By Mark Baber
January 28 – Didier Drogba is already back in Europe after leaving Champions League winners Chelsea for Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua in the summer for a reported £190,000 weekly salary.
Drogba has signed an 18 month deal with Galatasaray following Shanghai Shenhua reportedly failing to pay his salary.
Drogba will earn €6 million at the Turkish giants, including a signing-on fee of €4 million and €15,000 per match.
The two-and-a-half-year deal Drogba signed with Shenhua last June was hailed as a new era for China’s football and the Chinese Super League.
But according to China’s Eastern Sports Daily he was owed wages following an equity dispute between the chairman and five state-owned enterprises that has financially strangled the club.
Drogba applied for permission to leave Shanghai on loan before the January transfer window, but FIFA refused the request. He then returned to Chelsea to train in preparation for the African Cup of Nations for the Ivory Coast.
“The opportunity to play for this great club was an offer that I could not turn down. I am looking forward to playing in the Champions League again, against the best clubs in Europe,” said Drogba.
The news will come as a blow to Chinese football as his arrival had been hailed as giving the sport a massive boost.
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