The West Brom striker wants to retire after just one match with the Baggies.
West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke has confirmed that Nicolas Anelka wants to quit football following the death of the forward’s agent and close friend.
The 34-year-old has played just one match for the Baggies since signing for the club over the summer, but the shock news has left the former Arsenal and Chelsea ace disillusioned with the game.
Clarke has admitted that Anelka wants to retire from the sport, but is hoping that the Frenchman will change his mind.
“I had a very brief chat with him, and he wasn’t in a good place. So the club have decided just to give him a bit of time to go away and think about it and get himself in a better place for the future,” the ex-Liverpool and Blues assistant was quoted by Sky Sports.
“Really, that is as much as there is to tell on the situation – it wasn’t dramatic, there was no big bust-up, he didn’t storm out of the training ground. It is just a boy who is really quite upset.
“I’m not going to deny that he used that word [quitting] in the conversations we had with him.
“But we’ve given him time to go away and think about it and I don’t think we could do any more in the circumstances as they were.”
Signing at the Hawthorns and turning out for the opening day defeat against Southampton means Anelka has now played for six Premier League sides, including the Reds, Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City.
In that time the striker has scored 124 league goals and has won titles with both the Gunners and at Stamford Bridge.
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