Chinese champs chase Drogba

Shanghai Shenhua this month announced the signing of Drogba’s former Chelsea teammate Anelka in the most high-profile deal yet for the scandal-plagued Chinese league.
Now Guangzhou Evergrande are looking to match Shanghai’s new firepower by possibly making an even more dramatic bid to bring Drogba to China, ahead of next year’s Asian Champions League, the Yangcheng Evening News said.
The southern Chinese club, based near Hong Kong, had no comment on the report when contacted yesterday.
Shanghai themselves, having also brought in French coach Jean Tigana, may have their own interest in the 33-year-old Drogba, according to previous reports.
Anelka (32) will reportedly earn about 200 000 pounds (around US$300 000) a week at Shanghai, although Shenhua dispute the figure and have not revealed the transfer cost.
Guangzhou have spent US$3.16 million in recent days in signing four Chinese national players as they prepare to defend their Super League title and confront Asia’s best in the champions league, Xinhua news agency said.
Guangzhou are in Group H, the so-called “group of death”, alongside 2011 Asian runners-up Jeonbuk Hyundai and Japanese J-League champions Kashiwa.
Chinese football has long been mired in scandals like match-fixing and gambling, but clubs enriched by the country’s industrial boom last season began spending big on players.
Meanwhile, unsettled Chelsea midfielder Florent Malouda has hinted he could look to quit the club during the winter transfer market.
Malouda’s bid to cement his place in the France team ahead of next summer’s Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine has been compounded by his lack of playing time under Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea.
The 31-year-old has started only once in the past nine games, in a League Cup tie against Liverpool, and the success of Spaniard Juan Mata has left Malouda sitting in frustration on the Chelsea bench.
After coming on as a second-half substitute in Chelsea’s 1-1 Boxing Day draw at home to Fulham, Malouda told Canal Plus television he is starting to look at options elsewhere.
“I can’t be satisfied with that, there’s a huge difference between the amount of time I’m playing and what my ambitions are,” Malouda told the channel according to L’Equipe sports daily.
“So we’ll see what happens in the winter transfer market. If I have to, I’ll go elsewhere because, looking back at the first half of the season, I just can’t be satisfied with that.”
According to Paris daily Le Parisien, Malouda could be set for a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
The current Ligue 1 leaders are on the lookout for established international stars in the January transfer window and their Qatari owners have the money to spend. Malouda could also team up with his former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, who is widely expected to be appointed as coach at the Parc des Princes in the coming days, replacing Antoine Kombouare, who was sacked last week. Chelsea, who have now drawn their last three games, are now 11 points behind both Manchester City and Manchester United.
Villas-Boas said: “Maybe the Premier League is over for us at the moment.” – AFP.