English Premier league side Bolton announced on Monday they have rejected a bid from Chelsea for their French striker Nicolas Anelka.
Chelsea confirmed they had made a move for the 28-year-old, who signed a four-year contract with Bolton earlier this season, but insisted negotiations were ongoing and they were still hopeful of landing the player.
"We can confirm we have made an official offer for the transfer of Nicolas Anelka, which is being discussed with Bolton Wanderers," a statement on Chelsea's Web site said.
Chelsea's bid was not disclosed but according to sources close to Bolton the club have fixed a price tag on the mercurial Frenchman at 17 millions euros (US$25 million).
The Londoners are eager to bring in a top-level scorer to cover for Didier Drogba who will play for the Ivory Coast in the African Nations Cup later this month and the injured Andriy Shevchenko.
And Anelka seems to fit the bill for Avram Grant's side having scored 11 goals despite his side struggling in the first half of the new campaign.
Anelka joined Bolton in 2006 but despite signing a new contract this season the forward has made his interest in joining a bigger club known.
Anelka has a reputation for not becoming too attached to clubs, having also played for Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Paris Saint Germain and Turkish club Fenerbahce during his colorful career.
The controversial striker has also had a strained relationship with several France national coaches, notably Jacques Santini and Roger Lemerre.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but