Comment - Nicolas Anelka: The best and the worst of a sublime talent
And so we have a new contender for worst Albion signing of all time.
In fact, Nicolas Anelka may have established his very own global category.
The best player ever to be the worst signing of all time, writes Martin Swain.
What is certain is that it is going to be difficult for Baggies fans to think of a footballer who, pound for pound, cost so much – certainly £1m and rising in wages – and in return delivered so little.
Unless, of course, you count the problems the Frenchman brought to the club's door.
The de-stabilising impact of his first crisis, the death of a friend and business advisor early in the season which led to his sudden exit and an accompanying threat of retirement.
Anelka came back and went through the laborious process of regaining his fitness.
Then, on the very day he finally delivered some pay-back on that fateful afternoon at West Ham, he indulged himself in one more act of selfishness which has brought us to this final fracture in his tortured connect with West Bromwich Albion.
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Anelka is West Brom's 'golden oldie'
Does Anelka have a West Brom future?
In their summary of the case against Anelka which brought a five-match ban and £80,000 fine, the independent commission ruled that anti-Semetism was not in the player's mind or motivation when he celebrated his first goal for the club with the gesture.
But the folly of the "salute" is inarguable and the kind of personal agenda-seeking which has earned this richly-talented player the nickname of "Le Sulk".
For the second time, Albion's team plans – in which a key role was imagined for him – were disrupted.
It might be argued that the story of Nicolas Anelka and Albion will be a metaphor for this increasingly fractious season. He has got out of the arrangement before he could do any more damage and we will all hope that Albion do the same with this season.
But, yes, Anelka's positioning as perhaps the club's worst signing of all time is guaranteed.
There have been honest labourers who just were not up to the job.
Many came through the club doors during the long, desperate decline of the 1980s and forwards such as Stewart Evans – the Ron Saunders replacement for Steve Bull – and Paul Williams will be mentioned.
Like Anelka, Albion have invested in esteemed players at the fag-end of their careers who were unable to re-heat the football of their youth.
Andy Townsend and Mike Phelan might come into this category too.
And they have paid big money before in expectation of a vital recruit to a successful team.
David Mills never could bring to that super Albion side of the late Seventies what had been hoped, despite becoming Britain's first half-million pound footballer.
But what finally condemns Anelka is the fact that he gave The Hawthorns enough of a glimpse of his undoubted talents to suggest he could still do it.
That cameo against Everton will be his finale, encased now in the maddening frustration for supporters, players and club officials of just what might have been in the blue and white.
Now he leaves condemned by his own actions. The striker made 11 appearances for the Baggies and found the net on precisely two occasions.
But it still feels like Albion will forever thank him for nothing.
