Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has denied that the club have made an approach for Shanghai Shenhua striker Didier Drogba, according to ESPN.
Although the 34-year-old Drogba has made an impressive start to his Shenhua career – scoring 4 goals in his first 6 appearance – he and former Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka are thought to be involved at the centre of a power struggle at Shenhua, and Drogba is looking for an escape route back to Europe. The row at Shenhua is revolved around a disagreement over equity stakes, as Chairman Zhu Jun, who owns 28.5% of the club, has threatened to stop funding the Chinese club.
Those clubs rumoured to be interested in the former Chelsea man if he does decide to leave China are Real Madrid, Liverpool and indeed Arsenal. It was thought that the Arsenal boss may be interested in bringing Drogba to the club as support for Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podoloski who are still finding their feet in the Premier League.
However, Wenger insists that he has no interest in signing the Ivorian, “At the moment no. In my opinion he is not free. He has just left England. I don’t know about the situation because he came out with a completely different statement.”
Wenger admits he is unsure whether Drogba will actually leave Shenhua altogether after the striker revealed that he will be remaining at the club until January at least in a bid to be fit for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, “You hear he might go to Real Madrid – but then he says ‘I am staying in China’. Is it just because he wants to be paid off? I don’t know.”
Under FIFA sanctioning, if Drogba were to agree a mutual termination with Shanghai Shenhua, then he wouldn’t be join another club until the transfer window reopens in January as a player must have been a free agent before the transfer window just gone in order to sign for another club immediately.
Bolton Wanderers winger Gregg Wylde was bitten by this ruling last March after agreeing to terminate his contract with Rangers after the Ibrox club had entered administration. Subsequently, Wylde joined the Trotters only to find that he wasn’t allowed to play until the beginning of this season because he wasn’t a free agent in January.
Didier Drogba is now renowned as a Chelsea legend after a successful career at the club spanning eight years in which he scored 100 goals. Drogba’s most notable goal arrived in the Champions League final when he headed an 87th minute equaliser past Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer to send the game into extra-time and penalties. He then slotted home the winning penalty to bring European glory to the West London club for the first time in their history.
Former Chelsea player and assistant manager Ray Wilkins said in the week that he doubts Drogba would ever play for another club in the Premier League because of his strong affiliation with the Blues.
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