Anelka claiming Portsmouth link

Portsmouth have offered Turkish club Fenerbahce €12 million for Nicolas Anelka, the French striker is claiming.

Portsmouth have offered Turkish club Fenerbahce €12 million for Nicolas Anelka, the French striker is claiming.

The former Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City frontman also claims Bolton or Blackburn are interested in signing him.

Anelka is quoted today by French sports daily newspaper L'Equipe as saying: "They (Portsmouth) are the only club to have made an offer for me and this offer amounts to €12 million.

"Fenerbahce would like to keep me but they understand that I want to rejoin a major European league. In Portsmouth I talked with manager Harry Redknapp, who knows me well.

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"My ambition would be to join a club that regularly plays in the Champions League, but I cannot force them to recruit me.

"If I had to join a club like Portsmouth, I would go there with the aim of giving my best. This is the same for Bolton or Blackburn, whose managers have also contacted me.

"I hope things will be sorted within 10 days, myself and Fenerbahce need to know as soon as possible."

The controversial former France striker has blamed ex-Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier for jeopardising his career when he decided not to keep him in 2002. Anelka had been on loan at Anfield.

The 27-year-old claims he has not had any choice but to play with "minor clubs", such as Manchester City and his current Turkish team Fenerbahce, since his release from Anfield.

"When he (Houllier) told me at the last minute that he had no intention of keeping me, he put me in a difficult situation because I had not negotiated anything with other teams," explained Anelka.

"And I ended up joining a club (Manchester City) against my will.

"Gerard Houllier is responsible for what happened to me. If he had not snubbed me at Liverpool I would not have had to play with minor clubs for the past four years which I had never imagined joining.  PA