Arsenal great Martin Keown has identified Nicolas Anelka as the best 17-year-old he ever saw play and claimed that the Frenchman could have achieved everything that Thierry Henry did - if he had stayed at Highbury.
Keown was with the Gunners when Anelka was signed from Paris Saint-Germain in 1997 for £500,000 under Arsene Wenger.
Then a senior player, the centre-back watched Anelka break into the first team and go on to win the golden boot in the 1998/99 season.
However, Anelka's time with Arsenal lasted just two years after Real Madrid tabled a bid of £22.3m to lure the striker to the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer of 1999.
By that time, Anelka had already made a strong impression on Keown, who believes he could have achieved everything Premier League legend Henry did if he had stayed with the club longer.
"Best 17-year-old I’ve ever seen," Keown told BT Sport. "In fact, everything [Thierry] Henry did, I think Anelka could have done for Arsenal if he’d had wanted to stay.
"But you can’t stop that player, once he’s through he’s rapid, no backlift, great control, he’s away.
"He used to do that in training every time I saw him, he loved that position."
While Henry forged his legacy with Arsenal and Barcelona, Anelka moved across Europe from club to club. He won the Champions League with Real Madrid the season after leaving Arsenal, and admitted in 2008 that he moved to Los Blancos because he did not feel appreciated in north London.
"When I started the season there was a poll because I had taken the place of Ian Wright," Anelka said. "I thought the fans really wanted it to be me and were pleased with me.
"But seeing the result in the papers and on TV hit me hard because I had done things for nothing. I thought 'So that’s how it is. This is how you thank me. Okay now you watch what is going to happen. I am going to play, score my goals and just when you are saying Anelka, Anelka that’s when I’m going to leave'.
"And that is exactly what I did because I was furious with them."
