Former Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has claimed today his former strike partner Didier Drogba will join up with him in China if all goes well.

Nicolas Anelka joined Shanghai Shenhua in January after falling out of favour with Andre Villas-Boas. It has been suggested that Didier Drogba could also head to china after talks over a 1 year contract extension at the Bridge stalled.

Anelka has today stated “I often contact him (Drogba). If all goes well he should be able to come to Shanghai”. Drogba’s current deal at Stamford Bridge is due to expire this summer meaning the Ivory Coast forward could move to China on a free transfer.

This comes just 2 weeks after Zhu Jun, Shanghai’s Chief Investor, declared the clubs chances of pulling of the Drogba deal as “slim“. He also stated talks with Drogba’s agent have not gone well, apparently stalling over the Ivorian’s demands.

He continued to state, when the deal could not be completed in the winter the deal become more complicated. He stated when Drogba becomes a free agent more clubs will enter the fray which will make it harder to persuade him to join Shanghai.

He ended by stating the Chinese Super League club would not give up their pursuit of Drogba until July.

Didier Drogba has seemed to be the preferred choice under Andre Villas-Boas and has stated his desire to stay at Chelsea despite the club only offering a 12-month extension to his current deal rather than the 2 year extension he covets.

The comments made by Anelka would make it seem a deal is already done, however, Didier Drogba’s comments in an interview for Sky Sports recently suggests otherwise.

He stated he “everybody knows I want to stay at Chelsea. Everybody knows my heart is blue.” He continued, “If I sign a new contract with Chelsea I’m blue, if I sign somewhere else I’m blue”. His love for Chelsea is evident in this interview in which he claims his desire to win the Champions League with Chelsea is what drives him and winning it elsewhere would not be the same.

He also dropped a revelation that one day he would like to be Chelsea manager stating “It would be interesting to be Chelsea manager. I love the club and always want to help the people I love so why not?”

With his future still uncertain and his apparent desire to stay at Chelsea I wonder whether the talk of a move to China is more out of hope rather than expectation for Anelka. As Chelsea look to build for the future can they afford to offer Drogba the contract he wants and continue to build the team around a 34 year old centre forward?

The decision taken on Drogba will show whether Chelsea are a club looking forward or a club stuck in the past.