The enigmatic career of Nicolas Anelka

[horsechoker]

Nicholas Anelka had one of the strangest career trajectories in the modern era. I don't know about his early career at PSG but for most people his story starts at Arsenal as an 18 year old where he would show signs of being an elite striker and Ian Wright's successor. Anelka won a league and couple double in his first season with the Gunners and a season later he'd then get his dream move to Real Madrid but could never live up to expectations. Following that he'd go back to PSG, then out on loan to an early 2000s Liverpool and looked to be losing much of that early promise. By this point he was 24 and amazingly had his longest spell at a club with City for 3 seasons where probably had his best spell since his Arsenal days, after that he disappeared to Fernabache for a season but would return to England with Bolton Wanderers. He had started out as one that people were expecting to be an elite level striker but had turned into somewhat of a journey man at 27 playing for some average teams for most of his 20s.

However, his Bolton spell would culminate in the highlight of his career when he moved to Chelsea. It was here that he would finally come close to being a top player in a big team but he was overshadowed in my opinion by players such as Drogba and really became more of a team player than an outstanding talent. He would infamously he would miss a crucial penalty in the 2008 Champions League final and would only be a bit part player in a flukey Champions League win in 2012, however he would become one of the few players to win a Premier League title with 2 different teams. After Chelsea, he went to China, had a brief loan spell at Juventus, played for West Brom where he was fired for a racist gesture and ended his career in India.

Honours
European Champion - 2000 France
Champions League - 2000 (Real Madrid), 2012 (Chelsea)?
Premier League - 1998 (Arsenal), 2010 (Chelsea)
FA Cup - 1998 (Arsenal), 2009, 2010 (Chelsea)
Serie A - 2013 (Juventus)
Turkish Super Lig - 2005 (Fernabache)

and there's a few more but that's an impressive trophy haul.

So what do you make of Nicholas Anelka? A player who failed to live up to the hype or a renaissance man who had an impressive career throughout Europe?

 

[Lay]

Paul Merson said he was so good at Arsenal, he thought he would be as good as Ronaldo Nazario

 

[Vidyoyo]

Yeah it's very weird. Has any other player in the modern game yo-yo'd as much as him?

The bouncebackability on that lad was

 

[horsechoker]

Yeah it's very weird. Has any other player in the modern game yo-yo'd as much as him?

The bouncebackability on that lad was

Zlatan is comparable but he was much more impressive and didn't play for any mediocre clubs until he went to LA Galaxy in his mid 30s.

 

[Pexbo]

Yeah it's very weird. Has any other player in the modern game yo-yo'd as much as him?

The bouncebackability on that lad was

Adebayor had the same career without the trophies.

 

[footballistic orgasm]

Zlatan is comparable but he was much more impressive and didn't play for any mediocre clubs until he went to LA Galaxy in his mid 30s.

Zlatan has scored way more bangers, but Anelka unlike Zlatan, often showed up in big games than not though.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Zlatan is comparable but he was much more impressive and didn't play for any mediocre clubs until he went to LA Galaxy in his mid 30s.

Another springs to mind... Van der Sar!

Laurent Blanc too but he had a weird career, starting as a striker before becoming a CB.

On topic - Anelka was always a flashy player, but had hot and cold spells from what I remember of his time at Liverpool/City/Bolton. He always seemed too good for the latter but it was a period when they had a few players like that (e.g. Okocha and Djorkaeff). He was much more disciplined at Chelsea and I guess that allowed him to flourish whereas before he was just a sulky kid who thought he was too good and didn't put the effort in.

 

[Luke1995]

What about his France career ? I remember mainly him being used as the scapegoat in the 2010 World Cup

 

[Josh 76]

He was unplayable at Arsenal as a kid. Probably one of the best 18 year olds ive ever seen.

 

[PoTMS]

The cnut was a Leeds United away from playing against all of our arch/title rivals. Another one is Daniel Sturridge.

 

[FootballHQ]

Thought he was great at Chelsea. O.k not as essential as Drogba but he still fitted in nicely in their 4-3-3 drifting wide or just off Drogba and still chipping in with plenty of goals.

19 premier league goals which I assume was his best scoring season.

Guess a turning point in his career was Liverpool not signing him full time (signed Diouf instead). Went to Man. City and did well but felt like his career was drifting.

 

[Robertd0803]

I remember being annoyed that he signed for Chelsea when he left Bolton. But then he wouldnt have missed the penalty in Moscow. You just knew looking at him walking up that he was going to miss it.

 

[dcrompton]

I’m bored so I just added up all his transfer fees and he was almost a £100 million pound player (99.8)
I think his problems were reputation, nicknamed ‘le sulk’ and represented by his brother. Better players than Anelka have failed at Madrid but he was kind of eclipsed at both Arsenal and France by Henry.

 

[Bullhitter]

Loved him. Definitely underappreciated and probably down to an unfairly bad rep in my opinion. It's interesting to wonder when looking back if he was a victim of "rich, young, black footballer" type media bias/assassination as the likes of Sterling and Pogba in the modern era have been. I'm not saying he didn't make mistakes, he certainly listened to some wrong people in his younger days but I think he got an overly raw deal for far too lengthy a time.

 

[VorZakone]

I always associated him with the 2000s. Felt weird for me to see him lining up for Arsenal in the late 90s.

 

[Rozay]

He started at Monaco not PSG I’m sure.

 

[dcrompton]

He started at Monaco not PSG I’m sure.

Definitely PSG. Henry and Trezeguet came through at Monaco around same time

 

[Rozay]

Definitely PSG. Henry and Trezeguet came through at Monaco around same time

Come to think of it, I always knew it was PSG - only I saw a picture recently of Henry, Amelia and Trezeguet all wearing Monaco training gear as youngsters. Wonder where that came from now!

 

[Ali Dia]

He was amazing to watch at arsenal. He made it look so easy. In hindsight was he the first big player Wenger sold? He was a bargain anyway. Signed for 500k and sold for 22.5 just two years later and that was a big fee then. Really good on the shoulder, pacey and could finish ice cold with both feet.

 

[Maluco]

He was badly advised by his agent and those around him wanting the easy money that came from transfers. He should have been a big club player his whole career, but went to Real too early and then chose some bizarre moves.

He really should have taken more care and consideration over his career and those around him should have advised him better. He was a great player who should never have been at Fenerbache or Bolton in his mid twenties

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

Imagine Mbappe having that trajectory for example. Unheard of. Such an odd career. Serves him right though, shouldn't have been so focussed on transfers.

He was amazing to watch at arsenal. He made it look so easy. In hindsight was he the first big player Wenger sold? He was a bargain anyway. Signed for 500k and sold for 22.5 just two years later and that was a big fee then. Really good on the shoulder, pacey and could finish ice cold with both feet.

I always remember that as I was big into CM at the time. Such a return was like that game come to life

 

[MrMarcello]

I remember being annoyed that he signed for Chelsea when he left Bolton. But then he wouldnt have missed the penalty in Moscow. You just knew looking at him walking up that he was going to miss it.

But had he came to United perhaps he buries a regulation goal to win the match.

I wanted him that winter window as well, with Saha's constant injury woes.

 

[Flying_Heckfish]

He was a really useful player for Chelsea.

Having said that, his early promise was so much higher than that, it's almost embarassing. At least he bounced back to a very decent level.

 

[Ali Dia]

Imagine Mbappe having that trajectory for example. Unheard of. Such an odd career. Serves him right though, shouldn't have been so focussed on transfers.



I always remember that as I was big into CM at the time. Such a return was like that game come to life

totally. I thought he and arsenal would be a big problem for us for years to come and then he was gone! He was a better player than Bolton and Turkish league. He obviously couldn’t really settle anywhere so his head probably wasn’t right a lot of the time. He’s won a fair amount of stuff too.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Spent far too long jumping around in terrible teams. Man City prior to being rich, Bolton and Fenerbache when he still had real quality.

Showed that at Chelsea.

 

[horsechoker]

Would have Arsenal have bought Henry if Anelka stayed? They could've had very different careers.

 

[tentan]

He was a strange one. I thought Chelsea were crazy when they signed him, but he actually did quite well for them and looked like a top striker for many years.

 

[MrMarcello]

Would have Arsenal have bought Henry if Anelka stayed? They could've had very different careers.

Now there's a butterfly effect to ponder.

 

[Dancfc]

He was a strange one. I thought Chelsea were crazy when they signed him, but he actually did quite well for them and looked like a top striker for many years.

For me it was a massive no brainer of a signing even if he was only ever going to be short term (he fell of a cliff post the double season).

We needed a quality alternative to Drogba (who at that point we struggled badly without) while having the versatility in his skillset to co exist with Didier (in other words, playing on the wing).

 

[paraguayo]

For me it was a massive no brainer of a signing even if he was only ever going to be short term (he fell of a cliff post the double season).

We needed a quality alternative to Drogba (who at that point we struggled badly without) while having the versatility in his skillset to co exist with Didier (in other words, playing on the wing).

Didnt Scolari prefer Anelka to Drogba which caused his falling off with squad

 

[Dancfc]

Didnt Scolari prefer Anelka to Drogba which caused his falling off with squad

My memories a bit hazy in this regard as my subconscious tries to block out all things Scolari but I think he wanted to rotate them in the one position which caused issues.

Although by the sounds of it that was just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Paolo Di Canio]

Actually what happened to him at West Brom? I just remember him looking miserable in his press release photo with the jersey and leaving a few weeks later for what i thought was a cash issue

What was the racist incident?

 

[Globule]

Actually what happened to him at West Brom? I just remember him looking miserable in his press release photo with the jersey and leaving a few weeks later for what i thought was a cash issue

What was the racist incident?

Didn't he celebrate a goal with a hand gesture in support of a French(?) rapper who was a racist bigot?

Edit: It was a gesture created by a French comedian and political activist that had anti-Semitic connotations.
Quenelle

Edit II: Didn't think I'd have to teach Paolo Di Canio about racist gestures.

 

[GuybrushThreepwood]

The fact that he continued to score so many goals in struggling City (in 2003-2004 when their form nosedived after a decent start) and Bolton (post-Allarydyce) teams showed what a quality a player he was. I think he had a pretty good goal-scoring record against the likes of Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool etc with those clubs as well.

I do wonder how differently things would have turned out had Liverpool signed him permanently in the summer of 2002.

 

[Paolo Di Canio]

Didn't he celebrate a goal with a hand gesture in support of a French(?) rapper who was a racist bigot?

Edit: It was a gesture created by a French comedian and political activist that had anti-Semitic connotations.
Quenelle

Edit II: Didn't think I'd have to teach Paolo Di Canio about racist gestures.

so the press stitched him up basically

 

[carvajal]

During his time in Madrid, I remember that there was a lot of talk about his private life, his dissatisfaction with playing for Madrid, something that generally did not happen.
From what was said, he was much on his own and he seemed always upset. The best memory I have was this goal in Germany, in the semifinals.

 

[Fortitude]

Anelka's issue was he didn't care for, or want from the game and barely applied himself. At the time he was supposed to be kicking on, he already looked like football was just a job to him.

He's one of the biggest wastes of talents - in terms of not reaching the level his talent demanded - that the PL has seen.

There's no physical or technical reason why he couldn't have been one of the best strikers of his generation outright - give him the desire to make the very best of himself, and he would've been.

 

[the_box]

That West Brom unveiling video was depressing enough to earn a proper soundtrack -

http://www.youdubber.com/index.php?video=v37suDoylik&video_start=4&audio=ozKsQnRHb-c&audio_start=1

 

[Sandikan]

The ultimate mercenary.
He'd have been one of the first to take China money if he'd been around these days.

Still remember picking him as a cheap striker for fantasy football in that West Brom move and him being banned very quickly! Gutting.

 

[Eire Red United]

Remember him appearing in the guinness book of records for highest total transfer fee at one stage. Will be forever grateful for his penalty in ‘08.