David Beckham 'unlikely' to sign for China Super League team
Bringing to an end new speculation that the former Manchester United star was considering a move to the Chinese team, Shenhua never approached Beckham and has no plans to import the 37-year-old star.
David Beckham is 'unlikely' to be signed by Chinese top-flight team Shanghai Shenhua, according to a club insider.
Bringing to an end new speculation that the former Manchester United star was considering a move to the Chinese team, Shenhua never approached Beckham and has no plans to import the 37-year-old star, according to a source who was briefed by club boss Zhu Jun about the issue.
English newspapers including the Sunday People and The Mirror reported at the weekend that Beckham, one of the best-known international soccer stars in China, was in talks with Shenhua and was likely to earn as much as GBP 350,000 a week to play in the Chinese Super League. He left LA Galaxy earlier this month.
The team, which is embroiled in an ownership dispute with state-owned shareholders, signed former Chelsea strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka last season.
“It was sheer rumour,” the source said. “Shenhua has no financial strength to sign another superstar.”
Zhu, founder of the Nasdaq-listed gaming firm The9, rose into international prominence in 2012 after he successfully brought the former Chelsea strikers to the Chinese league, offering them multi-million-dollar pay cheques. Shenhua once stopped paying the stars’ salaries in September when Zhu fought with the five state-owned partners for the majority control of the club.
Zhu, who owns a 28.5 per cent stake of Shenhua, asked the state-owned shareholders to either give him full control of the club or inject fresh capital to cover the high operating costs.