Shenhua challenge Drogba's move
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, January 31, 2013
Shanghai Shenhua, smarting from Didier Drogba's move to Turkey's Galatasaray, yesterday vowed to defend the club's interests, claiming that it was gathering evidence and will submit the findings to soccer's world governing body FIFA.
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Didier Drogba, right, of Shanghai Shenhua goes past a Shandong Luneng player during their Chinese Super League game in Jinan, East China's Shandong province, Aug 25 file photo. [Photo/Xinhua] |
The Chinese Super League club insisted that the Ivory Coast striker was still a Shenhua player.
Shenhua said it was not informed about the transfer until the Turkish club updated its website at 2:10am (Beijing time) on Tuesday and accused Galatasaray of violating Shenhua's contract with Drogba.
"The club is deeply shocked by Galatasaray Football Club's violation of rules by contacting a player still under contract," the Shanghai club said in a statement on its website yesterday.
"Currently, Drogba is still a player of Shanghai Shenhua Football Club, and the contract between both parties is still within the term of validity," it added of the deal which saw Drogba sign a 2-1/2 year contract last July, following his move from English Premier League Chelsea.
Despite the stringent note struck by the club, insiders say that Shenhua was only angling for some compensation as the departure of the star striker had become an inevitability since end of the CSL season last November. Earlier, Drogba's Shenhua teammate, Frenchman Nicolas Anelka, signed a contract with Italian Serie A giant Juventus.
Drogba agreed an 18-month deal with the Istanbul side on Monday and, according to European media, the deal includes a 6 million euro (US$8 million) transfer fee, a salary of 15,000 euros per match and 4 million euros in signing-on fee.
Meanwhile, Galatasaray football agent Ceylan Caliskan revealed that Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, who coached Drogba at Chelsea, had a hand in convincing the striker to make the move, according to Turkish-Football.com "Drogba showed me the message he received from Mourinho. Mourinho advised him to go one of three clubs, AC Milan, Schalke or Galatasaray," he said.
Caliskan also revealed that Drogba hadn't been paid in three months in China and he had a clause giving him the right to terminate his contract in the case of non-payment of wages.
"Following the termination of his contract we stepped up efforts to sign him," Caliskan added. "We signed Drogba on a free contract. We didn't sign him from Shanghai Shenhua."
The story, however, contradicts Shenhua's version as the club claimed on Tuesday that it had fulfilled all payment commitments to the Ivorian striker and did not owe him anything.
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