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

Unlike Shanghai teammate Nicolas Anelka’s rather tepid Chinese Super League debut, Didier Drogba made quite the impact yesterday in his first CSL match. Coming on as a sub after halftime, Drogba’s first touch of the ball was a 40-yard free kick that AFP aptly described as “outrageous” (video of this strike appears after the jump). The former Chelsea striker would go on to set up his team’s only goal, a beautiful through-ball into the box that teammate Cao Yunding converts in the 68th minute, to help Shenhua earn an away draw vs. Guangzhou R&F.

A video of game highlights is after the jump, along with Youku videos for those in China.

Ridiculous free kick:

Game highlights:

I should mention that the ubiquity of the “shabi” (or “SB” on the Internets) chant in China probably means the real translation should be “asshole,” as “cunt” seems to be on a different tier of offensiveness in American English. But I’ve chosen to go with the literal translation, just because. (In the interest of fairness, we should point out that if a star player arrived in Beijing, Guo’an fans here would chant “Shenhua SB” as well.)

Didier Drogba arrived in Shanghai yesterday. FC Shenhua fans went to the airport at 5 am to welcome him, and went nuts when his plane landed at 8 am. The former Chelsea star said he’s here to help Shenhua win a championship, ignoring the fact that Shenhua kind of sucks, currently ranked 12 of 16 in the standings.

Wild East Football was at Pudong Airport yesterday, and reports:

Shenhua supporters had been waiting for up to an hour and a half, virtually taking over the line 2 metro out to Pudong Airport, which takes around an hour to reach from the centre of Shanghai. They carried Ivory Coast Flags, Shenhua banners and custom made “Welcome to Shanghai” banners for the new king of Hongkou.

“Didier Drogba, la-la-la-la-la” and “Shenhua are champions” were some of the chants  sung by the fans, who broke into a chorus of “Guoan SB” on several occasions to insult their old rivals who they play tonight in the China Derby.

Fan optimism is so cute. With Frederic Kanoute, the 2007 African Footballer of the Year, now in Beijing — wearing No. 11, just like Drogba in Shanghai — we think the China Derby has become all the more fascinating and intense.

Too bad Shenhua and Guo’an don’t play again this season. The two teams clashed last night for the second and final time, with Drogba in the stands. This Beijing fan is sad to report that Shenhua won 3-1, splitting the season series (Guo’an won 3-2 on March 16 in Nicolas Anelka’s debut). Highlights are here (YouTube, Youku). Incredibly, Guo’an — currently No. 3 in the Chinese Super League — has yet to win at Hongkou, Shenhua’s home stadium, so I suppose the result shouldn’t have been too surprising.

Shanghai FC Shenhua has a problem with prima donnas, specifically one Nicolas Anelka, currently the highest paid player in the Chinese Super League. Last month, according to the Telegraph, he threatened to quit the team, whining, “If there is still no one to support me and (they) continue to play little tricks behind my back… then I will quickly decide whether or not to retire.” A little earlier, according to Wild East Football, Anelka said at a press conference, “In my opinion, the most important area in football is the midfield, if Drogba comes, and no-one can pass to him, then that is no use.” He spared no potshots for his current teammates: “They are too young and their experience is not enough. Our tactical problems need to be solved, these are the reasons why we are not scoring goals… I’m amazed by Chinese football, there is quite a gap with the European game, such things can only be improved through better training.”

Things aren’t likely to get less dramatic now that Shenhua is expected to ink Drogba to a contract that will make him the new highest paid player in the CSL. (That won’t make things awkward with Le Sulk, not at all.) But the signing process has been… frustrating. According to ESPN:

Shanghai Shenhua owner Zhu Jun is confident that Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will announce his arrival at the Chinese club in the coming days.

…

“You should ask this question to Drogba’s management,” Zhu Jun told reporters asking when the announcement would come. “We have put in great effort for nearly half a year and particularly last week, when we met with his management team to reach a unanimous agreement on some crucial points.

“As of this morning, things are developing in the right direction, but I don’t know if Drogba will announce he is joining us today. Right now, I really don’t know. Maybe I can give you all an answer tomorrow, maybe we need to wait a few more days. Who knows?”

Well, that’s good. Who knows? Let us all wait, like the boss himself — the man who will be paying this 34-year-old, on-the-decline player a reported 888,000 RMB per week.

But… what are we waiting for, exactly?

The video game magnate who runs the free-spending football club is just waiting for Drogba to announce his future via his personal official website.

This website. When the day comes, there better be sprinkles, flash explosions, and, like, twenty pop-up ads for free ice cream and mp3 downloads. Otherwise, Shanghai fans and management will have been held hostage to the whims of a star football player’s personal website webmaster. 

UPDATE, 6/20, 10:52 pm:

Sure enough:

One month after sealing Chelsea’s victory in the European Champions League final, Didier Drogba signed with Shanghai Shenhua on a two-year contract that will reportedly make him China’s highest-paid player.

Shanghai confirmed the signing on Wednesday, and Drogba said on his website he will join the Chinese Super League team in the country’s financial hub next month.

No details were given on Shanghai’s offer, although local media reported the club was willing to pay as much as $15 million per year.

[Associated Press]