old.

The Knysna affair

But this World Cup would be the darkest page of the player's career, both sportingly and extra-sportingly. In 120 minutes played, he did not score a single goal. And he insulted the coach of the time during an exchange, the remarks would be made public in the press... This was the beginning of the Knysna affair which would be experienced as the biggest shame of French football in history. The players decided to go on strike and defended the player and on the contrary criticized the coach, Raymond Domenech for having disclosed the heated exchange to the press.

With 69 caps for France, he finally ended his career with the Blues after the World Cup, disgusted by the situation and the hatred towards the players that was spread through the press and the media space, it was then a huge break between public opinion and the French team.

In 2012, while he was experiencing a career on the downward slope with Chelsea, he decided to leave the club and join China, a destination that shocked the media. He then went to Juventus where he only played 3 games before leaving again for England and ending his career in India, at the age of 36.