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Date of Birth: Wednesday, March 14, 1979
Birth Place: France
Height: 185cm
Position: Attacker
Former Clubs/Teams: Bolton, Fenerbahçe, Manchester City, Liverpool FC, PSG, Real Madrid, Arsenal FC

Biography

Nicolas Anelka is a striker who plays for France and Chelsea in the English Premier League. He shot to prominence as a prolific goal-scorer for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, and has played for many of the great and good clubs across Europe since. A stint at Bolton proved that he still has the pace and precision finishing that made him famous, prompting a bid from Chelsea. His international career is no less fractious, with various coaches picking him and then falling out with him, over the years.

Childhood

Nicolas Anelka was born on 14th March 1979, in Versailles, France. He was one of three brothers (who gained infamy when they acted as his agents), who spent many an afternoon playing football. Anelka was signed up for PSG’s Claire-Fontaine academy, and was a bright prospect from a very early age. He could have signed up for any number of French clubs, including PSG who offered him a very good contract, but Anelka chose to head to Arsene Wenger’s French revolution at Arsenal instead, costing Arsenal just £500,000.

Early Career

Having joined Arsenal in February 1997, he made his debut soon after, and scored his first goal against rivals Manchester United, instantly endearing himself to the fans. In his second season at the club he continued to develop, but it was only in his third season that he established himself as the main striker, alongside Denis Bergkamp, aged 20. 17 goals in 35 Premier League matches proved that he was the real deal, and made all the top clubs in Europe sit up and take notice of him.

A summer of indecision and newspaper scandals followed, with Anelka’s brothers acting as his agent and demanding a move away from the club. Arsenal finally relented, but only once Real Madrid had raised their bid to a cool £22.5m. Real would soon be regretting paying so much for the talented youngster, not least when he fell out with the fans, staff and players, and refused to train.

With Anelka out of favour at Real, he opted to return to PSG, with many in the game hoping that the stability and living at home would cure his petulance. Success with PSG secured Anelka a loan-move to Liverpool, where he helped the team finish as runners up in the League. Liverpool opted not to sign Anelka once the loan period was up, so he ended up moving to Manchester City instead. Two and a half successful seasons later, and Anelka was again on the move – this time to Fenerbahce, who had a spot in the Champions League that he demanded. He played well, but was far from settled in Turkey, and jumped at the chance to return to England with Bolton.

Anelka helped to boost Bolton up the table, and was expected to do so as their record signing, for £8m. He had a new maturity to his game and outlook on life, and was halfway through a fantastic second season at the club (10 goals in 18 games) when Chelsea stepped in.

Current Club

Nicolas Anelka signed for Chelsea on 11th January 2008 for £15m. He made his debut a day later, and scored in his second match at the club. With Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Andriy Shevchenko vying for a first-team spot, Anelka found himself as Avram Grant’s expensive super-sub, though when he did go on he was played out of position. The season ended with Anelka’s last kick of the season when he missed from the penalty spot as Chelsea were defeated in the Champions League Final.

Felipe Scolari saw Anelka as the first-team striker, with the Brazilian manager unsure as to whether he could play successfully alongside Didier Drogba. Anelka repaid this faith by scoring so many goals that he was practically undroppable.

International

Nicolas Anelka was too young to share in France’s 1998 World Cup success - Anelka made his debut in April 1998, but was overlooked for the wasteful talents of Stefane Guivarch. He did taste glory for Les Blues in Euro 2000, when France stole the trophy out of Italy’s grip, but then it started to go wrong for Nicolas. With Djibril Cisse, Trezeguet, and Thierry Henry proving themselves as class acts, and Anelka bringing a ‘bad’ atmosphere to training because of his sulking, Anelka was overlooked for World Cup 2002, Euro 2004, and World Cup 2006, when even Govou was called up ahead of him.

He made peace with the France Football Federation in time to be included in the Euro 2008 team that failed to make it out of the group stages. He is still a major threat in front of goal for France.