Canal Plus to back PSG's Anelka plan

French cable television giant Canal Plus are to bankroll attempts by Paris Saint Germain to sign Real Madrid rebel Nicolas Anelka next month.

A £16 million offer could see Real dump the moody 21 year old less than nine months after he became their record signing.

PSG were the French international's first club before a £500,000 transfer to Arsenal in January 1997 and the start of legendary temper tantrums and mood swings that forced him out of London last year in seven month transfer saga of football at its murkiest.

Real were joined by Juventus and SS Lazio in a bidding war for the forward in a circus created by Anelka's older brothers who were acting as his agents.

Six weeks ago Real banned Anelka for 45 days and fined him more than £300,000 in wages after the striker refused to train. He served 27 days of the ban and has played twice since for the Spanish club who are second in the league behind Deportivo La Coruna. The ban set Real on a course to axe the player from their squad and use the home grown and more reliable talents of Morientes and Raul in their attack.

PSG need a big stunt to upstage AS Monaco in the French league after the club from the principality romped to a decisive 13 point lead in the title race. They are a subsidiary of Canal Plus who are willing to put up the money to sign their former teenage star and allow Real to save some face. Interestingly Canal Plus are the major sponsor for Juventus so Anelka's ultimate destination could still see echoes of that bizarre summer of '99 when the player hid in his Paris flat and let his family bulk up his transfer price. Before any of that happens again Anelka has to prove himself as a professional footballer rather than the angry misfit he has become and PSG want to take that gamble.