Tuesday 19 March 2013

No.5 France and Nicolas Anelka



At number five in my top ten viewers is France and the player I have chosen for them is Nicolas Anelka.

Anelka was signed by Kevin Keegan from Paris Saint-Germain in 2002 for a club record fee of £13 million, the deal also saw Alioune Toure leave City for PSG.

The signing of Anelka was massive to City fans, I remember the excitement like it was yesterday. After a few very unsteady years all of a sudden we had signed a striker that was known and respected around the World, at the time it was a dream.

Anelka did not disappoint us either, he was everything we expected. He was World class, his pace, his vision, his movement and his finishing were exceptional and had City fans brimming.

Unfortunately Anelka's possible departure from City was always being mentioned and it was very unsettling, to be honest looking back and opening my eyes, I dare say a lot of it was engineered by Anelka because as soon as the chance came to leave he was gone.

When he did leave City for Fenerbache in January 2005 I took it as a direct insult to City, to leave a club playing in the best League in the World where he was playing well, to go to the Turkish League I thought was strange to say the least.

His reasons were all to do with playing Champions League football, to me that meant putting himself in the spotlight to big European Clubs. A player like Anelka would never normally want to play for Fenerbache but it seemed if it got him out of Manchester then it would do for him.

I certainly think it was a shame that Anelka couldn't settle at City, I think considering he was doing well at the club and the fact that was loved by the fans that it would have been a good decision on his part, but it wasn't to be.

Anelka has a place in City's history forever because he scored the first City goal ever at Eastlands, it is a real shame he wont be remembered for is commitment to the club.

2 comments:

  1. If im not mistaken David Sommiel got the first goal at eastlands?

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are mistaken but nice memory, Anelka scored the first goal at the stadium in a 2-1 win against Barcelona. David Sommeil scored the first League goal there.

    ReplyDelete