Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says he never wanted to sell Nicolas Anelka.

Last season's Golden Boot winner returns to Arsenal leading Chelsea's attack today.

"Financially it was a good deal [to sell Anelka] but basically because we didn't want to sell him," Wenger told arsenal.com.

"He was one of the first young French players to come here and he was very successful straight away. But he came just after Ian Wright who was a legend here. So straight away he came in and people thought: 'What a player'.

"You'd imagine that the guy who comes after Ian Wright would have a hard time. But he was so quick to convince everybody that he had the talent.

"I would say also that when he left, with less than half the money we bought Thierry Henry in the same year. You could imagine what would have happened had he stayed. I would have bought Thierry Henry anyway. So that shows it was the right decision because they play together in the national team."