Didier Drogba rode into China with hopes of changing Chinese football. “I think I have a little bit of experience — I come here to share that experience and some knowledge,” he said back in July.
Given the chance on a different team, he might have succeeded, and we might be writing a different story. But in Shanghai, under a bullheaded chairman who, at one time, threatened to pull his investment in FC Shenhua, Drogba’s time in China has been nothing short of disappointing.
And now he’s gone.
Drogba confirmed on Monday that he’s leaving for Turkey, where his new club, Galatasaray, has a spot in the Champions League. Through a PR company, he announced, “I am looking forward to playing in the Champions League again, against the best clubs in Europe.”
His well-compensated Shanghai running mate, Nicolas Anelka, 33, is set to leave as well. Le Sulk is currently on loan with Juventus, and it’s highly unlikely he’ll return to Shanghai.
Shenhua’s third big off-season foreign acquisition, 33-year-old Joel Griffiths (formerly of Beijing Guo’an), left the club in December for Sydney FC. The Griffiths signing didn’t have a tenth of the buzz as Anelka’s and Drogba’s, but as I wrote here in March, “No one expects him to outscore a healthy Anelka over the course of the season, but I for one wouldn’t be surprised if he outplayed him.” Well, it turns out that in seven fewer appearances, Griffiths did outscore Anelka, five goals to three.
Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl that FC Shenhua’s crazy chairman, Zhu Jun, may move the team out of the city. Via Shanghaiist:
As if that weren’t enough drama for Shenhua, rumors swirled late last month that team chairman Zhu Jun threatened to ditch Anelka, Drogba, and head coach Sergio Batista during a shareholders meeting. Insiders also say Zhu went as far as to claim he would move the club to another city.
James Griffiths (no relation to Joel), who keeps a good watch of his city’s team, points out that Shenhua would do much better to distribute its largesse to local players. He’s right. It takes more than a few big-name foreigners to build a successful team, and for the price of one Anelka or Drogba — who was the highest-paid player in Chinese Super League history at more than $300,000 a week — a squad could buy itself a very solid midfield.
And finally, the moment of truth: what difference did Drogba, Anelka, and Griffiths make in their brief season in Shanghai? A one-point improvement from the season before. One. Shenhua finished 8-8-14, ninth place in the 16-team CSL.
UPDATE, 1/30, 1:07 am:
As Didier #Drogba joins #Galatasaray, his contract with Shanghai Shenhua is still valid. Shenhua is preparing to report to #FIFA #ESPN
— TencentSportsさん (@TencentSports) 2013年1月30日
It just shows how little faith those higher up have in those below them. Or in their ability to actually do anything useful with it. Instead of getting semi-retired players from Europe they could’ve spent their money and energy improving the city for kids to play football. There are way too few football fields per capita, and a lot of talent <1.95m is wasted on basketball fields which are more plentiful.
What really needs to happen though is a professional organization of amateur leagues both in cities and within provinces. Top amateur tiers can play interprovincial matches. Professional clubs can then approach and sign amateur talent in their province and include them in their youth system. Riight now amateur matches are just not organized properly, and almost all of it is recreational. Which is fine when they're all 30-year olds who just want to have fun. But for those under 20 you really need to have a proper system.
As for local club vs. school teams: Systems based on schooling like in the USA are too susceptible to corruption in China, since parents of poorer students may try to get their kid into good universities on football scholarships. This way real talent will be wasted and only a mix of corrupt shit and lesser shit will float into the CSL and national team. Besides, love for football starts on the street, so if kids need to get in touch with football at a later age (via school) it's already too late.