He said:
"Following discussions between the club and myself, proposals have been made to me that I rejoined the group under certain conditions that I cannot accept. Wishing to preserve my integrity, I decided to free myself and to terminate the contract binding me with West Bromwich Albion until 2014, and now."Anelka claimed that Albion put conditions on his proposed rejoining of the squad that "he could not accept" and he was leaving to "preserve my integrity". Those conditions, Albion revealed in a statement last night, were that he should apologise to the club and its supporters for his recent behaviour.
The former France striker was banned for five matches by the Football Association last week over his controversial quenelle gesture and has been in talks with the Premier League strugglers over the past 48 hours.
Albion had suspended the forward while their own internal inquiry was ongoing, with Anelka forced to train on his own, and it is understood they were set to announce his exit early next week on grounds of bringing the club into disrepute. He is also likely to face a club fine.
Albion, in their statement, said they had received no formal communication from him, and added that his quenelle gesture and decision to put out his statement on Twitter amounted to gross misconduct and they accused him of being "highly unprofessional". The statement also claimed his termination of his contract did not follow the required correct legal process and "as a result the club has tonight written to Nicolas Anelka giving him 14 days' notice of termination as required under his contract".
