Nicolas Sebastien Anelka (born 14 March 1979 in Versailles) is a French (French people) football (football (soccer))er who currently plays as a striker for Chelsea (Chelsea F.C.) in the English Premier League. Anelka is also a regular starter for the French national team (France national football team). Carlo Ancelotti describes him as a quick player with good aerial ability, technique, shooting, and movement off the ball. Anelka began his career at Paris Saint-Germain (Paris Saint-Germain F.C.), but soon moved to Arsenal (Arsenal F.C.). He became a first team regular and won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award (PFA Young Player of the Year) the following season. Real Madrid (Real Madrid C.F.) signed him for �22.3 million in 1999, a record fee, but he did not settle in well and returned to Paris Saint-Germain in a �20 million deal. Despite regular first team football in Paris, Anelka set his eyes upon the English Premier League once more; he went on loan to Liverpool (Liverpool F.C.) in January 2002 but joined Manchester City (Manchester City F.C.) for �13 million for the start of the 2002–03 season.

After three seasons in Manchester he moved to Fenerbah�e (Fenerbah�e S.K.) for a season before returning to England to join Bolton Wanderers (Bolton Wanderers F.C.) – in deals worth �7 and �8 million, respectively. He transferred to Chelsea from Bolton for a reported �15 million in January 2008.

Anelka has played many times at international level and won his first international honours with France (France national football team) at Euro 2000 (UEFA Euro 2000), and won the Confederations Cup (2001 FIFA Confederations Cup) the following year. His failure to settle at club level limited his international appearances, but he returned to the national team for the Euro 2008 (UEFA Euro 2008) competition.

During his transfers over the years, he has built an aggregate transfer cost of just under � (pound sterling)90 million, making him the second most expensive player overall, behind only Cristiano RonaldoCitation neededdate=July 2009