Controversial French striker Nicolas Anelka is back among the headlines this week after starring in a new Netflix documentary. The Franck Naraf-helmed biopic focuses on the mercurial forward's journey from fresh-faced youngster gracing the parks of Paris to retired family man in the suburbs of Dubai. Anelka: Misunderstood paints a compelling portrait of a complex individual that split opinion wherever he went, but was the firebrand striker really a victim?
Teenage Wunderkind Becomes Le Sulk
Anelka was marked for greatness after earning a place at the Clairefontaine academy when he was just 13 years old. He broke into the PSG team at the age of 16, but took the bold decision to move to London and battled Ian Wright for a place in the Arsenal starting 11. Anelka was a revelation in North London, where he drew plaudits for his pace, movement and finishing ability. In his first season at the club, he banged in a number of key goals to help the Gunners win the double. He was Arsenal's top scorer the following season, and he earned the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Anelka developed the nickname "Le Sulk" towards the end of the 1998-99 campaign, as he began to agitate for a move away from the club. Arsenal fans turned on him, but Anelka now says he regrets leaving and retains a great love for the club.
Anelka Hated His Time in Madrid
Anelka was tasked with leading Real Madrid into a glorious new era after joining for £22.3 million in the summer of 1999. However, he failed to find the back of the net in his first five months at the club. He fell out with coach Vicente del Bosque and was suspended for refusing to train. Yet Anelka eventually redeemed himself, scoring in each leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich to hand his team a 3-2 aggregate victory. Anelka started in the final, in which Los Blancos beat Valencia 3-0. He now looks back with bitterness on his time in the Spanish capital, describing a hostile dressing room. "I would sit down and a player would come in and say, 'that's my place,' and make me move," said Anelka, who claimed he was treated "like a dog".
Steven Gerrard's Lament
Anelka headed back to PSG for two years, before joining Liverpool on loan for the 2001-02 season. He could only manage four league goals, but captain Steven Gerrard wishes the Frenchman could have stayed. In the end, manager Gerard Houllier prioritised signing El-Hadji Diouf, which backfired. "Diouf wasn't the right signing," said Gerrard. "We should have taken Anelka." The Frenchman wants Liverpool fans to know that he was keen to join the club on a permanent basis. "Liverpool fans think I didn't want to stay," he said. "They need to know that that wasn't the case. That episode was tragic for me. It's a club where I could have done great things."
The Journeyman Years
Anelka then spent three prolific but trophy less years at Man City, before opting to move to Turkey. He scored 14 times as Fenerbahce won the Turkish Super Lig title, but Anelka hankered for a return to the Premier League. Big Sam Allardyce came calling and brought Anelka to Bolton, where he led a band of plucky misfits to a shock seventh place finish in his first season. He continued to impress as Bolton battled relegation throughout the following campaign, and that was enough to capture the attention of Chelsea.
Rejuvenation in West London
Anelka relished a return to the big time when he signed for the Blues. He ended up spending five seasons at Stamford Bridge, where he won the Premier League title and back-to-back FA Cups. He ended up missing the decisive penalty in a shootout against Man Utd in the 2008 Champions League final, but bounced back to win the Premier League Golden Boot the following term. Anelka only had positive things to say about his time at Chelsea, although this part of the documentary was comparatively short.
Tearing French Football Apart
The real emotional heart of the documentary concerned Anelka's international career, which imploded in 2010. He was selected as France's main striker for the World Cup that year, and the French were among the favourites in the football betting odds, but the wheels came off in spectacular fashion. He had gone 429 minutes without recording a single shot on target for Les Bleus when the half-time whistle blew in their second group game against Mexico. Manager Raymond Domenech reportedly criticised Anelka for straying out of position, and L'Equipe reported that the striker responded with a foul-mouthed diatribe: "Va te faire enculer, sale fils de pute." He was ordered to apologise, refused and found himself sent home in disgrace. He was later hit with an 18-month international ban, and the fallout tore the national team apart. The players refused to train, staff quit and Les Bleus were plunged into chaos. Even French president Nicolas Sarkozy weighed in. Yet Anelka vehemently denied the expletive laden-quotes, with the documentary presenting him as misunderstood. "People who know me know very well that if I had said what was printed by the press, I would have owned up to it," he said.
The Quenelle Debacle
There was still time for another scandal in the twilight of Anelka's career. The journeyman striker had wound up at West Brom when he was hit with a suspension for a controversial "quenelle" gesture. It was described as an anti-Semitic gesture, essentially an inverted Nazi salute, and Anelka was fined £80,000. He maintained his innocence, arguing that he was merely trying to support his friend – the French comedian Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, who brought the gesture to prominence – but France's sports minister, Valerie Fourneyron, called it "disgusting".
A One-Sided Affair
Anelka: Misunderstood was full of insight, drama and intrigue. It was a gripping portrait of a controversial character, and it was interesting to hear his side of events. However, one thing the documentary lacked was balance. It never challenged Anelka on the quenelle debacle, and it took all of his rebuttals at face value, without ever really subjecting his claims to journalistic scrutiny. Ultimately, Anelka was presented as a shy, introverted, fragile individual, who bottled up his feelings and occasionally exploded. It is worth watching, but the documentary is likely to split opinion, much like the man himself.
