Arsenal have sold a number of young players who have gone on to become superstars in recent times.
Serge Gnabry has become an elite player since leaving the Emirates. In fact, Arsenal have looked at re-signing Gnabry in recent years.
Meanwhile, Donyell Malen is now a Manchester United target after leaving Arsenal as a youngster.
However, before Malen or Gnabry were on the scene, Nicolas Anelka was once the brightest young talent at Arsenal.
Anelka spent just three seasons at Arsenal before moving to Real Madrid, and, from there, he had a rollercoaster of a career that saw him play for every club from Liverpool and Chelsea to West Brom and Bolton.
Speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, Martin Keown has been discussing Anelka and his time at Arsenal, and he’s made a serious claim about the striker.
18 April 1998, London - FA Carling Premiership - Arsenal v Wimbledon - Emmanuel Petit (centre) celebrates with Nicolas Anelka and Dennis Bergkamp a...
Photo by Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images
Nicolas Anelka could’ve been as good as Thierry Henry
Keown spoke about the talent Anelka had as a youngster.
The pundit believes that if Anelka had stayed at Arsenal, he could’ve achieved exactly what Thierry Henry did in north London.
Gary Neville has said Anelka was unbelievable when he was at Arsenal, and Keown clearly agrees.
“Some of the talent we had. I looked back when I was putting this book together. Henry was just an incredible talent. Anelka, everything Henry did at Arsenal, Anelka could’ve done it at Arsenal if he stayed. I’ve never seen a teenager like it,” Keown said.
Nicolas Anelka compared to Thierry Henry
Keown says that Anelka could’ve achieved what Henry did at Arsenal, but the way these two players’ careers panned out would tell a different story.
Make no mistake about it, Anelka was still a top-class player in his pomp, but Henry was just on another level entirely.
Indeed, there are a lot of comparisons to be drawn between these two – speedy French strikers who have played for Juventus and Arsenal, but the stats show why Henry was on another level.
Thierry Henry Nicolas Anelka
Club games 794 670
Club goals 360 209
International games 123 69
International goals 51 14
Goals per game 0.45 0.3
Most goals in a season 39 25
Golden Boot wins 4 1
There’s a reason Cesc Fabregas has compared Henry with Lionel Messi. In his prime, Henry was the best player in the world, and while Anelka wasn’t miles off being in that bracket, he was one or two echelons away from being in that elite tier.
Who knows? If Anelka had stayed at Arsenal, perhaps Henry would never have become the player everyone grew to know, but, ultimately, things worked out differently and Henry became and invincible at Arsenal while Anelka jumped from club to club.
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