Shanghai Shenhua Confirm Anelka Coup
Chelsea star Nicolas Anelka is to join Shanghai Shenhua on a two-year contract, the club said Monday, in a huge boost for China's scandal-hit Super League.
The 32-year-old French striker will join the club next month, Shenhua said in a brief statement, which did not mention the value of the ground-breaking deal.
"Shanghai Shenhua and Chelsea have reached consensus that French striker Nicolas Anelka will officially join Shanghai Shenhua in January 2012 after the winter transfer window opens," said the statement on the club's website.
There was no immediate confirmation of the deal from representatives of the former Arsenal and Real Madrid star, who will be the first ex-Premier League player in China's Super League and by far its biggest star.
There have been media reports Anelka would more than double his current weekly salary to 200,000 pounds ($313,000).
But Ma Yue, spokesman for Shanghai Shenhua, appeared to pour cold water on the reports.
"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.
The Anelka 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.
The developments have put a new face on Chinese football, which despite a strong following has often caused embarrassment for its fans.
The national side has only reached one World Cup -- in 2002, when they lost all their games without scoring once -- while the domestic game has been plagued by scandals and violence.
The government launched a wide-ranging investigation into football in 2006 that unearthed corruption at almost every level of the game.
State media have accused officials from the Chinese Football Association (CFA) of fixing matches at national, league and even international levels by buying off teams or referees.
But the government has started to clean up the sport, and several high-level CFA figures have been arrested, along with scores of players, referees and coaches over gambling, match-fixing and a host of other misdemeanors.
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 Saint Germain, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton Wanderers and Turkey's Fenerbahce.