A man with attitude ... and an attitude problem
If you were to choose a player that Pep Guardiola would break Manchester City's transfer record for, it might not be a man with attitude, and an attitude problem, who nobody else wanted and who didn't really want to join.
Despite playing a starring role in their 2000 Champions League win, public battles with the Spanish media and the Real hierarchy ensured a return to PSG after just a year. That's where City came in, sealing an unlikely £13m club-record deal for a player who had lifted the Champions League trophy just two years previously. The club apparently showed Anelka videos of their promotion campaign the year before, as well as clips of manager Kevin Keegan's playing career.
Toshack also gave Keegan some sound advice on how to best play Anelka in his newly-promoted side, making the Frenchman the centre of their rebuild. Not that there would be much doubt of Anelka being the star man in sky blue. As much as Anelka seemed thoroughly underwhelmed by the move, it worked well for both parties. He scored 14 goals in his first season - including against former club Liverpool and in the final Manchester derby at Maine Road as City said farewell to their traditional home. City finished ninth and qualified for the UEFA Cup via fair play rankings, and Anelka was enjoying his football.
Former teammate Joey Barton describes Anelka as 'a sumptuous player but a solitary, conflicted character,' while Keegan admitted that Anelka was key to their form that season, declaring after a win at Bolton in October: "I don't think there will be many Manchester City fans who will remember a better centre-forward than him.
"I either decide to win titles or to have an easy life," he reportedly said, suggesting again that he was better than the City squad. It wasn't the first time Anelka had caused controversy with his long-held belief that his talent was not being recognised on a big enough stage. Keegan himself said of the incident: ‘‘It will not affect him in any way shape or form. It is a decision he made a while ago and it hasn’t affected him so far and I don’t think it will in the future. He is a very strong-willed lad and he has his own views on the situation.
The personal relationship between Keegan and Anelka was the key between keeping the striker happy and scoring at City, although there were some things Keegan couldn't repair - namely Anelka's desire for bigger and better things that the Blues couldn't provide. Not a man to backtrack on his word, Anelka left for Fenerbahce for £7m in January 2005, a month after his comments about wanting to play Champions League football."I just spent two impeccable seasons-and-a-half there.
It was Anelka, though, who missed the decisive penalty in the 2008 Champions League final as Chelsea lost to Manchester United in Moscow, Roman Abramovich slumping into his seat in his homeland as Edwin Van Der Sar pushed away Anelka's spot kick in the pouring rain.
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