Have you ever lived in Shanghai? Have to agree, it's a nice place to visit.
No I havent actually - I dont actually doubt that Shanghai is a great city but my comments are more about how undeveloped football is in China rather than the city.
It will be interesting to see how Anelka does out there and if it raises the profile of Chinese football - we would call the MLS a 2nd rate league but Chinese footy is a million miles behind even that.
I have never actually 'lived' in Shanghai, but have spent over 6 months in hotel rooms there on and off over the years on intermittent business trips so know the city well and know many expats who live there and love it.
As a city, in terms of lifestyle, it has everything that any other major global city like London, New York, Dubai or Sydney may have to offer to offer, and is growing ever more cosmopolitan and multi racial, as it continues to take over influence from Hong Kong as the commercial centre of China. He will live a great life there .... and the matches all around the country will expose him to lots of amazing natural scenery etc. As somebody who has lived in several different countries, that in itself will be rewarding and interesting for him.
I'm sure he is not going there 'to raise the profile of the Chinese League' (neither did Beckham to to US, despite what he said!), but by definition, he will do so. Its great for Chinese football to have a genuinely great player join them .... and like others have said, its financially good news for Chelsea too.
I would think that the team who have bought him is owned by some big industrialist, that financially, this contract will never be a profitable venture for the club, but the owner will have the sheer thrill of having a player of Anelka's calibre playing in his team - the stuff dreams are made of.
Of course the standard of football is very low, and that will present Anelka with a different set of problems, he won't necessarily 'walk it' scoring 4 goals a game, they have to get the ball to him in good positions for him to do anything .... and every side will put 3 players marking him - he may just get hacked to pieces every game - but he will by definition raise the quality of at least players in his team who will get to train with him, see his training regime as well as his skills. He will leave behind a positive legacy as well as become an icon in China.
Given he has not 'forced the move' and leaves Chavski with their best wishes, as well as it being his last move of a monumental career zigzagging across the entirety of Europe, I certainly don't bemoan him this move or think its a waste of his talent. Good on him. Its a great way for him to end his career with one last great adventure.
