Nicolas Anelka: I’m almost the only one that can say the truth

Dubai: Questionable goal celebrations, a World Cup bust-up with his coach and a nomadic club career that earned him an enigmatic reputation and the unenviable nickname ‘Le Sulk’. Nicolas Anelka’s 20-years in football may have been pockmarked with controversy, but the Frenchman insists he has no regrets.

Perhaps the most defining moment in his charge sheet was getting sent home from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after a foul-mouthed rant aimed at French coach Raymond Domenech during half-time of their 2-0 defeat to Mexico. It resulted in him never playing for his country again.

He added to his unfathomable character with a ‘quenelle’ salute while celebrating a goal for West Bromwich Albion in 2013. Some interpret the gesture as having anti-semitic connotations, but the former Arsenal, Chelsea and Real Madrid frontman insists his message was purely anti-establishment. His contract was rescinded.

Either way, the inability to understand a man who has rarely stayed longer than one or two years at any of his 13 clubs has often stood between the appreciation of his achievements, which include two English Premier League titles, a Uefa Champions League winner’s medal and the 2000 European Championships with his country. Could he have achieved more if only he’d toed the line? He tells Gulf News conformity just isn’t his style.

“I did what I did at that special moment and I have no regrets,” he said in reference to his verbal destruction of Domenech. “I’m a straight talker. When people speak to me, they know I will be straight with them.

“When I walk down the street in France they like me because of that, and they know that I’m almost the only one who can say the truth. When I have to say something, I will say it. I don’t think that’s the case with a lot of people in this sport or life in general, so I’m happy to be the way I am and I’m proud.”

The trick to self-assertion he said was sticking to your beliefs, no matter how rough the ride — and it has been rough.

“When I do stuff and people say you shouldn’t have done that, but you believe you did the right thing, you have to believe in yourself. For me it was most important to do the right thing, don’t do bad things to people, and good things will come of it. Maybe at the moment it’s negative or you are having a difficult time, but something good will come of it in the future and that’s what happened.

“I don’t try to do bad things to people, but if they do bad things to me I will be straight and I will say straight away that I am not happy.”

That attitude has seen him accumulate more transfer fees — £120 million to be exact — than almost any other footballer in the history of the game. He’s second only to the equally uninhibited Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has accrued £150.5 million and just as many headlines.

“I’m happy with my life and what I did,” added the 36-year-old maverick Anelka. “Some people say it’s good to stay at one club all your life, but I don’t believe that.

“I believe in life it’s good to try almost everything — different countries, new cultures, everything different. Going to Spain, Italy, Turkey or China was a good experience for me. Some people don’t like it, but for me this is life. To go away and see things has helped me a lot in my life.

“Of course you could always say ‘what if I had stayed at Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain?’. But it’s easy to say ‘what if’. To me it was most important to do something that I felt was best for me and I’m happy. I don’t live in the past, but equally I’m happy with the past and what I did.”

Anelka was talking to Gulf News at the Oberoi Hotel in Business Bay on Tuesday. He is in Dubai on camp with his Indian Super League outfit Mumbai City FC, with whom he is player manager.