Where to start? Here’s an excerpt of an interview Arsene Wenger gave back in
1999 on Anelka’s proposed move to Real Madrid: “So there are no footballing reasons for him to move. All the rest after that can only be money. The story is quite simple. He has been offered a huge contract and motivated to say that he just wants to leave.” Then there was the subsequent 45-day suspension while at Real Madrid for a refusal to train. Anelka in a career littered with controversy, has also blamed his decisive penalty miss in the 2008 Champions League final on then Chelsea manager Avram Grant. He’s been handed an 18-match ban by the French FA and had a fall-out with Raymond Domenech at last summer’s World Cup, a spat so severe that it prompted his immediate suspension from the squad mid-tournament and the debacle that was the French squad’s strike. There’s little wonder why he’s called ‘Le Sulk’.
