Nicolas Sebastien Anelka (born 14 March, 1979 in Versailles) is a French football player playing in the forward position, currently for the Turkish club Fenerbahçe. Previous clubs he has played for include Paris Saint-Germain (1996-97, 2000-02), Arsenal (1997-99), Real Madrid (1999-2000), Liverpool (2002) and Manchester City (2002-2005). He was made PFA Young Player of the Year in 1999.

Anelka converted to Islam, and chose the Muslim name "Bilal" [1].

Club Career

Anelka started out at Paris Saint-Germain as a youth player but in November 1996, at the age of 17, he joined Arsenal for a fee of £500,000, soon after the appointment of Arsène Wenger as manager. His first team opportunities were limited in the 1996-97 season but in 1997-98 he broke into the first team (especially after a long-term injury to Ian Wright) and was a key player in Arsenal's Premiership and FA Cup double success 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, in 1998-99 he won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, 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. Rumours of his older brothers (who doubled as his agents) galvanising his career decisions also emerged as the star was renowned for his temperaments with his clubs, forcing him to be left with the uneviable nickname of the 'Incredible Sulk'. 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 European Cup 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, to begin his second spell at Paris St-Germain.

After one season at Paris St-Germain, Anelka returned to the English Premiership, signing a one-year loan deal with Liverpool. But he failed to hold down a regular first team place and manager Gerard Houllier decided not to offer him a permanent deal after the end of the season. Instead he 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, 16th in 2003-04 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 to a fee for Anelka's transfer to Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahçe. In August 2005 there was considerable speculation in the press that Anelka was being courted by Newcastle United for a return to English football but this has not turned into reality.

International Career

At junior level, Anelka played for French junior team in 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Anelka had made his senior team debut for France in a goalless draw with Sweden on April 21, 1998, and was part of France's Template:Ec2, Confederations Cup 2001 and

squads. However, Anelka had not been called up for international duty between 2002 and 2005, after a fallout with the coach at the time, Jacques Santini, when he snubbed a call up for a friendly. However he recently enjoyed a revival of sorts, as Raymond Domenech recalled him to the squad for a round of friendly fixtures in November 2005, culminating in him scoring his first international goal for over 3 years in the recent 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 has not, however, been selected for the World Cup Germany 2006.

Statistics

Career Honours

Arsenal

Winner

• 1997/98 FA Premier League
• 1997/98 FA Cup
• 1998/99 Charity Shield

Runner Up

• 1998/99 FA Premier League

Real Madrid

Winner

• 1999/00 UEFA Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain

Winner

• 2001/02 UEFA Intertoto Cup

Liverpool

Runner Up

• 2001/02 FA Premier League

Fenerbahce

Winner

• 2004/05 Turkish Premier Super League

Runner Up

• 2005-06 Turkish Cup
• 2005-06 Turkish Premier Super League

Template:FRAf

Winner

• 2000 European Football Championship
• 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup

External links

• FootballDatabase provides Nicolas Anelka's profile and stats
• Photos and Stats at sporting-heroes.net