10 players who have played for the most clubs

Bhargav
Andy Cole is one of the most travelled players.
Andy Cole is one of the most travelled players.

#6 Nicolas Anelka (11 clubs)

Nicolas Anelka
Nicolas Anelka

Like Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane, Nicolas Anelka is one of only nine players in Premier League history to have scored for six different clubs in the competition.

The 2000 European Championship winner with France played for four of the top-six clubs in the Premier League, turning out for Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea; Anelka also appeared for Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United in the competition.

The Frenchman made his professional debut with Paris St. Germain and also played for top European clubs like Real Madrid and Juventus but enjoyed his most prolific spell at a club while playing for Chelsea from 2007-08 to 2011-12.

With 19 goals, Anelka was the top-scorer in the 2008-09 Premier League, ahead of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, as Chelsea finished third in the competition.

In other spells, the much-travelled striker also turned out for Turkish giants Fenerbahce, Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Super League and Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League which turned out to be his final professional outing.


#5 Andy Cole (12 clubs)

Andy Cole
Andy Cole

Andy Cole began his professional career with Arsenal in the Old First Division in 1989-90 but turned up only once for the club across three seasons before moving to Fulham in the Third Division and Briston City in the Second Division.

Cole made his Premier League debut with Bristol in 1992-93, which also happened to be the first year of the renamed English First Division. Turning out for Newcastle United in the next edition of the competition, the Englishman scored 34 goals and provided 13 assists.

In the process, Cole became the first player to be the outright leader in goals scored and assists provided in a single season of the Premier League.

His performances for Newcastle caught the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson who brought him to Manchester United in 1994.

In eight glorious seasons at Old Trafford, Cole won five Premier League titles and the continental treble in 1998-99 as he scored 121 goals in 275 appearances in all competitions for the club.

The striker also turned out for Blackburn Rovers, Fulham, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Sunderland in the competition but never got the same success that he enjoyed at Manchester United.

“I was only in the Premier League a year and a half, so when I joined Manchester United it was surreal because I didn’t think anything could happen so quickly for me. So walking in the dressing room with that calibre of players I was very, very nervous," Cole later reminisced in a later interview.

Cole also played for Championship sides Birmingham City, Burnley and Nottingham Forest before announcing his retirement in 2009.


#4 Christian Vieri (12 clubs)

Christian Vieri
Christian Vieri

Chrisitan Vieri is one of the most decorated strikers in Italian football. The centre-forward, who is Italy's joint-highest scorer in the FIFA World Cup, is one of the few players to win the Pichichi (with Atletico Madrid) and Capocanonneiri (with Inter Milan) awards for top-scoring in La Liga and Serie A respectively.

The much-travelled player played for as many as 12 different clubs, seven of them in Serie A (the most in the division after Alberto Gilardino and Luca Toni - 8 apiece), during his illustrious career but enjoyed his most prolific spell with Inter Milan.

Vieri, who is a two-time Serie A winner with Juventus, scored 123 goals in 190 appearances in all competitions for Inter in a successful six-season stint in the blue and black half of Milan.

After winning his only Capocannoniere award in 2002-03 when he scored 24 goals in just 23 games, Vieri was never the same player again after suffering an injury against Valencia in the Champions League quarterfinal that season.

Outside his country, the Italian player appeared for Atletico Madrid and AS Monaco. The player announced his retirement after playing only nine times for Atalanta in the 2008-09 Serie A season.

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Edited by S Chowdhury