Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka is to join Shanghai Shenhua on a two-year contract, the club said yesterday, in a huge boost for China’s scandal-hit Super League.
The 32-year-old will join next month, Shenhua said in a brief statement that did not mention the value of the deal.
Chelsea also confirmed the transfer of former Arsenal and Real Madrid star Anelka, now set to be the first ex-Premier League player in China’s Super League, in a brief statement on their website.
“Chelsea Football Club and Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua have agreed terms for the permanent transfer of Nicolas Anelka in the January transfer window,” Chelsea’s statement said.
It added: “Since arriving from Bolton Wanderers in January 2008, the 32-year-old Frenchman has scored 59 goals in 185 games for Chelsea.”
Chelsea, too, refused to disclose the worth of the deal, although there have been media reports that Anelka would more than double his current weekly salary to £200,000 ($313,000).
But Ma Yue, spokesman for Shanghai Shenhua, appeared to pour cold water on these claims.
“I cannot confirm his salary at the moment. I can just say the final amount could be different from 200,000 pounds,” he told AFP, refusing to give further details.
Chinese bloggers had mixed reactions about the deal, with some celebrating it while others questioned his reportedly high salary in a country where the average disposable monthly income for urban residents is 1,592 yuan ($251).
“China’s Super League now enters the age of money-burning. An annual salary of over 100 million yuan.
“How many junior football teams could that support?” posted one on Sina’s weibo, a microblog similar to Twitter.
The deal follows Guangzhou Evergrande’s July signing of Argentine midfielder Dario Conca, whose $10 million deal made him China’s most expensive player.
The club in southern China, which was relegated two seasons ago for match-fixing, has also splashed out $7.5 million on Brazilian forwards Cleo and Muriqui.
China’s growing foreign legion also includes Henan Construction’s Leandro Netto de Macedo and Shanghai’s Luis Salmeron, while Romanian Cristian Danalache and Serb Aleksandar Jevtic both play for Jiangsu Sainty.
Shanghai Shenhua, 11th in the Chinese league last season, is the latest stop on Anelka’s nomadic career, which has also seen spells at Paris SG, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Turkey’s Fenerbahce.