Didier Drogba arrives in China to hero’s welcome?

“Drogba’s arrival will give Chinese people more confidence and will help us
promote football in China… so that one day China can became a powerful
footballing nation,” he said.

As China’s economy has boomed, a growing number of top-flight foreign players
have been lured to the Chinese Super League, among them many well-known
Brazilian stars.

But Mr Drogba is the country’s biggest catch to date. His arrival comes after
French striker Nicolas Anelka signed for Shanghai Shenhua in January and
Argentina’s former coach Sergio Batista was installed as the club’s manager
in May.

“I am so happy today,” beamed Ding Ding, one of the organisers of Shanghai
Shenhua’s official fan club, The Blue Devils. “He chose Shanghai!”

Critics have dismissed the club’s high-profile acquisitions as “vanity
projects” that will do little to develop grassroots football in China.

But Drogba’s arrival is a powerful statement of ambition from a club that is
currently languishing in 13th place in the 16-club league.

Speaking on Saturday Mr Drogba vowed to fight for “better results” and even
compared his new boss, the Chinese videogame tycoon Zhu Jun, to Chelsea’s
billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.

“Mr Abramovich wanted to win major trophies in Europe and he built the team to
achieve this and I think that is what my new owner is doing.”

Cameron Wilson, from Wild East Football, an English-language blog on Chinese
football, said the once-improbable signing provided a rare moment of glee
for China’s long-suffering football fans.

“It’s obviously really exciting for the fans. Chinese football fans have not
had a lot to shout about in recent years or ever really,” he said.

The club’s notoriously eccentric owner, Mr Zhu, was also happy. “He obviously
enjoys basking in the glory. I think it’s not purely about football – that
is pretty clear. There’s obviously a commercial aspect, sponsors want to be
associated with these big names… and I think it’s probably fair to say that
they can buy some political influence with this.”

Even before Mr Drogba’s inaugural press conference was over speculation had
begun about who the next Premier League arrival might be. One local
journalist asked Mr Drogba if John Terry and Frank Lampard would also
consider swapping Stamford Bridge for Shanghai’s Hongkou stadium. “I need to
speak to my president,” Mr Drogba replied. “Because I want them in my team.”

Mr Zhou, the Shanghai Shenhua director, played down the idea. His club had
“used up our quota for star players this season,” he said. “But there are
other clubs in China that could import world-class players.”

Mr Wilson, the football blogger, said he would no longer bet against such
arrivals.

“If Drogba can come then they can.”

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