Nicolas Anelka has revealed why he left Paris Saint-Germain in 1997 without signing a professional contract with the French club.
Indeed, Nicolas Anelka was at that time only a youth player and at the age of 17 decided that he wanted to leave the club. The former French international has revealed his decision in a recent documentary.
He said that at that time he wanted to have enough playing time, but Paris Saint-Germain could not guarantee him that. Most of the time they were telling him that he was too young and that he will have to wait for his turn, but Anelka believed that he was good enough to play.
He said that as he watched older players like him who were struggling to get playing time, he made up his mind to leave the club. He believed that he had nothing to lose at that time as he was not playing.
At that time many European clubs such as Real Madrid and Arsenal were interested in him, and he said that he chose Arsenal because of Arsene Wenger. In a previous interview, Nicolas Anelka stated that he was lucky to work with Wenger and that he consider him as being one of the best managers in the world.
Nicolas Anelka has also asked the French media to leave the France team alone. He said that at each big tournament the media is trying to get a scoop and will magnify any small issue in order to sell their papers. He asked them to leave the team alone so that they can focus on playing football. He believes that France has a big chance in the Euros and that the players need to believe in themselves if they want to succeed.