PLAYER PROFILE

Nicolas Anelka

Position: Forward

Height: 6'0

Weight: 13st 1lbs

Date of Birth: 1979-03-14 Versailles, France

Nicolas Anelka

Nicolas Anelka made his reputation with Arsenal before moving to Real Madrid for £22million, after a number of arguments with his boses at Highbury.

He has a chequered past, causing almost as many problems within the club as his undoubted talent did for Premiership defenders. When he moved onto Real Madrid, he again fell out with club officials, before returning to his native Paris with PSG, where he again found trouble at the end of a lengthy honeymoon period.

In December 2001, Liverpool signed Nicolas Anelka on loan until the end of the season. He did quite well for the Merseyside club, scoring 5 goals in 15 starts, but Gerard Houllier did not take up the option of a permanent deal, shocking Anelka, who was then linked with a move to Manchester United.

However it was to rivals Manchester City that Anelka signed, a sign of Kevin Keegan's ambition for their first season back in the Barclaycard Premiership. As long as City can keep Anelka happy, they know they have a proven goalscorer, but so far, few clubs have seen eye-to-eye with him for long.

However, his first season at Maine Road was mostly peaceful, and he provided the goal-scoring threat that Keegan was hoping for, albeit in fits and bursts. He managed 14 goals in 38 games, but the partnership with Robbie Fowler did not have the expected impact.

2003/04 saw an improvement in the partnership with Robbie Fowler as both players went on to score more goals. Anelka started the season in fine form with eight goals in eight games, including his second hat-trick in English football - against Aston Villa. He scored in all of City's UEFA Cup matches, except the very last one away to Dyskobolia Grodzisk, and ended up with a season tally of 25 from all competitions.

However, familiar problems raised their heads again in 2004/05, as Anelka made comments about his dissatisfaction with life at City to a French magazine. Rumours immediately started linking him with a transfer and the inevitable happened in January 2005 when he moved again, this time to Fenerbahce for £7m.

Predictably, he didn't stay in Turkey for particularly long, with rumours linking him with a move back to the Premiership starting up in the summer of 2005, continuing in January 2006 and culminating in an £8m move to Bolton Wanderers, a club record deal taking the French striker to the Reebok Stadium.

It is a signing which has really paid off for Bolton as Anelka scored 12 goals in 38 games in the 06/07 season. He continued to play an important role in 2007/08 despite the team suffering a loss of form after the departure of Sam Allardyce. However, in January 2008 he was on the move again, this time signing for Chelsea for £15m.

His first half-season with the Blues was a mixed one though, as he scored some vital goals, but also missed the crucial penalty in the Champions League final against Manchester United.