Nicolas Anelka. The only footballer to be "Misunderstood"?

The recent Netflix documentary "Nicolas Anelka: Misunderstood?" shines a light on the hostile treatment Anelka got from not only fans, but also the media. This raises the question, is there other footballers who have been given a negative persona by the media?

Nicolas Anelka

With 208 goals and 54 assists, Anelka was a valuable asset to the 12 clubs he represented in his 19 year long playing career.

As a Manchester United fan my memories of Anelka were his terrifying partnership with Didier Drogba. Within the same season they reached the champions league final and Anelka scored 19 goals to obtain the golden boot in 2008, he also won the title in 2010, making this 2 season spell his best at Stanford Bridge.

Nicolas Anelka was also an essential player to the Real Madrid champions league winning team in 2000, the Netflix documentary highlights this by showing how vital his 2 goals in the semi final were to the team.

So why was Nicolas Anelka's career a revolving door of new football clubs? One possible explanation is the media. Former team-mate Thierry Henry, says: “For me, there’s a world of difference between what people think of Nico, and Nico himself.”

On the field Anelka is a talented footballer, no debate. However, off the field he has been a target for scandals and unfair criticism, because of his "cold and heartless persona".

The 2010 world cup seen the full french team boycott training due to the media's wrongful publication of Anelka, saying he insulted Domenechs mother (French team manager). This led to the French team sending him home. Creating a scandal that portrayed him as the enemy, as the one who was at fault. When in reality, he done nothing wrong.

"People who know me know very well know that if I had said what was printed by the press, I would have owned up to it," Anelka said. This was affirmed in 2018 when Domenechs publicly stated in a interview that he didn't say those words the press published.

This kind of treatment was not new to Anelka. His first 5 months at Real Madrid seen him score 0 goals, and as a new £22.3 million player, this was unacceptable to the fans and the media.

"Anelka:Misunderstood?" Gave us an open and honest, never seen before perspective of Anelka. For example, in 2000, during those goalless months at Real Madrid he decided to open up to the media to try win them and the fans over. He got invited to play fifa on camera, innocent enough right? Well this led to a headline "Nicolas Anelka finally scores... in a video game". This kind of manipulative behaviour saw Anelka become isolated and he never opened up to the media again.

The media got away with ruining a talented footballers image for years, with no one stopping them who says that isn't currently happening in todays game?

Gareth Bale

One of the all time best players to be produced in the United Kingdom, Gareth Bale, has been treated as a outsider since day one in Madrid.

The media calls him "Glass man" and portrays his attitude as selfish and not caring. However, Bale deserves the opposite. His contributions during the champions league campaigns can't go unnoticed, scoring 16 times and assisting 15 times in 55 games. Helping the Galacticos to win 4 champions leagues, and somehow he is still hated.

With their recent trip to Manchester in the champions league, It was said by Zidane that Bale was supposedly "Not wanting to play". Have we already seen this between Anelka and Domenchs? With Bale making no public statement it is wrong to assume anything until we hear his side of the story.

Recent events should make us question, is Gareth Bale becoming a modern day Nicolas Anelka? Are we becoming oblivious to the treatment they get because of their high salaries? These answers will only become certain once we hear Gareth Bale's side of the story.