Carlo, speaking about Anelka:
"He is very intelligent on a tactical level. Nicolas likes to touch the ball, and be in the centre of the game.
"If he is playing as centre forward and comes back to the midfield, that is no problem. That gives an unpredictable touch to your team's game.
"Nicolas is versatile and can do anything. With me this season, he played in several different positions. Even if Nicolas is good anywhere, I believe his best position is centre forward.
"He is excellent when he got the ball in the gap, his pace hurts a lot. And in the box, he can keep his calm and be very efficient. He has the elegance of Marco van Basten."
"He is reliable both as a player and as a man. He never betrayed me,"
"He is very professional: I believe he is one of the very few players who never came in late to training sessions this season at Chelsea. He doesn't talk a lot but is frank and honest.
"When I came to Chelsea, he was one of the players I knew the least along with Florent Malouda. But by the end, they were my two biggest satisfactions."
It’s good to know these Chelsea lads, a lot of whom live within walking distance of the training ground, are still managing to roll in late for work! You’d imagine our affable Italian will have rapped knuckles for the ‘perps’ so no discipline issues can be conjured by this disclosure.
As for Anelka? Well it’s nothing we don’t know. He may not have been in amongst the goals as much as his previous season, but you’d be amazed when looking back over the last 12 months just how many nifty lay-offs, dummies, through-balls and crosses Nico’s provided for other players. He is, in my opinion, the most natural ‘footballer’ at the club.
Well done Anelka, keep it up! (news on Anelka’s new contract will follow this week as soon as we have confirmation)