Well well well. If you were looking for another character for the next great Netflix sports documentary, Nicolas Anelka may not have been the first name you'd think of but once you hear him mentioned it sounds like the obvious choice.
On 5 August, Netflix will be releasing Anelka: Misunderstood. The trailer was tweeted out by Netflix France this week and features some big names, including Anelka's former manager, Arsene Wenger.
Tout le monde connaît son nom.
Peu le connaissent vraiment.
Anelka : l’incompris, disponible le 5 août sur Netflix. pic.twitter.com/StjTxVLO4Z— Netflix France (@NetflixFR) July 16, 2020
Filmaker, Franck Nataf followed Anelka around for seven years, across the likes of China and India as the Frenchman continued his eventful career in football. The documentary will also be released in Ireland, with Netflix describing it as:
"Bad boy of the French football, arrogant, precocious, misunderstood, scorer, unclassifiable, genius, unmanageable... Despite a having a career of almost 20 years at the highest level, Nicolas Anelka is still hard to define. From sporting feats to controversies, he remains a mysterious persona for many observers. It's an image that Anelka himself has cultivated.
"For seven years, Franck Nataf has followed Nicolas Anelka in his day-to-day life. His experiences in China, India, his life far away from France, his children's birthdays, his moments of relaxation with friends Paul Pogba, Thierry Henry or Patrice Evra. The director has created a real documentary which lifts the veil on a controversial sporting personality. The former number 9 is revealed in a different light, as a father, a footballer, sharing his experience of being at the top level. Because everything comes back to football.
"For the first time and exclusively, Anelka revisits the entirety of his career, in a documentary which covers 40 years of a richly lived life. Nicolas Anelka reveals all and describes the life of a professional footballer at a time when football and business join together. The pressure, the money, the glory, the betrayals, the sobering reality of the trade process, relationships with coaches, competitiveness and even hatred between players. The path of Nicolas Anelka paints an unsettling picture of the reality of modern football.
"He revisits episodes which transformed his career. The great moments of a sportsman, coming from Trappes in the impoverished Parisian suburbs, who very quickly became a phenomenon: blossoming at Arsenal, the European Championship title with Les Bleus, the English Premier League title with the Gunners and Chelsea. On one night of victory against England, Didier Deschamps, captain of Les Bleus, champions of the world, would say: “France has found its Ronaldo”.
"He also talks about the lowest moments, the 2010 World Cup, the insults he allegedly directed at his manager, and his “immature tough guy” image.
"Retracing the steps of Nicolas Anelka takes us through 20 years of football, revisited through the biggest competitions: the 1998, 2006 and 2010 World Cups, the 2000 European Championship, the Champions League, and the English, French and Spanish championships."
We are already very excited!
