Chelsea secured the services of former Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka on Friday, bringing the Frenchman to Stamford Bridge for $29.4 million.

Chelsea initially made a run at Anelka earlier in the week, but had that bid rejected, forcing the club to come back with a bigger offer for the 28-year- old Anelka.

Blues boss Avram Grant stated his desire to sign Anelka after the club’s Carling Cup semi-final first leg win over Everton on Tuesday, saying that he hoped to have Anelka signed by Saturday for the team’s contest with Tottenham.

The signing of Anelka is crucial for Chelsea, which is already without strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou because of their participation in the African Cup of Nations, while Andriy Shevchenko is out with an ankle injury.

Anelka first played in England in 1997 for Arsenal, where he signed from French club PSG. After spending time at Real Madrid, Anelka returned to PSG before heading to Liverpool on loan. He then signed with Manchester City one year later, and spent 12 months with Turkish side Fenerbahce before joining Bolton in 2006 for a club record $15.6 million.

Anelka must be one of the most travelled player in the Premiership and he will now call Stamford Bridge “home”, it’s also interesting to see how Bolton survive without the ‘Le Sulk’, but than again they have money to buy some good players now, hopefully the invest wisely.

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