On Friday morning West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke revealed more about Nicolas Anelkaโs future at the Premier League club.
Just to fill you in, on Thursday morning reports filtered out of the West Midlands club that Anelka had walked out of the training ground and announced he had retired.
However since those initial stories leaked out, weโve found out that Anelkaโs long-term agentย Eric Manasse has tragically died.ย Manasse was a close friend of the French striker and he was obviously hit hard by the sudden death of his ย friend. West Brom have granted the strikerย compassionate leave and will reassess the situation when Anelka returns.
(MORE: Anelka excused from West Brom on โcompassionate groundsโ)
However, West Brom manager Clarke didnโt shy away from the fact that Anelka said he wanted to retire.
โIโm not going to deny that he used that word [retire].ย But weโve given him time to go away and think about it. I donโt think we could do more in the circumstances.โ
Anelka has made a blistering start to his spell at West Brom, as the 34-year-old scored seven times in as many preseason games and started in the season opener against Southampton. But Clarke isnโt too optimistic about the Frenchman returning to play at the Hawthorns.
โI donโt know, because from the conversation we had the other day, it was really negative.ย But as I said, we have given him time to think about it. So Iโd like to think he could play for West Bromwich Albion again.โ
The Baggies are Anelkaโs sixth Premier League club, after he won league titles with Arsenal and Chelsea and also played for Bolton, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Fenerbache, Real Madrid, and Liverpool. After leaving Chelsea in 2012 the much travelled striker played for Shanghai Shenhua in China before leaving after money problems to sign for Juventus on a short-term deal last year.
Whether or not he returns to Englandโs top flight remains to be seen, but the Frenchman can still score goals at the top level. He always has done. West Brom fans will want Anelka to return but itโs obvious heโs in a bad place right now and needs to grieve for his good friend and agent.
