Hundreds of ecstatic fans greeted the latest global footballing superstar to touch down in China on Saturday, as Didier Drogba arrived in Shanghai to join his new club.
Mr Drogba, whose switch to the Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua has transformed him into one of the highest-paid footballers on earth, was met at Pudong international airport with deafening chants of “Drogba-la-la-la-la-la”. Fans clad in the club’s blue and red strip paraded through the airport waving Ivory Coast flags and photographs of Mr Drogba.
The welcome party then relocated to Shanghai’s glitzy Ritz-Carlton hotel where the former Chelsea striker was officially unveiled amid a blaze of strobe lights and a stirring orchestral soundtrack.
“I am opening a new chapter and the new chapter is Shanghai Shenhua,” Mr Drogba said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
“Believe me, it’s not about money. I’m really happy to be here,” added the Ivory Coast star, whose two-and-a-half year contract at Shanghai Shenhua is reputedly worth nearly £200,000 a week. Good luck man.
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