'Le Sulk' displays new maturity

(CNN) -- It is a perhaps a sign of how far Nicolas Anelka has gone towards restoring his reputation as one of the most dangerous goalscorers in world football that his $30 million move from Bolton to Chelsea last week raised barely an eyebrow.

In signing for the eighth club of his career, the peripatetic Frenchman also became the world's most expensive footballer, with the latest dent in Roman Abramovich's wallet taking the total transfer fees paid out for him to a staggering $173 million.

Another way of looking at that statistic is to point out that since leaving Paris Saint Germain for Arsenal as a 17-year-old in 1997, Anelka, now 28, has never properly settled at a club, never truly been taken to heart by teammates or fans and never quite delivered the goals to justify the money spent on him.

Having burst through as a teenager under Arsene Wenger's tutelage at Arsenal, scoring 23 goals in his first season to help the club to the double, Anelka's career never really recovered from a disruptive and unsuccessful $46m move to Real Madrid.

By the time Madrid opted to recoup most of their losses, sending him home to PSG in a $40m deal after he had scored just twice in 19 appearances, the moody Anelka, nicknamed "Le Sulk," carried a "handle with care" warning with a reputation as a talented but temperamental loner.

Unsatisfactory spells at PSG, Liverpool, Manchester City and Fenerbahce followed and by the time Anelka joined Bolton in 2006 it appeared his career was destined to fade into enigmatic obscurity -- his strangely subdued butterfly goal celebrations suggesting a personality too fragile to handle the pressure and expectations that had been placed on him earlier in his career.

Instead however, perhaps aware that the number of teams and managers willing to take a chance on him were running out, Anelka knuckled down for his unfashionable new club, playing patiently and tirelessly often as a lone striker and helping Bolton to UEFA Cup qualification via a seventh-place Premier League finish.

Anelka admits he is now better prepared now for the challenge of life at a bigger club: "I think I am happier now, more content and settled in my life. Sometimes you don't realise the chance you have playing for a club like Arsenal.

"But because I've lived so many things in my life I realise my chance now that I am at Chelsea. I know where I am now and I am just happy to be here... I don't think I've changed a lot but I've grown up as a person."

That new-found maturity, coupled with goalscoring instincts and pace that remain as sharp as when he was a teenager, was primarily what persuaded Chelsea manager Avram Grant to gamble on Anelka as the player to lift his side in their chase for Premier League and Champions League success.

"He is almost 29 now, a good age for a footballer," Grant said after Anelka's brief but promising debut as a substitute in Saturday's 2-0 win over Tottenham. "He is a player that I expect is ready to finish his career at a good club and to win some titles... I think he has learned from his mistakes in the past." E-mail to a friend