Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba ended
weeks of speculation about his future on Wednesday by following
his former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka in making a
lucrative move to big-spending Chinese Super League strugglers
Shanghai Shenhua.
Drogba had been tipped to make the move to the Far East
since he announced last month he was leaving Chelsea after
scoring the decisive penalty for the London club in their
Champions League final shootout victory over Bayern Munich.
The 34-year-old would join up with his new team-mates in
July once his contract with Chelsea expired on June 30, Shanghai
said in a statement on Wednesday.
"I have studied all the offers I had during the past few
weeks and I have the feeling that going to Shanghai is the right
direction for me now," Drogba said on his website.
"I am looking forward to that challenge, to discover a new
culture and I am very enthusiastic about the development of the
Chinese football league."
Shanghai will be hoping the Ivorian, nicknamed 'The Beast'
in China, can make an instant impact and help the side arrest a
dismal start to the campaign which has left them sitting 12th in
the 16-team league despite heavy investment.
After forking out huge sums for former France international
Jean Tigana they sacked the manager after a poor start with
Anelka taking over coaching duties only to be reluctantly
replaced by former Argentine boss Sergio Batista.
No financial details of the two-and-a-half-year contract
were revealed by Drogba, or the club, but widespread media
reports said the Ivory Coast striker would receive in the region
of $300,000 a week.
Whatever the cost, his signing is another coup for the
reinvigorated Chinese Super League.
WARMEST WELCOME
After years of negative headlines brought by match-fixing
scandals which hit its credibility and led to jail terms for
former Chinese football chiefs, signings of high profile names
like Drogba are now drawing attention for all the right reasons.
Ambitious Shanghai owner Zhu Jun posted a photo on his
microblog site of Drogba and the club director Zhou Jun posing
with a Shenhua shirt, with the caption "Our warmest welcome,"
shortly after the powerful forward announced the move.
"The twin guns of Chelsea will now don the jerseys of
Shanghai Shenhua to do battle at Hongkou Stadium," Shanghai said
on their website.
"This scene would perhaps only be played out on a fantasy
football game. But today, this dream has become a reality. With
hard work and determination, a dream will always become reality
one day."
Drogba's arrival is the latest in a long list of
high-profile names who have made the move to China in recent
months. Italian World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi leads a
Guangzhou Evergrande side packed full of skilful South American
talent.
But Drogba, who scored 157 times in 341 appearances for
Chelsea making him the club's fourth all-time leading scorer, is
perhaps the biggest catch.
Having left Olympique Marseille to join Chelsea in 2004 he
won everything in England and his strength and speed made him a
handful for world class defenders to deal with.
He spearheaded Chelsea's Champions League title run scoring
a brilliant headed equaliser in the final to force extra time
and the shootout, showing he is still more than capable of
producing at the highest level at a top European club.
However, the arrival of Drogba in a country more than
prepared to flex its financial muscle could pave the way for
more big names to shun the sport's traditional powerbase of
Europe for East Asia.
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