EXCLUSIVE
‘Skill I’d never seen’ – Liverpool could have won Premier League years ago but made the wrong call in transfer market
Liverpool ended their 30-year wait for the title in 2020, but Nicolas Anelka could have clinched it 17 years earlier had he stayed at Anfield, says Danny Murphy.
The French striker arrived on Merseyside on loan in January 2002 having previously spent just more than two years with Arsenal as a fresh-faced teenager.
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Having left for Real Madrid in 1999 and then Paris Saint-Germain a year later, Anelka had a point to prove when signed by Gerard Houllier, but it didn't take long for him to make an impression on former Liverpool midfielder Murphy and his teammates.
Speaking on talkSPORT's The Shortlist, Murphy said: "I didn’t really appreciate Nicolas Anelka until he came to Liverpool and spent half a season on loan.
"I know he went off to Spain early and maybe people remember that brief time at Arsenal but this guy was super-chilled, not a problem. He came with this reputation of being difficult – no. He trained well, never moaned if he was on the bench because we had loads of players at the time – a great lad."
'Underappreciated' Arsenal star Nicolas Anelka sent Tony Adams back to changing room raging because he was so good says Martin Keown
While being a pleasure to play with, Anelka was a nightmare to defend against due to his pace and power as he played off the shoulder of defenders to cause plenty of issues.
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It was that explosive speed that Murphy says made him stand out from the crown.
Murphy said: "His footwork and a thing that I’ve never seen anybody do that he did was go from zero to 60 so quickly – he’d stop people and then go.
“He wasn’t a bad finisher, but scored so often because he’d get in positions because of his skill.
“One thing I remember about Nico was that it didn’t matter how much rain there was, or how slippery the pitch was, he always wore molds and I never saw him slip over. I don’t know how he did it!”
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While making just 22 appearances for Liverpool, Anelka scored 125 goals in 364 Premier League games.
That included two titles won with Arsenal in 1998 and Chelsea in 2010, along with three FA Cups and two Community Shields.
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Arsenal landed a bargain when they nabbed him from PSG for £500,000 and he burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old, memorably tearing Man United's Jaap Stam apart in the 1998 Community Shield.
Having won the league and cup double the season before, Arsenal ended the 1998/99 campaign empty-handed but Anelka was named PFA Young Player of the Year.
Away from England, Anelka also won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 2000, Serie A with Juventus and the Turkish Super Lig with Fenerbahce in 2005.
He also won the European Championship and the Confederations Cup with France in 2000 and 2001.
Despite those achievements in England and abroad, the Frenchman fails to be recognised as one of the top strikers in Premier League history.
Asked if Anelka is underrated, Murphy said: “I think because of his time here because he left Arsenal quite early and then he was away for quite a while then came back and had a spell with us and then Chelsea.
“Most of the great strikers have a time when you see them season in, season out, but because his was a bit stop-start, maybe that’s why.
“He was one of the most gifted though, it was all easy for him.
“He wasn’t technically brilliant but gifted in terms of taking the ball, beating people – it was just the finishing I’d say. He snatched at things a little bit and tried to hammer things.
“But in terms of grace and going past people, players were terrified of him.
Nicolas Anelka trophy haul
He moved around a lot in his career and won multiple honours on the continent
League titles: 4
Domestic Cups: 4
Champions Leagues: 1
Other European Cups: 1
European Championships: 1
FIFA Confederations Cup: 1
Premier League Golden Boot: 1 (2008/09)
“He had a game at Anfield against Newcastle [in 2002] and he absolutely ran the game and tore them apart – I can’t remember who he was against but they wouldn’t want to watch it back!"
Murphy scored twice in that game with one being from an Anelka cross in a game also remembered for the floodlight failure that plunged Anfield into darkness.
“You know when people are coming off the pitch, it was the first time that people like MO (Michael Owen) Stevie (Gerrard) were going ‘oh my god’.
“Then for some reason, Gerard Houllier didn’t sign him permanently at the end of his loan, he signed El Hadji Diouf instead.
“I think if we’d have signed Anelka that summer we could have won the league the next year.”
Anelka himself seemed excited at the prospect of signing for the Reds and years later looked back on regret at not signing.
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“Everything was perfect," he told the Liverpool Echo. "I loved everything about the club.
“I had an amazing relationship with the fans. I loved them and I think it was reciprocal.
“Looking back, I am proud to have worn the jersey of this legendary club and to have known this stadium and these amazing fans.”
Houllier's assistant Phil Thompson claimed it was because the player's brother, who was his agent, was trying to sell him back to Arsenal but Anelka has a more simple explanation.
"It’s simple: it didn’t happen because Gerard Houllier wanted to pay a lower salary. It’s acceptable but you have to say it.
“I wanted to sign from the first minute. Of course a permanent move was discussed from the first day I joined the club.
“If you look at the first time they introduced me in the press conference, I said if I could sign now, I would but Gerard Houllier wanted a loan because he was not sure.
“In the middle of March, we were in negotiations to sign. PSG shareholder Alain Cayzac said to me Gerard told him that Liverpool would sign me. Later on Gerard told me face to face he’d sign me permanently.
"In the middle of April we reached an agreement about the salary, which had stalled things a little, but I was expecting to sign my contract when the league was over but there was no news from PSG and no news from Liverpool.”
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When he learned Liverpool were linked with another player he realised the move would not happen and also dismissed Thompson's Arsenal reason.
Anelka ended up joining Manchester City, then newly-promoted, in what was a club-record £13m deal.
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