Anelka learned Fener lesson

Fenerbahce v Chelsea live on Sky Sports 3 from 7.30pm

By Peter Fraser   Last updated: 2nd April 2008

Anelka Nicolas

Anelka: Turkish return

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Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka admits his spell with UEFA Champions League opponents Fenerbahce taught him respect for the Premier League.

Fenerbahce host Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday in a match which can be seen live on Sky Sports 3.

And ahead of the tie, Anelka - who joined Fenerbahce in 2005 from Manchester City - has revealed how his season in Turkey taught him how much he missed life in England.

Anelka has since joined Chelsea via a £15million January transfer switch from Bolton and he believes that he has benefited from his time with Fenerbahce.

Love

"It was when I arrived in Istanbul that I realised how deeply I loved my sport and how much I was going to miss playing in a great European league like the Premier League," Anelka, who has also played for Arsenal and spent a period on loan with Liverpool, told The Sun.

"I'd never put the Turkish League down and say it was the wrong thing for me to do. But what hit me was how far I was from Europe's great leagues.

"I was truly hungry to get back to England and play at the top of the Premier League."

Meanwhile, Anelka insists that he was not forced to leave Arsenal to join Real Madrid in 1999.

Arsenal exit

At the time it was speculated that Anelka's controversial £23m switch to Spain was decided by his brothers, who also operate as his agents, but the French forward is adamant that this was not the case.

"Even now people still say that leaving Arsenal for Madrid was decided by my brothers, which is just not true," Anelka added.

"I've always done only what I want to do and it's always me who decides my life.

"I only ever wanted to be a great footballer. And because I wouldn't play ball with the media, people mistook that for arrogance. It got so bad I often just wanted to chuck it all in and quit."