Drogba rejected offer from Juventus worth more than £4million

Didier Drogba rejected a deadline day offer from Juventus worth more than £4million a year to stay in China. There has been intense speculation over Drogba’s future at Shanghai Shenhua since a dispute between the club’s owners became public last week.

The Ivory Coast international, who left Chelsea as a free agent in the summer, agreed a contract worth £200,000 a week but Shanghai’s chairman Zhu Jun threatened to stop paying the striker’s salary unless the club increased his stake to 70 per cent.

Juventus tested the 34-year-old’s resolve to stay there, with sources in France claiming he was offered a two-year contract on the final day of the transfer window which would have made him their second highest paid player behind Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

The Serie A champions were prepared to pay him around £76,000-a-week, plus a bonus of £400,000 if he played in 70 per cent of matches.

However, Drogba rejected the deal so Juventus signed Nicklas Bendtner on loan from Arsenal, only to publicly admit that the Dane was not their first choice.

Drogba is on international duty ­preparing for Ivory Coast’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Senegal tomorrow but significantly wrote a ­message to Shanghai’s supporters on his personal weibo account earlier this week. He said: “Hello to the fans. I am in the Ivory Coast for the African Cup of Nations eliminator. See you soon.”