NICOLAS ANELKA FANS

Former Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has said that he is almost sure that his former teammate Didier Drogba will not be joining him in China. The Ivorian international Didier Drogba is out of contract at the end of the season and he is very much expected to bring his eight-year stay with the London club to an end in the summer. It was initially thought that Didier Drogba would be the major signing for Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, who managed to entice French striker Nicolas Anelka on a reported wages of £ 200,000 a week in the January transfer window.

It has been rumoured in major tabloids that Didier Drogba has been offered wages of up to £ 400,000 per week, but former Chelsea striker and current manager of Shanghai Shenhua, Nicolas Anelka believes that Drogba is unlikely to join him in China. According to Anelka, Drogba has already made a decision on his future, but is not prepared to say his decision in public due to the problem is that it may cause in the remainder of the season. Drogba has the chance to go out on a high by winning the Champions League with Chelsea this season. He has already secured his fourth FA Cup trophy on Saturday.

“Even if Drogba finally chooses to stay with Chelsea, that can only prove Drogba himself wanted to stay and Chelsea also wanted to keep him. If Drogba cannot come to Shanghai, then there are no regrets because the world still has many other fine players,” said Nicolas Anelka. Chelsea are prepared to keep Drogba, but are offering only a one-year deal. The player, however, thinks that he is worth a two-year contract given the service he has provided to the club in the last eight years since his £ 24 million transfer from Marseille in 2004.

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Former Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has bagged himself a multi-million dollar contract for endorsing a new online game. It has been recently reported that Nicolas Anelka could receive as much as $ 3.4 million from the deal.

It is a very good news for the former French striker, who has moved to China on a contract thought to be worth around £ 200,000 per week. This puts him in the league amongst the best paid football players in the world, but it seems that the hitman has also found himself more opportunities to earn in one of the biggest economies in the world.

It has been recently revealed that The9 Limited, which is a US listed company, has also teamed up with Nicolas Anelka’s club Shanghai Shenhua for promoting the online game. The deal for the club is thought to be worth around $ 5.1 million. Shanghai Shenhua signed Nicolas Anelka in the hope that he will help the brand image of Chinese football, which has suffered a few problems of late due to gambling issues. The latest deal for both the player and the club represents the shift in the right direction for China, which is aiming to replicate the success it has had in basketball in the world of football as well.

“A big portion of Firefall gamers are also soccer fans, most of whom are male, passionate about sports, and actively followers of entertainment stories of sport stars,” the company’s vice president, Chris Shen, said in a statement. Shanghai Shenhua finished in the 11th place last season, but are expected to challenge for the title with the addition of one of the best finishers in the game. The club are also targeting to bring current Chelsea striker Didier Drogba in the summer.

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Former France international midfielder Nicolas Anelka will join Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua I the January transfer window, it has been revealed on a contract that will earn him £ 8 million a year, £ 3 million more than the annual wage he earns at Chelsea.

News that Anelka will be leaving Stamford Bridge shocked the entire English football fraternity, particularly the fans of Chelsea when manager Andre Villas Boas stated in the press conference after Chelsea’s 3-0 win against Newcastle United that Anelka and Brazilian defender had handed in transfer requests to the club and the club has accepted the requests, allowing them to leave the club in January.

Anelka’s future at Chelsea has long been in doubt after the purchase of Spanish international striker Fernando Torres from Liverpool on the last day of the January transfer window in 2011 and he had seen the number of starts that he got for the team drastically reduced as both former manager Carlo Ancelotti and current boss Andre Villas Boas preferred paring Didier Drogba and Torres up front rather than using Nicolas Anelka, who was mainly used as a substitute.

West Ham United and Paris St Germain were also keen on bringing the Frenchman to their clubs but Anelka was quoted as saying recently that he had known for quite some time where he would be, come the 2nd of January, 2012. But no one, at least at Chelsea expected Anelka to leave European football and sign for a club that has not been at the top of the Chinese league in a long time, but with the staggering sum being paid to him, it might also happen that Nicolas Anelka was looking for one big pay day before he retires and this was an offer that too good for him to resist.

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