Nicolas Anelka

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Nicolas Anelka
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Personal information
Full name Nicolas Sebastian Anelka
Date of birth March 14, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth Versailles, France
Height 185cm
Nickname Incredible Sulk
Position Forward
Club information
Current club Bolton Wanderers
Number 39
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1995-1997
1997-1999
1999-2000
2000-2002
2001-2002
2002-2005
2005-2006
2006-		 Paris Saint-Germain
Arsenal
Real Madrid
Paris Saint-Germain
Liverpool (loan)
Manchester City
Fenerbahçe
Bolton Wanderers		 10 (1)
65 (23)
19 (2)
39 (10)
20 (4)
89 (38)
39 (14)
11 (2)
National team**
1998-present France 33 (8)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 19:57, 25 November 2006 (UTC).
** National team caps and goals correct
as of October 11, 2006.

Nicolas Sebastian Anelka (born 14 March 1979 in Versailles) is a French professional football player in the forward position, who plays for English Premier League club Bolton Wanderers. Previous clubs he has played for include Paris Saint-Germain (1996-97, 2000-02), Arsenal (1997-99), Real Madrid (1999-2000), Liverpool (2002), Manchester City (2002-2005) and Fenerbahçe (2005-2006). He won the 1998-99 PFA Young Player of the Year award.

Anelka is the son of two parents from Martinique, Margeurite and Jean-Philippe, who emigrated to Metropolitan France in 1974. He converted to Islam in 2004 [1] and took the Muslim name Abdul-Salam Bilal [2].

Contents

[edit] Club career

Anelka started out at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player. In November 1996, at the age of 17, he joined English club Arsenal for a fee of £500,000, under newly appointed Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger. 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 "The Double" win, of both Premier League championship and FA Cup trophy that season. Anelka scored the second goal in Arsenal's 2-0 win over Newcastle United in that season's FA Cup final.

A player with exceptional pace and finishing ability, he won the 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. In addition, Anelka made it clear he wanted a better salary than the one Arsenal were offering him. Rumors of his older brothers, who were his agents, galvanizing his career decisions also emerged as the star was renowned for his temperaments with his clubs, forcing him to be left with the unenviable nickname of the Incredible Sulk.[3] He was eventually transferred to Spanish giants Real Madrid in the summer of 1999, for £22.3m. In all he made 90 appearances for Arsenal (including 17 as a substitute), scoring 28 goals and establishing himself as a top class striker.

Anelka spent just one season at Real Madrid, and played in the side that won the UEFA Champions League final, beating Valencia 3-0. However, his form was remarkably worse than it had been at Arsenal – scoring only four goals in 29 appearances – and his inability to mix with his teammates (with the exception of good friend Steve McManaman) as well as to cope with media attention led to him leaving in the summer of 2000. He began his second spell at Paris St-Germain, in a transfer deal worth £20 million.

After one season at Paris St-Germain, Anelka returned to the English Premiership, signing a one-year loan deal with Liverpool. He failed to hold down a regular first team place and manager Gérard Houllier decided not to offer him a permanent deal after the end of the season. Nevertheless, he placed 96th in the 100 Players who shook the Kop. Anelka opted to join newly promoted Manchester City and the £12 million fee paid by manager Kevin Keegan was a club record.

In his three seasons at Manchester City, although scoring freely, the addition of Anelka to the club's squad hardly made a drastic difference to its playing fortunes. They finished ninth in 2002-03 season, 16th in 2003-04 season and midway through the 2004-05 season they were looking set for a mid-table finish at best. There was increasing speculation as to whether Anelka was going to be transferred to a bigger club.

On January 27, 2005, the speculation ended when Manchester City announced that it had agreed a £7 million fee for Anelka's 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. They also fell short in the title race in 2006, as rivals Galatasaray won the title on the season's final day.

During the summer transfer window of 2006, press reports once again linked Anelka with a return to English football. Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp was allegedly willing to either pay £8.2 million to bring the striker to Fratton Park, or take him on a season long loan. However, Bolton Wanderers swooped in and on August 25 2006, manager Sam Allardyce announced that he had signed Anelka on a four year deal for a club record of £8m. This brought his total combined transfer fees to approximately £69.8 million.

Anelka took time to settle in at Bolton, and took until 25 November 2006 to score his first goal for the club. Ironically this came in the form of a brace against Arsenal, the club that introduced him to the Premiership. In this game against Arsenal at the Reebok Stadium, he managed to score a goal in both the first and second halves of the game, with the second goal being debatably offside. The first goal, however, was quite remarkable, winning November's Goal of the Month award on Match of the Day.

[edit] International career

At junior level, Anelka played for the French junior team in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Anelka had made his senior team debut for France in a goalless draw with Sweden on April 21, 1998 but was overlooked for the 1998 World Cup. He was part of France's Euro 2000 and 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup squads. However, in 2002, he again was left out of the 2002 World Cup. After France's disastrous defense of their title in Japan & Korea, manager Roger Lemerre was replaced by Jacques Santini. Anelka was not called up for international duty between 2002 and 2005, after a fallout with Santini, when he snubbed a call up for a friendly match, due to an injury. However he enjoyed a revival of sorts, as Santini's replacement Raymond Domenech recalled him to the squad for a round of friendly matches in November 2005, culminating in him scoring his first international goal for over three years in a 3-2 win over Costa Rica on the island of Martinique. As of March 2006, he has won 31 caps for France, scoring seven goals.

He was not selected for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and even when striker Djibril Cissé was forced out of the tournament due to injury, Olympique Lyonnais' striker Sidney Govou was called up as Cissé's replacement rather than Anelka, who declared in response, "My absence is a real shame. I was completely available and ready to play in this World Cup. I think I could have helped France."

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Club performance

Club Season Premiership FA Cup League Cupjghj Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Bolton Wanderers 2006-07 8 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 11 3
Club Season Prem League Turkish Cup --------- Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Fenerbahçe 2005-06 24 10 6 2 - - 6 0 0 0 36 12
2004-05 14 4 2 0 - - 2 0 0 0 18 4
Club Season Premiership FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Manchester City 2004-05 19 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 7
2003-04 32 17 4 4 2 0 5 4 0 0 43 25
2002-03 38 14 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 41 14
Liverpool Loan 2001-02 20 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 5
Club Season Ligue 1 French Cup Ligue Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Paris Saint-Germain 2001-02 12 2 0 0 0 0 7 3 0 0 19 5
2000-01 27 8 0 0 1 0 9 5 0 0 37 13
Club Season Primera Div Spanish Cup --------- Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Real Madrid 1999-00 19 2 0 0 - - 9 2 11 4 39 8
Club Season Premiership FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Arsenal F.C. 1998-99 35 17 5 0 0 0 5 1 1 1 46 19
1997-98 26 6 9 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 40 9
1996-97 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Club Season Ligue 1 French Cup Ligue Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Paris Saint-Germain 1996-97 8 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 9 1
1995-96 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Total 282 92 29 10 9 1 46 15 13 5 379 123

[edit] International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 10 October 1998 Moscow, Russia Russia 1-0 3-2 Euro 2000 qualification
2. 10 February 1999 London, England England 1-0 2-0 Friendly match
3. 10 February 1999 London, England England 2-0 2-0 Friendly match
4. 6 June 2000 Casablanca, Morocco Morocco 4-1 5-1 Friendly match
5. 16 August 2000 Marseille, France FIFA XI 5-0 5-1 Exhibition match
6. 30 May 2001 Taegu, Japan Korea Republic 3-0 5-0 2001 Confederations Cup
7. 9 November 2005 Fort-de-France, France Costa Rica 1-2 3-2 Friendly match
8. 11 October 2006 Sochaux, France Faroe Islands 3-0 5-0 Euro 2008 qualification

[edit] Career Honors

Winner
Runner Up

[edit] References

  1. ^ Steve Stammers, Muslim Anelka to quit England, Evening Standard, June 10, 2004
  2. ^ Big Sam and the 'big sulk': what will Anelka make of life at Bolton?, The Independent, 24 November, 2006
  3. ^ Anelka is recalled to French squad, CNN, October 5, 2006

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Michael Owen		 PFA Young Player of the Year
1999		 Succeeded by:
Harry Kewell


Bolton Wanderers F.C. - Current Squad

1 Al Habsi | 2 Hunt | 4 Nolan | 5 Méïté | 6 Speed | 7 Stelios | 8 Campo | 9 Pedersen | 11 Gardner | 12 Walker | 14 Davies | 16 Teymourian | 17 Fortune | 20 Vaz Té | 21 Diouf | 22 Jääskeläinen | 23 Tal | 24 O'Brien | 25 Faye | 26 Ben Haim | 31 Sinclair | 39 Anelka | 41 Fojut | 42 Smith | 46 Jamieson | Manager: Allardyce
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