High hopes as Shenhua welcomes Drogba

Drogba announced last month he had signed with the big-spending club until 2014, joining his former Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka who started with the team in January.

The striker will arrive on Saturday morning and meet fans at a match against third-ranked Beijing Guoan that evening. A Shenhua official revealed that Drogba would not play however.

Shenhua has an away game against Guangzhou Fuli on July 21 but there is speculation Drogba might only take to the field for the first time in a friendly match against Manchester United on July 25.

Shenhua is reportedly paying $A314,000 a week to Drogba, 34, who is fresh from leading Chelsea to its long-awaited victory in the Champions League.

Despite having Anelka, Shenhua won just three matches out of 16 in the Chinese Super League, which has 16 clubs.

Shenhua is one of several Chinese clubs to have gone on a spending spree on foreign players and managers in a bid to raise its game, as the league attempts to shrug off years of damaging corruption scandals.

After a poor start to the season, however, Shenhua sacked French coach Jean Tigana and replaced him with former Argentina national manager Sergio Batista, after briefly naming Anelka as "player-coach".

Batista said shortly after Drogba's signing was announced that he was hopeful Shenhua could climb into the top three by season's end in November.