Jean Tigana set to join Nicolas Anelka at Shanghai Shenhua

Nicolas Anelka (right) poses with his new shirt and Shanghai Shenhua club investor Zhu Jun after signing a two-year deal (Reuters)

Former French international Jean Tigana will land in Shanghai on Saturday to put the finishing touches to a deal which will see him manage Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua, the club told Reuters today.

Tigana, who has managed in France, England and Turkey, quit as coach of Bordeaux earlier this year, and is now expected to steer the Chinese side who earlier this week announced the signing of Chelsea's French striker Nicola Anelka.

"Jean Tigana will arrive in Shanghai ... and we will have final talks with him on the details of his contract," club spokesman Ma Yue said by telephone.

"His coaching contract will be for one year because that was what he had proposed during initial talks.

"If the results on the field are good, we will be talking about an extension. He will bring in his own coaching team for this assignment."

Ma said he did not anticipate there being any problems or barriers to Tigana signing up, and that he was expected to be formally announced on Sunday.

Earlier this week Shanghai unveiled Anelka as their striker on a deal reported to be worth in the region of $300,000 per week for two years.

Club director Zhou Jun also told Reuters the ambitious outfit were working to pull off another major transfer coup by signing his Chelsea team mate Didier Drogba.

"It's like with the opening up of China," Zhou said near the club's Pudong training ground. "We needed to bring in the good stuff from foreign countries for us to learn from."

Shanghai finished a lowly 11th in the league last season, but the club has the financial muscle of internet tycoon and club owner Zhu Jun behind them and are showing they can compete with anyone in the transfer market.

Reuters