Quite how John Terry was a hero for missing a penalty, yet Anelka was a villain for saying he didn't want to take one, is a mystery to us
Tall, quick, skilful and deadly in front of goal, Anelka remains something of an enigma; certainly he has less silverware than a man of his talents might expect. Born in Versailles, he attended the famous Clairefontaine academy in France with Thierry Henry and Louis Saha, and was on the books of Paris St Germain before he was controversially snapped up by Arsenal in 1997.
During a two-year spell with the Gunners, he collected a league and cup double and the PFA Young Player of the Year award but left for Real Madrid in 1999 for £22.3m.
Despite winning the Champions League in his only season with the club, he never settled in the Spanish capital and, after spells with PSG, Liverpool, Manchester City, Fenerbahce and Bolton, Chelsea became the eighth club of an itinerant career when they paid £15m for him in January 2008, taking the total spent on the Frenchman to a whopping £66.5m.
Blues fans didn’t have to wait long to see the side of Anelka’s character that has seen him dubbed ‘Le Sulk’: having missed the penalty that lost the Champions League final, he blamed Avram Grant for not putting him onto the pitch sooner.