The twelve-club career of French striker Nicolas Anelka

Some players care little about loyalty and much more about money and glory. Nicolas Anelka was often counted among them. Yet he was an extraordinary striker. The Frenchman had a real instinct for scoring goals, and he was quick and technically gifted. That is why he enjoyed a long career and played for some of the greatest clubs in the world.

Anelka signed his first professional contract with Paris Saint-Germain in 1996, at the age of 16. He was so gifted that after just 10 games for the Parisians, Arsenal bought him for £500,000 when he was only 17. After 3 very successful seasons in London, the French striker joined Real Madrid. His spell with Los Blancos lasted just 1 season, and he then returned to his first club, Paris Saint-Germain.

Nicolas Anelka played for 12 different teams during his long career. The most striking thing about it is that he paid no attention to whether those clubs’ fans hated each other. At different stages of his career Nicolas Anelka played for Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion.

Money was not everything for Anelka, though. His temperament often drew the anger of his coaches, which is why he moved from club to club so frequently. Even so, the French striker could say he had played for the best teams in the world. He also had a fine international career: the forward was part of the Les Bleus squad that won the European Championship in 2000, and he scored 14 goals in 69 matches for France.

At club level the striker scored more than 200 goals, and he won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2000. Despite all those moves, Anelka remained one of the finest strikers of his generation.

The clubs in order

Born in Le Chesnay on 14 March 1979, Anelka came through the Clairefontaine academy before joining Paris Saint-Germain. His senior career then ran through Arsenal (1997–1999), Real Madrid (1999–2000), Paris Saint-Germain again (2000–2002), a loan at Liverpool (2001–2002), Manchester City (2002–2005), Fenerbahce (2005–2006), Bolton Wanderers (2006–2008), Chelsea (2008–2012), Shanghai Shenhua (2012–2013), a loan at Juventus (2013), West Bromwich Albion (2013–2014) and finally Mumbai City (2014–2015), where he was named player-manager in July 2015. The combined transfer fees paid for him came to just under £90 million. The largest single fee was the £22.3 million Real Madrid paid Arsenal in 1999; Manchester City spent £13 million, Bolton paid a club-record £8 million in August 2006, and Chelsea paid £15 million to sign him from Bolton.

Trophies and goals

The moves rarely came without silverware. In his first full season at Arsenal he won the 1997-98 league and FA Cup double, scoring the second goal in the 2-0 FA Cup final win over Newcastle United. At Real Madrid he started the 2000 Champions League final in Paris, a 3-0 win over Valencia.

His best years in England came at Chelsea. In 2008-09 he won the Premier League Golden Boot with 19 goals, and the club won the FA Cup that season and again in 2009-10, when Chelsea also took the Premier League title. Across six Premier League clubs he scored 125 league goals in 364 appearances. In his first months at Stamford Bridge he also reached the 2008 Champions League final, which Chelsea lost 6-5 on penalties to Manchester United in Moscow after Edwin van der Sar saved his kick, Chelsea’s seventh of the shoot-out.

His international career ended in controversy. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa he was sent home after reportedly insulting coach Raymond Domenech at half-time of the 2-0 defeat by Mexico. He refused to apologise, his teammates refused to train the next day in protest, and the French Football Federation banned him for 18 international matches, which effectively ended his time with Les Bleus.