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Rooney welcome at Chelsea - Anelka

Nicolas Anelka would be happy to play on the same side as Wayne Rooney © Getty Images

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Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka says he would welcome the chance to play alongside Wayne Rooney at Stamford Bridge.

After Sir Alex Ferguson made public Rooney's desire to leave Manchester on Tuesday, speculation has begun in earnest as to which club the England international could join.

Manchester City and Real Madrid are the two favourites at the bookmakers, even though both Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho have played down their interest in Rooney, but Chelsea are also amongst the leading contenders.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti recently said he would be interested if Rooney was made available for transfer and Anelka would not be averse to seeing the United star join the likes of himself, Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda in the Chelsea attack.

"Rooney is a good player, everybody knows his quality," Anelka said. "If he wants to come to Chelsea then he is welcome, but I am not the owner."

Team-mate Salomon Kalou added: "Wayne is a great player; he has proved that with Manchester United and England. It would be good to have Wayne in the Premier League."

Anelka was speaking after scoring his 50th goal for Chelsea in Tuesday's Champions League victory against Spartak Moscow. The win represented a satisfactory return to the Luzhniki Stadium for the Frenchman, who missed a penalty when the arena hosted the 2008 Champions League final between the Blues and Manchester United.

"It is always good to win a game," Anelka said. "Especially away from home in the Champions League. We wanted to take three points and that is what we did. We have a big squad with good players and even though we have a lot of players missing, we are capable of winning games.

"The best thing was not to think about what happened in the stadium before and to try to win the game. It was good for me but I was not thinking about what happened two years ago."

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