source: elmundodeporte.elmundo.es

Nicolas Anelka is moaning again. Predictably he's moaning about his current employers, Fenerbahce, and how they're "not a big club." This might sound familiar to Arsenal and Manchester City fans.

He was a phenomenon at Arsenal, forming a deadly partnership with Denis Bergkamp, but when rumours surfaced that Real Madrid wanted him to wear their white shirt he sensationally went on strike, vowing he would never play for Arsenal again and forcing them to sell him for just over 22 million GBP in 1999. This ill-advised little tantrum, coupled with the fact that he reacts to scoring the same way most people do to finding out their dog has been run over, earned Anelka the nickname 'the incredible sulk'.

He was part of Madrid's Champion's League winning team in 2000 (but then again, so was Steve McManaman) which should have cheered him up. But Madrid's insistence that he muck in for the team and occasionally play on the right wing meant he only spent a single season at the Bernabeu before returing to original club Paris St. Germain.

A quick sulk there earned him a loan move to Liverpool, where Gerard Houllier kept him for a season before deciding he didn't want him, hence the move to Manchester City. He scored regularly for City but became frustrated at the clubs lack of success, prompting his move to Fenerbahce in 2005.

Unhappy (again) in Turkey he seems to fancy a move back to the English Premiership but (quite rightly) fears that no one there will want him. "I have the impression that other clubs fear that my character could cause a problem" the perceptive Frenchman says.

I can't help thinking it all went wrong when he left Arsenal in such bizarre circumstances. He's never rediscovered the consistency or enjoyed the service he had at Highbury, and must look back on those days with regret. Maybe the young Anelka (he was only 20 when he left for Madrid) didn't appreciate that he was in the perfect team for his style of play, and would struggle to recreate that situation elsewhere.