Disgraced striker Anelka is snubbed by Atletico
After being sacked by West Bromwich Albion for an anti-Semitic gesture Nicolas Anelka has now been rejected by Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro.
The former Arsenal, Chelsea and Real Madrid striker was due to sign a contract with the side on Monday, but failed to turn up and the Atletico director Eduardo Maluf says the deal is off.
“He had the obligation to let us know about this in advance,” Maluf was quoted by the Daily Mail.
“Atletico is much bigger than this, the deal is off.”
Anelka was signed by the Baggies on a free transfer at the start of this season after a brief spell in Italy with Juventus, yet was sacked in March after being found guilty of performing a racist gesture.
After scoring against West Ham United in the Premier League the 35-year-old celebrated by doing the controversial quenelle salute and earned a five-match ban from the FA as a result.
Since then Anelka had been on the search for a new club and was given a chance by Atletico after a discussion with former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Ronaldinho.
The Frenchman is said to be in Kuwait on a religious trip currently, but should have been in Brazil at the start of the week, before the forward’s representatives contacted the club and said he would not be in South America until the end of next week.
It would have been the journeyman’s 13th club in a seventh different country, after also featuring for Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, Fenerbahce and Shanghai Greenland in a varied career.
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