Nicolas Anelka: Clubs on Alert as Chelsea Striker 'Le Sulk' Set to Leave

Nicolas Anelka has had a long and very successful career so far, but will the story of one of France's best ever players continue at a new club in 2012? 

Champions League winner with Real Madrid in 2000, Premier League and FA Cup wins with both Arsenal and Chelsea, and a European Championship with France in 2000 are the biggest honors won by Anelka so far in a very successful, but sometimes controversial, career.

A perceived lack of enthusiasm at Arsenal earned him the nickname of "Le Sulk" from the Gunners, as poor performances combined with a disagreement over an increase in his salary led to the displeasure of the Arsenal fans.

From then on, self-inflicted controversy followed Anelka.

Transferred to Real Madrid in 1999, his stay at Madrid started well, but after falling out with almost everyone at the club, including some of his teammates, the fans, and manager Vincente del Bosque, he fell out of favour at Madrid, at one point even receiving a suspension from the club for refusing to train. 

Anelka did eventually return to the first team, scoring important goals for the team in their winning Champions League campaign, but he was deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu.

A return to boyhood club Paris Saint-Germain followed in 2000, and despite playing well for his new club, he once again fell out with his manager, this time Luiz Fernandez feeling the wrath of Anelka. 

A loan spell at Liverpool followed. Anelka played well, scoring important goals in the progress, but this was not enough for manager Gerard Houllier to reward him with a permanent deal.

Spells at Manchester City, Fenerbahce, and Bolton Wanderers were all successful for Anelka, with his performances leading him to earn a deal with current club Chelsea in January 2008.

A period of calm entered Anelka, until the miserable campaign that was France's 2010 World Cup.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was not one that the French nation will remember dearly. A dire performance in their opening match against Uruguay was unsettling for the French camp.

In the next match against Mexico, Anelka's wrath returned, as a disagreement with manager Raymond Domenech about his position on the pitch, and what Anelka viewed as Domenech's tactical inability. 

Anelka was subbed at half time as a consequence of his and Domenech's disagreement. This led to Anelka being sent home, with the rest of the squad refusing to train the following day, as a protest to the treatment of their team mate.

Anelka received an 18-match ban from the French Football Federation, which was deemed pointless as Anelka had decided he was finished with international football.

And so to today's developments, as Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, when asked if Anelka's deal would be renewed, he told BBC Sport that,"It might not be the player's expectancy to renew." Asked again by BBC Sport if Anelka wanted to leave, he simply replied, "Yes."

With Chelsea's wealth of strikers, including Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge, and new boy Romelu Lukaku, Anelka may feel his options are limited. With only two starts against West Brom and Sunderland, combined with substitute appearances in the rest of Chelsea's games, this may not sit well with the Frenchman.

2012 will potentially be when he moves on, but to where?

Wherever he signs for, he will no doubt walk into the first team. He can still cut it in all of Europe's top leagues. Could Anelka return once more to PSG?

The nouveau-riche club, fuelled by Qatari money and aiming to make an impression on the world stage once more, could ask their prodigal son to have one last hurrah at the Paris club before he walks off into the footballing sunset. 

Wherever he goes, Anelka will still feel he has a point to prove, as long as he can keep his temper in check.