Nicolas Anelka
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 has played for Fenerbahçe since 2005.
At the age of 17, he joined Arsenal in November 1996 soon after the appointment of Arsene Wenger as manager. His first team opportunities were limited in the 1996-97 season but in 1997-98 he broke into the first team and was a key player in the Premiership/FA Cup double success. In 1998-99 he won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award, but Arsenal lost defence of their double to Manchester United and Anelka was transferred to Spanish league champions Real Madrid.
Anelka spent just one season at Real Madrid, being in their European Cup winning squad, before leaving to begin his second spell at Paris St Germain in the summer of 2000.
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 rejected Gerard Houllier's offer of a permanent deal. Instead he opted to join newly promoted Manchester City and the £12million fee paid by manager Kevin Keegan was a club record.
In his third season at Manchester City, 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 Man City announced that it had agreed to a fee for Anelka's transfer to Turkish power Fenerbahçe.
Anelka has not been called up for international duty since 2002, since a fallout with the coach at the time, Jacques Santini, when he snubbed a call up for a friendly. He has won 28 caps for France, scoring six goals.
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