Former Chelsea star Didier Drogba arrived here Saturday to a rousing
welcome from Chinese fans and insisted it was not money but the
challenge in an unfamiliar land that lured him to China.
Hundreds
of fans gathered to welcome the Ivorian striker as he joins Chinese
Super League club Shanghai Shenhua, the Daily Mail reported.
Drogba,
after winning the Champions League with Chelsea, signed a
two-and-a-half-year contract with the big-spending Chinese club for a
reported weekly salary of 270,000 pounds.
"I decided to come here
because when the club and the president approached me, I looked at the
project and it came with ambitious ideas. He wants to help football
develop in China.
"I know China is a great sports country. So for
me it was also a big challenge because it could have been easy for me
to stay in Europe and go to another team, another big team," Drogba was
quoted as saying.
"Really, I didn't come here with the idea of
making a lot of money. I come here because it is a completely different
challenge from what I have seen in Europe before."
Drogba, who
scored 157 goals in 341 appearances for Chelsea making him the club's
fourth all-time leading scorer, will join former teammate Nicolas
Anelka.
Drogba arrives in China to rousing reception
