I have a soft corner for pisceans (okay, you guessed my sun sign). But Anelka is most known for his unpiscean qualities. Some even say that the reason why did not become the next Thierry Henry was because of his character and attitude.

He has a very dubious stats of having played for 9 different clubs in 10 years and Chelsea could be the perfect 10 for him. There is no doubt that Anelka is a proven striker. He has the rich experience of having playing in various leagues in Europe and for some of the biggest clubs. He has the brilliant pace, skill and finish but as I said before, remember is a low work rate player who can make up for it with his contribution in attack.

When Arsene Wenger bought him in 1997, he thought of playing Anelka with Henry to form a strike partnership. Anelka even looked up for the challenge as he won the young player of the year award in 98-99. He left Arsenal as he wanted more money. I won’t call that being greedy. He just thought he deserves more and he got himself transferred to Real Madrid. Lucky him, he even won the champions league medal with Real Madrid. Then he spent a couple of one year stints with PSG (where he started playing serious football) and with Liverpool as a loaned player.

After this came the important phase of Anelka’s career with the move to Man City. He spent three seasons there and was at his best during that period. But it happened to be a case of right man in the wrong place. Man City was never going to win anything and for a striker of Anelka’s calibre, it’s always going to be a disappointment. To everyone’s surprise, he then moved to Fenerbahce but at least they won the league title that season. The rollercoaster was never supposed to end there. Sam Allardyce landed him in Bolton where he was at his spirits again. I don’t think his name was ever associated with Chelsea until last few weeks. Now it appears that we would have him by this weekend as the final touches are being made. I think he’d continue to play with his No.39 jersey in Chelsea. Anelka has won almost every major honour in football barring the world cup but he still wants to play champions league. He would join us at the right time for it.

My sincere concerns are about the role that he is going to play in our team and the related repercussions. Is he a stand-in striker in Drogba’s absence? He can’t be. He is too good a striker (which Sheva is) to be someone’s second choice and he can get upset quite easily (which Sheva is not). Is he going to play a more important role? If yes, what would be the future of Shevchenko, and more importantly Drogba and Kalou. I don’t think Sinclair and Sahar would love the prospect of being the fifth and sixth choice strikers. And what about Pizarro? Given then Avram has confirmed that no one would be sold until May, what does Anelka’s move mean to the rest of the strikers in the team?

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Didier Drogba: Not many would believe that he would be in Chelsea next season. He says he wants to leave and denies it, this routine goes on. If he does want to stay here, we should sell him as there is no point in having someone play for while always thinking about leaving. I’d like say that I have never seen Drogba give anything less than 100% on the pitch, no matter what his feelings about the club. He has been a true professional who has always played for the team and worked hard for his colleagues. I would be sad to see him go. But he is expected to join TSO in AC Milan. Anyway, he would fetch about 20 – 25 million pounds. Alternatively, he can pair with Anelka but something tells me that they won’t get along well!

Andriy Shevchenko: It’s decision making time for Sheva. The finest striker in Europe not very long ago, has to decide if he sees a future in Chelsea. More than him, he needs to get this clarity from the team and club management. Of course Sheva’s form has improved of late but that has not stopped Avram from going for Anelka. That shows the kind of confidence that Avram has on Sheva. The big question is ‘does Shevchenko feature in Avram’s scheme of things?’ Otherwise, he is simply wasting his time here. Imagine what would happen to him if Drogba decides to stay back and Anelka starts scoring freely. He would have to be third choice if we happen to play 4-3-3. He is such a legend that I don’t want the club to treat him like we did to TSO.

Salomon Kalou: A very bright prospect, who won’t have a problem of playing second choice to the senior strikers. He is young and learning. He can be a perfect back up striker who won’t cry about not getting enough first team chances. He is so young that he can even be loaned to mid table teams in premier league or even in Europe. When it comes to Kalou, I see that the house is divided – either people think he is a great prospect and fantastic young talent who can make it big or that he is average at best and has no further potential. I personally believe in the former. He is a great talent who, if nurtured and groomed well, can reach heights. Yes, he can be frustrating at times, but most great players would have experienced this phase early in their career. How much was Drogba slated in his first season? I don’t want to see Kalou’s development curtailed by the new developments. Does anyone visualise Kalou being our top scorer of the 09/10 season? I do.

Claudio Pizarro: He must be wondering what’s he gonna do in this club henceforth. He is a very skillful player who’s having the same problem as that of Sheva. Even Ballack found it difficult in his first season and only now he has found his feet well. German football is very very different than the English type. It’s more about organisation and measured attacks as opposed to frenzied English style. He will improve with time but he is going to be way below in the pecking order. If we want to continue this luxury of this multiple number of strikers, we can retain Pizarro and use him intermittently but he should completely forget about starting regularly in the first team.

Sinclair & Sahar: it’s very heartening to realise that we have two fine young strikers (better bets than a certain expensive Theo Walcott) who would be waiting to break into the first team. Scott Sinclair is quite a popular name in English football. He has shown people that he has talent and can regularly start for the bottom half teams. Ben Sahar is already an international playing for the Israel national team. I’d love to see some Chelsea youth talent making it to the first team. I’m very confident that these two guys would play for Chelsea regularly in a season or two but I wish it happens sooner. When Bojan starts ahead of Ronaldinho, I don’t see why Sinclair/Sahar cannot start ahead of say Pizarro?

What do you think about the striker situation. Do we still need more strikers? Do we have to get rid of some of our strikers? Is Anelka bought for the long term or just to fill the gaps? Come up with your views but do cast the vote!

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By the way, I continue to win, but it’s really hard to topple Man Utd. Due to my tussle with the club management, I had to sack dear Steve Clarke. And you know what, I just won the ‘manager of the month’ award pipping Sir Alex. Not bad!