Nicolas Anelka knows more than most about the workings of the European transfer market and is planning to pass on his wisdom to Didier Drogba. The France striker said yesterday that he will take his new Chelsea team-mate aside and urge him to stay at the club when he returns from the African Cup of Nations next month, using his own mixed experience of playing for eight clubs in four countries over 11 years to illustrate that the grass is not always greener. “Do as I say and not as I do” may be a good way for Anelka to start.

Drogba, the Ivory Coast forward, has spoken of his desire to leave Stamford Bridge — only this week he was outlining his dream of playing for Barcelona — and is expecting offers from AC Milan and Real Madrid in the summer, but Anelka believes that it would be a mistake for him to move on. Anelka, 29, provides a salutary lesson of how the wrong transfer can destabilise even the most promising of careers and is not ashamed to admit it.

“When Didier comes back, I will speak with him,” he said. “I know that English football and the Premier League is the best. I will tell him to stay because he will not find anywhere else what he has in Chelsea. I spoke with him on Wednesday and am looking forward to playing with him.

“I sympathise with the way Didier is thinking about leaving, but at the same time I know what it is like to leave because that is what I did before. He is a big star in England and in Chelsea and everyone loves him. If he wanted to come back it would be very difficult. I did it when I was 20, so I could come back, but he’s nearly 30, so it’s very difficult to come back.”

That it has taken Anelka so long to return to a top European club since playing an integral part in Real’s Champions League win of 1999-2000, during his single season in Spain, is a mystery, but he believes that it was because of doubts over his character. His acrimonious departure from Arsenal damaged him in more ways than one, with his failure to settle since largely explained by the disparity between his ability and those of his various team-mates.

“I think it was outside the football rather than my football,” Anelka said. “People were saying about my character and that is wrong. If you ask all the players who have played with me, they will never say anything wrong about me. I do not like to speak too much, so maybe that’s why people thought I was arrogant or something. I was very young. When you play at Arsenal and Real Madrid come, it is difficult to say no. I did what I had to do and I’m just happy I won the Champions League.

“I have no regrets, but I think I could have stayed in a big club and played Champions League every year. I wanted to sign for Liverpool, but it didn’t happen. If I had stayed at Liverpool, I believe I would still be there today.” Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, would not agree, but Drogba may find Anelka’s lesson worth listening to.