West Brom manager confirms Anelka might quit football

Steve Clarke has spoken about Nicolas Anelka’s grief over the death of his good friend and agent, Eric Manasse and hinted that the striker is considering walking away from football.

The much-travelled Frenchman, has already been given compassionate leave by the club, ahead of their Premier League clash with Everton and Clarke denied that there was a fall-out between him and the 34-year-old.

“It wasn’t dramatic, there was no big bust-up, he didn’t storm out of the training ground – it is just a boy who is really quite upset,” he said.

“I’m not going to deny that he used that word in the conversations we had with him. But we’ve given him time to go away and think about it and I don’t think we could do any more in the circumstances as they were.

“He was down, really down. He was actually injured. He hadn’t trained with us this week, so I was preparing the team for Everton without Nicolas in it anyway – he got a kick against Southampton.

“Once he gets his head clear and we can sit down and have a proper chat, yeah, sure. But at the moment this is the best course of action for both Nicolas and the club.”

Clarke, who in his second season at the Hawthorns, however admitted that the former Chelsea and Arsenal frontman, might not return to the game again.

He added: “I don’t know, because from the conversation we had the other day, it was really negative.

“But as I said, we have given him time to think about it. So I’d like to think he could play for West Bromwich Albion again.”

Anelka moved to West Brom on a free transfer in July from Juventus.

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