Tonight:
5°c
Le Sulk now has a reason to smile
Leo Spall, Evening Standard8 Feb 2008
Nicolas Anelka may still live in a hotel after leaving Bolton for London but as far as he is concerned Chelsea is home. The striker has only been at Stamford Bridge for a month but friends say he has never been happier.
Two goals and several shuddering crossbars in five starts tells its own story and considering Anelka has been on the winning side on all but one drawn occasion it is easy to see why he is content.
But those closest to the Frenchman say it is more than that. Probably for the first time in his nomadic career he feels he is at the right club at the right time.
The fact he is still looking for a place to live and his wife will be travelling to and from Paris in the meantime cannot darken his mood because the chance of success in the Premier League and Champions League is so important to him.
Facing Liverpool on Sunday and the memories of the club who rejected him and crushed his hopes of rebuilding his name at the top of the game five-and-a-half years ago barely even registers.
"Nicolas is smiling all the time because he feels very comfortable at Chelsea and this is exactly what he has been waiting for," said his friend.
"This is the best time in his career. He is playing regularly at the top level and with great consistency. He has been a star from very early on and maybe he wasn't ready but now he is. He has got everything now.
"Playing Liverpool will be a big a game for him but no more than for anyone else because he has played against them for other clubs since his time there."
Anelka has faced Rafael Benitez's side at Anfield already this season with Bolton in a 4-0 defeat in December. His former club opened preliminary talks with Chelsea soon after and the £15million deal went through last month.
Negotiations went relatively smoothly but Anelka's settling in period at the Bridge has been significantly less bumpy. The 28-year-old has slotted straight in from his first substitute appearance.
He said: "Everybody speaks to me as if I've already been here a long time. It is strange as it is like I am in another world. I was fighting against relegation at Bolton and now I am fighting to win something."
With hindsight, Anelka realises he could have made a home for himself at a major club when he joined Arsenal as a teenager but was too young to appreciate the opportunity and forced through an ill-fated move to Real Madrid.
He thought Liverpool would give him a second chance and, after a six-month loan from PSG expired in 2002, lawyers were primed to execute a permanent move apparently promised to him.
Gerard Houllier, the manager at the time, pulled the plug and chose El Hadji Diouf instead to everybody's astonishment, not least Anelka's. The striker spoke out and is still bitter about the abrupt change of heart which confirmed his reputation as "damaged goods" and led to a period with the less ambitious Manchester City, Fenerbahce and Bolton.
Houllier tries to avoid talking about the episode but insists he never doubted the player's ability.
The former Liverpool manager said: "Anelka's one of the most gifted footballers I have ever seen. He seems to have blossomed more in England than any other country. We simply decided not to take up an option to buy him."
Interference from Anelka's brothers and his reputation as 'Le Sulk' have subsequently been blamed but whatever the problems were then they were not evident during his time at Bolton.
Everyone there was impressed with the Frenchman on and off the pitch and he insists his quiet, shy personality has often been misinterpreted.
The fact Anelka rarely has friendships with other players outside the game may not help.
In London, he knows new Chelsea team-mate Claude Makelele and Arsenal's William Gallas well from the France squad but they are not close.
Anelka spends most of his time away from the game with family and a few friends but he wants to show he is not the person his reputation suggests. He has stressed that far from being a prima donna he is prepared to play second fiddle to Didier Drogba at Chelsea when the Ivorian is back and rested after African Nations' Cup duty.
Anelka has already shown willing by fulfilling duties in wide positions when manager Avram Grant has had to make the most of his depleted squad.
Nigel Winterburn, who played with the striker at Arsenal, said: "Nicolas is very quiet but he still socialised and always had terrific ability. I didn't think he was a sulker.
"He has never stayed anywhere very long and a lot of people ask why that is, but he is now at a club going places so we will see what happens.
"Nicolas used to mix with the French players at Arsenal and kept himself to himself but I never saw anything which showed he didn't fit in. It could be frustrating playing with him as he could look disinterested, but then he would burst into life. Goalscorers are like that.
"If you give him quality service he will show you what he is capable of and is the regular scorer Chelsea were looking for. I was always amazed that Liverpool didn't take him."
If Anelka is still smiling on Sunday night when the room service turns up, it will be Liverpool fans rather than the Frenchman wondering what might have been.
