Nicolas Anelka

The former Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has said that he has no intention of returning to Europe and wants to retire at his current club Shanghai Shenhua. The Chinese club managed to secure the former Chelsea striker on a free transfer six months ago.

Even though he has not been as effective as the club would have hoped, the 33-year-old has revealed that he intends to retire after seeing out of the two year deal he signed with the club back in December. The French striker was recently joined by his former teammate Didier Drogba. This has officially started the Chinese revolution in world football.

Nicolas Anelka has been linked with a return to the Premier league after it was revealed that both QPR and West Ham are interested in taking him back to England. However, the former Bolton and Real Madrid striker has put an end to the speculation by saying that he is not interested in making any switch as of yet. Anelka spent three seasons at Chelsea in what was his most successful period. He won all the major titles in the club, but failed to win the Champions League title, which the club won last season after his departure.

"I won't go back to the Premier League. If one day I leave Shenhua, it will be the day I retire. I will never go back, although I had a good time there. But now I'm in Shenhua and this is my own decision. I am waiting for him," Anelka said." There were a lot of games when I was alone in front, I would think if Didier was here the situation would be better. I could pass him the ball," said the striker in response to the arrival of Didier Drogba, who recently joined the club.

It will have come as quite a shock to many football fans to see Nicolas Anelka make the bizarre move to Chinese side Shanghai Shenhua during the latest January transfer window.

This move seemed particularly odd as there we options for Anelka to remain in Europe, in particular a return to his old side Paris Saint-Germain. What is even more strange is that Anelka, known by many as “le Sulk” due to his surly behaviour has taken on the role of player coach. The former French international must now work as the head of a five man coaching team to turn around the struggling club.

This occurred following the dismissal of Shanghai’s first team coach Jean Tigana. Now acting head coach Jean-Florent Ikwange has retained Anelka in his mixed role as striker and team coach. Anelka has made a positive start to his career in Chinese football including a debut goal. However, Anelka’s role may prove to be something more that coaching and playing. As such a large profile move, it may spark a increase move of older players finishing their careers in China. This has certainly been the case since David Beckham moved to America and many Chinese clubs are hoping the same will occur in the Chinese super league.

With Chinese teams spending around £300million, this explosion of money in the league will do much to attract foreign players. Anelka has been the biggest player to make this transition so far and has already confirmed his intentions to bring former team mate Didier Drogba to the Shanghai club, and also wishes to tempt former PSG team mate Selim Benachour with a lucrative deal to also see his career off in china. If Anelka is able to convince his former team mates to join him, Anelka may well be the starting catalyst for a strong future of foreign players in the Chinese super league.

Former Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has made a big impression in China after scoring on his debut for the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua.

The French striker moved to the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua in January on a free transfer from Chelsea. He is reported to have signed a contract worth around £ 200,000 per week, which makes him one of the high paid players in the world. He has repaid some of the trust the Chinese club have had in him by scoring in the 3-2 defeat over Beijing Guoan during the weekend. The match was played in front of 51,000 spectators, who went home happy having seen Nicolas Anelka score in the opening match.

Nicolas Anelka was given the honorary captaincy for the match with the usual captain Jiang Kun on the bench for this match. Shanghai Shenhua had a very poor first half, which translated into them losing to their arch rivals in the 60th minute by 2-0. However, the quite impressive comeback by Shanghai Shenhua was started when Griffiths scored from a penalty kick just after their arch rivals had doubled their advantage. Nicolas Anelka scored after just 4 min to equalise the match. However, the joy could not last for long, as Jianquing scored against his former club in the 83rd minute.

Following this, substitute Kun was sent off after receiving a straight red card just minutes before the match entered into injury time. Shenhua were unable to recover from the shock of conceding in the 83rd minute, as they never looked like winning the match despite the presence of Nicolas Anelka. As a result of this defeat, Shenhua are currently without a win in the division after having played two matches so far this campaign. Guoan, meanwhile, will be taking on

Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua have managed to sign Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka after holding discussions with the French striker in the past few weeks.

Even though there were many clubs courting the French striker, Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua believed that they could land the striker, who is set to become the marketing franchise over the next few years. The exact transfer fee Shanghai Shenhua paid to Chelsea is not clear yet, but it is unlikely to be in the region of many million pounds like Chelsea paid originally to acquire his services back in 2008.

Nicolas Anelka hopes the first signing for then manager Avram Grant, and he arrived for a fee of £15 million from Bolton. After making nearly 200 appearances for Chelsea, Nicolas Anelka once again is on the move – this move counting as his ninth. He started his career in 1999 with Arsenal, but was soon transferred to Real Madrid when he became one of the world's costliest teenagers at £ 22 million. Since then, he has played for the likes of PSG, Manchester City, Liverpool, Bolton, and Fenerbahce. It is highly likely that Shanghai Shenhua will be the last club for Nicolas Anelka, as the 32-year-old striker is coming to the end of this career.

"It's like with the opening up of China. We needed to bring in the good stuff from foreign countries for us to learn from. The benefits Anelka brings to the club are obvious. Firstly it will definitely increase the squad's attacking capability," Shanghai Shenhua director Zhu Jun after completing the signing of the high-profile striker from Chelsea. It has also been revealed that the club are also looking to sign Didier Drogba, who is out of contract in the summer. Nicolas Anelka is on a £ 6 million per year contract at Shanghai Shenhua.