Frenchman is now playing for his sixth different top-flight team.
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West Bromwich Albion will need to adapt quickly to new front man Nicolas Anelka if they wish to get the best out of the veteran Frenchman, says centre-back Gareth McAuley, reports the Daily Mirror.
The experienced striker was brought to the Hawthorns last month on a free transfer from Chinese outfit Shanghai Shenhua by Baggies head coach Steve Clarke, the sixth different Premier League club of the 34-year-old’s career in England.
However, Anelka made an underwhelming start to his West Brom career on Saturday as Clarke’s side surprisingly went down 1-0 at home to Southampton in their first match of the new Premier League season, with the forward making next to no impact at all on proceedings, before eventually being substituted after 83 minutes of the contest.
And now Northern Ireland international McAuley has urged his West Brom team-mates to start adapting quickly to their recent recruit if they wish to see the best of Anelka in front of goal going forward in the Midlands.
“He has been all over Europe and played in lots of different teams, leagues and styles of play,” says McAuley.
“So I think he will probably adapt to us.
“But we need to get the ball to him a lot better, a lot quicker and in the right areas of the pitch so he can do damage for us.”
Anelka has managed to find the back of the net on 159 occasions in his 461 matches in total in all competitions for his six clubs in the Premier League, including 122 strikes in 353 Premier League matches.