Nicolas Anelka quits West Brom, ...then sacked by West Brom for 'gross misconduct'

Nicolas Anelka has announced via his Twitter account that he will leave West Brom with immediate effect.

The club responded by sacking the French striker, 34, for gross misconduct for both his actions and for announcing his departure on the social networking site.

“Nicolas Anelka’s purported termination of his Premier League contract this evening via social media was invalid as this was not conducted under the correct legal process as required by his contract,” a West Brom statement read.

“The club considers the conduct of Nicolas Anelka on December 28, coupled with his purported termination on social media this evening, to be gross misconduct. ”

As a result the club has tonight written to Nicolas Anelka giving him 14 days’ notice of termination as required under his contract.”

Anelka revealed that the club set certain conditions on him being able to rejoin the squad, ones he felt he could not accept, and therefore decided to release himself from his contract.

Anelka tweeted the news in his native French: “Following discussions between the club and me, proposals have been made to me that I rejoin the group under certain conditions.

“I cannot accept, wishing to keep my integrity. So I decided to free myself and to terminate the contract linking me with West Bromwich Albion until 2014.”