Nicolas Anelka has agreed and signed a pre-contract agreement to join Shanghai Shenhua in January on a two year deal. The French forward has fallen out of favour at Chelsea and of late has been training separately from the squad, today he finally got his wish – to move away from West London. No doubt this is a big money move but I thought others might have tried to go in for him…
Close the door behind you, cheers
Once the hottest property in football, Anelka moved from Arsenal to Real Madrid in 1999 for a staggering £22m and looked to have the world at his feet. He had a torrid time there, only making 19 appearances and scoring 2 goals… A poor investment but they still managed to sell him for £20m back to his first club – Paris Saint German. From then on he played for many clubs and found his way back to a real top club when he joined Chelsea. I’m not if anyone is to “blame” for Anelka’s desire to leave but I do think there is something in the fact that he has never stayed at a club for more than 3 years. Either he is eager to see the world and different parts of countries or he falls out of favour and instantly decides to move instead of proving his worth.
I make THIS much money now
I would have liked to see Anelka stay in the Premier League as something to offer someone and Arsenal could even have done with taking their cash-cow back, he brings top level experience, goals and a cool head to a team – something that his former employers could do with, especially if something is to happen to their star striker Robin Van Persie. I do fear that Anelka is a man who wishes to play second-fiddle to nobody so that might not have worked… Either way, overseas clubs are ever-expanding and Anelka is another player who is going to cash in abroad.
He may be far superior than anybody that I know of in the Chinese Super League but many players forget that such moves also mean drastic lifestyle changes. Let’s see how Nic does out there.
Will Chelsea have faith in their current attacking force or dip their toes into the transfer market pool this January… I’d stick if I was in their shoes, they have two of the best strikers in the world (when on form), one of England’s brightest attacking prospects and another potential world beater in the form of Lukaku.
balotellisbarber 