It is soon to be confirmed that footballer Didier Drogba (34), following his former Chelsea FC teammate Nicolas Anelka, has left Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua and signed for Galatasaray in Turkey on a lucrative 18-month deal. Now without its only two genuine world stars and amid reports of wages not being paid, where does the Chinese football league go from here?
hen Didier Drogba, Chelsea FC’s Champions League final hero and International star, signed for the Chinese league side Shanghai Shenhua the world’s footballing community were ready to expect an avalanche of stars to head East. Drogba was the biggest name alongside his former team mate Nicolas Anelka and Premier League strikers Ayegbeni Yakubu and Fredi Kanoute.
Whether it was for the money or for a change in culture, the marquee signing of Drogba heralded a new era in football that mimicked a general global business trend of capital flow towards the east. At least it appeared to be.
Now without its only two genuine world stars and amid reports of wages not being paid, where does the Chinese football league go from here?
Arriving on a wage reportedly as high as £200,000 a week, which is well over half what an average player in the Chinese league earns in a year, the striker was greeted by a hysterical and adoring public. Shenhua have a flashy reputation in China and are known for their deep pockets rather than their sporting ability. In Zhu Jun, owned by a millionaire from the online gaming industry, they have a Roman Abramovich-style owner, with the money to match. It was Zhu who financed Drogba’s move.
However in under a year, Drogba is off and has signed for the Turkish club Galatasaray. It has been reported that the Ivory Coast international never settled into life in China and his family never joined him in Shanghai, remaining in London for the duration of his stay. The striker stated that “I am looking forward to playing in the Champions League again” and his representatives have even claimed that his wages had not been paid for three months.
Club owners in the mould of Zhu Jun may choose to up the ante by increasing the prospects of already sky-high wages to entice established western stars
Whether or not the Chinese footballing establishment and its football fans will take Drogba’s departure as an affront it is hard to say. But a few dreams will definitely have been shattered and an official statement claimed the club were ‘deeply shocked’ at the news.The Chinese club disputes the transfer but lawyers of Galatasaray and representatives of Drogba are confident that he has left and it is almost certain that he will never play in China again.
It has left the Chinese league without any real superstars and a lot of head scratching to do. Club owners in the mould of Zhu Jun may choose to up the ante by increasing the prospects of already sky-high wages to entice established western stars. Although it is clear that, with reports of wages not being paid, some Chinese clubs are not financially stable. On the other hand, the dream to compete with the biggest Western leagues might be put on hold and more money and time concentrated on their home grown players as China attempts to put their national side on the footballing map.
By Jack Goodman
