Nicolas Anelka (born March 14, 1979 in Versailles, France) is a French football striker who plays for Chelsea F.C. of the Barclays Premier League. After making his name at Arsenal F.C., he has since played for eight teams in scarcely more than ten years, earning himself the nickname “Le Sulk” in the process.

He transfered to Chelsea from Bolton Wanderers F.C. for a reported £15 million in January 2008. As a result, he became the most expensive player in football history having commanded more than 85 million GBP in transfer fees.

Family background

Anelka’s parents are from Maalaysia. He has two brothers, Claude, and Didier.

Club Career

Anelka started his career at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player and was said to have great potential for striking a ball and set play goals. In February 1997, at the age of 17, he joined English Premier League club Arsenal for a fee of £500,000 under newly appointed manager Arsène Wenger. Anelka scored his first goal for Arsenal against Manchester United in a 3–2 home win. His first team opportunities were limited in the 1996–97 season, but in the 1997–98 season he broke into the first team, after a long-term injury to striker Ian Wright. Anelka was a key player in Arsenal’s “Double” win, of both the Premier League championship and the FA Cup trophy that season. Anelka scored the second goal in Arsenal’s 2–0 win over PFA Young Player of the Year Award in the 1998–99 season, but Arsenal failed to defend their Premiership title and made little progress in the UEFA Champions League, while Anelka wanted a better salary. In all he made 90 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 28 goals.

He transferred to Real Madrid C.F. in the summer of 1999 for £22.3 million pounds. Anelka began brightly, arriving as a record signing to the Madrid side. He had initial success, but soon fell out of favor with fans, fellow players, and new coach Vicente del Bosque, at one point receiving a 45-day suspension for refusing to train. Despite eventually returning to favor and figuring in the successful capture of the 1999-2000 Champions League campaign (he scored vital goals in both legs of the semi-finals against Bayern Munich), he was surplus to the requirements of the club.

Anelka signed a professional contract at Paris Saint-Germain, a return to the club at which he used to play as a youth player, in a transfer deal worth £20 million. After eighteen months, Anelka returned to the English Premiership in January 2002 with Liverpool on a short term loan deal until the end of the season. He contributed to Liverpool’s late push to come second in the league but manager Gérard Houllier decided not to offer him a permanent deal after the end of the season in favour of signing El Hadji Diouf. Nevertheless, he was placed 96th in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. Anelka opted to join newly promoted Manchester City F.C., and the £13 million fee paid by manager Kevin Keegan was a club record.

In January 2005, the speculation ended when Manchester City announced that Anelka had completed a £7 million transfer to Turkish team Fenerbahçe. Anelka helped the Turkish club win the league title in 2005. In August of that same year, there was considerable speculation in the press that Anelka was being courted by Newcastle United for a return to English football, although the transfer never came about. Anelka stayed on at the Turkish club where he played with them in the UEFA Champions League, but they finished bottom of their group.

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