BWFC24

What a surprise - Anelka is staying with The Wanderers. The announcement came via Bolton’s official site this morning [Thursday] after the French International signed another four year contract which is thought to be worth in the region of £70,000 per week for the 28 year old.

What have I done?

Of course Wanderers Chairman Phil Gartside has denied that their was any chance that Anelka’s future at The Reebok was under threat. So presumibly there was a problem with the previous four year contract that Anelka signed when he joined from Fenerbahce a year ago.

Here’s what Gartside had to say:

“It is fantastic news for everyone that Nicolas has signed a long-term deal with us.”"We have been working to this conclusion for quite some time and it was part of our strategy that he would stay. From my point of view, it was never in doubt.

“I have always maintained that we are progressive club and we have now signalled our intentions that we want our best players to stay. We have an excellent squad and the future is looking very positive under Sammy Lee.”

A relieved Sammy Lee commented:

“It is a fantastic boost for the club and our supporters that Nicolas has agreed to stay with us. We have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get him to commit his long-term future to us.”Nicolas is one of the world’s best strikers and I am immensely proud and happy that he has shown such commitment to the club. It’s also a boost for the dressing room because a team never wants to lose anybody of Nicolas’s stature and presence.

“This shows our ambition to be amongst the top clubs, not just in this country but across the world of football. Nicolas is one of the most sought after strikers in the world and I am delighted that he will continue to wear the Bolton Wanderers shirt.”

The striker himself also indicated that there was a chance that he was going to leave The Wanderers:

“I seem to have been linked with every club in the country of late, but my heart is with Bolton

“I am very happy with my form, the Club and the manager so signing a new contract was not a difficult decision. Hopefully we will prosper together because I would not have remained at Bolton if I’d thought we could not win trophies.”

So Anelka stays despite a tempting offer from Sven-Göran Eriksson that could have took him back to Man City, but not before Bolton gave him a hansome pay rise. Bolton already had Anelka under a four year contract so there must have been a sizeable chunk of doubt for today’s signing of the enhanced contract to have occurred.

No matter what the speculation has been over the summer I is great news to finally know that Anelka will still be wearing 39 for BWFC and not City or United or Pompey or any of the other clubs that have been loosely linked to Bolton’s top scorer.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Team News.


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