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Allardyce keen to sign Anelka

SoccerNews in English Premier League 19 Nov 2012

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Former France international striker Nicolas Anelka is on the West Ham hit list for the New Year.

With the Hammers seventh in the Premier League table, manager Sam Allardyce is keen to sign a player he’s worked with before, Nicolas Anelka.

The Frenchman is playing for Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua but there are reports he’s unsettled and would welcome a return to England.

The January transfer window may prove the perfect time for that to happen.

Allardyce first worked with Anelka when he was at Bolton Wanderers – he brought him to the Reebok Stadium from Turkish side Fenerbache in 2006.

Meanwhile, former France coach Raymond Domenech believes Anelka ‘killed’ the France squad that travelled to the 2010 World Cup by verbally abusing him.

The striker famously aimed an expletive in the direction of his coach at half-time during the group stage clash with Mexico, and was subsequently sent home.

However, Domenech has now revealed that he was not only shocked by the former Chelsea and Arsenal man’s language, but also by his use of the word tu rather than the more formal vous.

“Strangely, I was less shocked by the insult than the ‘tu’ which broke the barriers of age and hierarchy,” the 60-year-old recalled in his book Tout Seul.

“Anelka had killed the group.”

He also accused Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery of behaving badly amongst the squad, particularly towards Yoann Gourcuff.

“He continued to rot the group with attitudes of a diva. I would gladly have hung him from the ceiling.

“I told Gourcuff: ‘I have given you the keys to the team!’, and I saw the hatred, contempt and jealousy in Ribery’s eyes. He doesn’t like him, that’s for sure.

“A player part of the Euro 2008 squad had warned me about Ribery.”

Domenech also commented on Samir Nasri, who was recently handed a ban from the national team by the French Football Federation (FFF) for insulting a journalist.

“Nasri symbolises a kind of player who talks without thinking.”

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