Liverpool career stats for Nicolas Anelka – LFChistory – Stats galore for Liverpool FC!

Birthdate: 14 March 1979

Birthplace: Versailles, France

Other clubs: Paris St Germain (1995-97), Arsenal (1997-99), Real Madrid (1999-2000), Paris St Germain (2 / 2000-02), Manchester City (2002-05), Fenerbache (2005-06), Bolton Wanderers (2006-08), Chelsea (2008-12), Shanghai Shenhua (2012-), Juventus (loan 2013), West Bromwich Albion (2013-14), Mumbai City (2014-15)

Bought from: Paris St Germain (loan)

Signed for LFC: 1000000 (on loan), 20.12.2001

International debut: 22.04.1998 vs. Sweden

International caps: 69/14 (1/0 at LFC) – 17.06.2010

Liverpool debut: 26.12.2001

Last appearance: 11.05.2002

Debut goal: 05.01.2002

Last goal: 11.05.2002

Contract expiry: 12.05.2002

Win ratio: 63.64% W:14 D:5 L:3

Games/goals ratio: 4.4

Games/assists ratio: 7.33

Total games/goals opposite LFC: 24 / 5

League games / goals / assists: 20 / 4 / 2

Total games / goals / assists: 22 / 5 / 3

Player Profile

Who could guess that one of Anelka’s many destinations would be Liverpool? Former Young Player of the Year in England has destroyed a number of golden opportunities with his attitude including a career at Anfield. He and his brothers tested Gérard Houllier’s patience and the boss refused to buy him. A particular night when the lights went out against Newcastle was Nico’s golden moment at Liverpool. A superb display from the mercurial Frenchman lit up Anfield in a 3-0 win. Anelka claimed to be excited with the prospect of joining the Reds: “Soon Liverpool will be able to sign me. It’s a long time since I enjoyed myself so much on the pitch. Liverpool is a fantastic club. I also really like Liverpool as a city.” Many supporters were surprised when Houllier decided not to make Anelka a permanent addition to his squad at the end of the 2001/02 season. Four goals from 20 League games had helped the club achieve second place in the Premier League behind champions Arsenal. Houllier decided to buy El Hadji Diouf and nobody in their right mind would consider him a better signing than Anelka might have been. Phil Thompson, who was Houllier’s no. 2 at the time, revealed to LFChistory.net why Anelka wasn’t purchased. “Arséne Wenger rang up Gérard and said: ‘Gérard, I have to tell you. Nicolas’ brothers have just rang me up and they’ve asked me to take Nicolas back to Arsenal.’ Once his brothers tried to sell Nicolas to Arsenal while he was on loan at us, that was the end.”

It wasn’t long before Anelka was back in English football anyway as Kevin Keegan signed him for Manchester City, where he spent three fairly successful years scoring 38 goals in 89 League games before he was on the move again, this time to Turkish club Fenerbache. He helped them win the championship. During the summer of 2006, Anelka signed a four-year contract at Bolton Wanderers that had cost them a club record £8 million. When Chelsea came calling in the January transfer window of 2008, it was hard for the player or his club to say no. The £15 million fee meant that close on £90 million had been spent on Anelka’s fees from the time he joined Real Madrid from Arsenal in 1999. A Champions League winner with Madrid, he would reach another final with Chelsea but after a tight match that went the full distance, it was his penalty kick, saved by Manchester United ‘keeper Edwin van der Sar, that meant that London clubs were still without a European Cup. In his second season at Chelsea Anelka finished top-scorer of the Premier League with 19 goals.

Anelka continued to help Chelsea to domestic prizes as he was a member of their successful FA Cup-winning teams in both 2009 and 2010. He also won his second Premier League winners’ medal twelve years after winning his first with Arsenal in 1998. Further European success, however, eluded him with the west-London club being knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona in 2009 and Inter Milan in 2010. Anelka made 32 Premier League appearances for Chelsea in 2010/11 to take his total to close to 450 in that competition for the five English clubs he has represented. He only scored nine goals in the domestic competitions but added another seven in the Champions League. In January 2012, Anelka signed a two-year deal with Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. Three months later he was also named as a member of Shenhua’s coaching staff, effectively becoming assistant manager to his countryman Jean Tigana, although he subsequently resigned only four days later. Anelka was loaned to Juventus in January 2013 as the Turin club were short in attack due to injuries. However, during his five-month loan spell in Turin, he only played twice for Juve’s first team, once in Serie A and once in the Champions League. Anelka signed a one-year deal to return to the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion early in July 2013.

Anelka was dismissed by the Baggies in mid-March 2014 after claiming that he had quit the club via social media, the incident emerging in relation to the controversial “quenelle” gesture he made after scoring against West Ham earlier in the season. On 6 April Atletico Mineiro president, Alexandre Kalil, confirmed that the 35-year-old had signed for the Brazilian Copa Libertadores winners. However, the Brazilian club then pulled out of the deal to sign the forward, claiming that the player had not met the deadline to sign his contract. In September 2014 Anelka joined Mumbai City managed by Peter Reid in the inaugural Indian Super League. After failing to make the end of season play-offs Anelka agreed to a deal to join Na Hussein Dey in Algeria but the move was blocked by the FA there as he was not a current international. He then returned to Mumbai City in July 2015, accepting an offer to be the club’s player-manager. Anelka selected himself four times as the club finished sixth out of eight teams and he was replaced for the 2016 season. In May 2016, Anelka announced his intention to open an academy for teenage strikers in Belgium, then in February 2017 was appointed as a consultant at Dutch side Roda JC, advising on academy matters.