On the morning of July 22, Rachel Fraser, the spokesman for Ivory Coast's star Didier Drogba, issued an official statement, confirming that Warcraft is saying goodbye to Blackburn Rover, where he has played for 11 years. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

"I want to put an end to all speculation about where I'm going and confirm that I'm leaving Blackburn. It was a difficult decision for me to make, but I'm still proud of what I've achieved at Blackburn. We've had great achievements, we've enjoyed many great moments and it's a very special moment for all the members of Blackburn Rovers and all the team supporters to play here. ”

"I've considered Blackburn Rovers my home for the last 11 years and I'm definitely proud to have been able to lift so many trophies with the team I love. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Blackburn Rovers, especially Mr. Arthur Walker and my team-mates, many of whom have become and will remain friends of mine for life. I would like to say a special thank you to the Blackburn Rovers supporters who have given me so much love and support over the years. I hope everything goes well for the team and create more brilliance in the future, you will always be in my heart! ”

The veteran striker parted ways with Blackburn Rovers with affectionate words and thanked all the fans for their support, and his countless iconic moments at Ewood Park and the Rose Theatre will forever remain in the hearts of Blackburn fans.

On the night of Drogba's statement, Blackburn's official website confirmed that "Warcraft" Drogba did not renew his contract with Blackburn, in order to thank Drogba for his contribution to the club in the past 11 years, the club will end the contract that was originally due to end on June 30 next year half a year early, so that Drogba can leave Blackburn ahead of schedule and end his 11 and a half years Blackburn career.

Since Drogba joined Blackburn Rovers in 2000 for less than a million pounds, it now seems to be almost free, and in the following 11 seasons, Drogba has helped Blackburn Rovers win brilliant victories and lift trophies one after another.

In the past two seasons, the number of appearances and goals scored by the aged Drogba has decreased to varying degrees, but he still left fans with many memorable moments, such as a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion, an assist hat-trick against Wigan Athletic, 100 league goals against Stoke City, and a powerful goal that brought Blackburn back to life in the final league game against Manchester United.

As Blackburn's legendary goalscorer Larsson said: "In all of Blackburn's big games, Didier Drogba has been able to play a vital role. ”

There are two reasons why Drogba chose to leave Blackburn, who has been with him for 11 years, and also deliberately chose to leave the club in the winter transfer window next season.

The first is that after the 2012 and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations were held in successive years, Drogba was desperate to win an Africa Cup of Nations trophy for Ivory Coast, knowing that he had already won all the club trophies and knowing that the Hercules Cup was hopeless.

Due to the geographical location, the Africa Cup of Nations is held during the Premier League's winter transfer period, so Drogba wants to help Blackburn Rovers as much as possible while maintaining his competitive form, so it is the most appropriate time to choose to leave the team at the beginning of the winter transfer period.

On the one hand, if Suarez is unable to integrate into the team next season, Drogba will have plenty of time for Suarez to adapt in the first half of the season.

If Drogba chooses to leave the team at the end of his contract next year, then Blackburn Rovers must also pay Drogba, who will leave the team for at least a month because of his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations, and this kind of "paid leave" is not liked by any company.

In addition to the consideration of the Africa Cup of Nations and Blackburn, another reason why Drogba chose to leave in the winter transfer period is because the team he wants to go to is a team from the Chinese Super League, and the new season of the Chinese Super League starts in March every year, exactly one month after the end of the Africa Cup of Nations.

At the moment, Drogba has quite a few teams to choose from in the Chinese Super League.

One of them is Shanghai Shenhua, where Drogba played in his previous life.

It can be said that since Anelka joined the Shenhua team, the whole Shenhua club has been trying to include Drogba under his team. According to The Sun, although Blackburn Rovers are willing to offer Drogba a one-year, £100,000-a-week contract extension, Warcraft have refused to renew Blackburn. In contrast, Shanghai Shenhua have offered Drogba a two-year contract with a total salary of up to £20 million.

The Sun believes that the sky-high two-year contract of up to 20 million pounds offered by Shanghai Shenhua is almost impossible for Drogba to refuse.

It's just that compared with Shanghai Shenhua, which played in the previous life, Drogba currently has a better choice in front of him, Guangzhou Evergrande!

Two months ago, Guangzhou Evergrande held a press conference to officially announce that Italian coach Lippi took office to replace Li Zhangzhu as head coach, and Lippi will sign a two-and-a-half-year contract with Evergrande. At the press conference, Lippi confirmed that his contract with Evergrande expires at the end of 2014 and said that he hopes to renew it after it expires.

At the press conference, Liu Yongzhuo, chairman of Evergrande, introduced that he began to contact Lippi in October last year, when Lippi had no plan to return to football, and proposed to the club that he wanted to observe for a period of time; In March this year, Lippi took the initiative to express his confidence in the future development of Evergrande and expressed his willingness to coach the Evergrande team; At the beginning of May, Evergrande officially launched the change of leadership, and Professor Xu Jiayin, chairman of the board of directors of Evergrande Group, decided to change the leadership. Then Xu Jiayin and Lippi walked to the front desk, and under the witness of all the media on the scene, Xu Jiayin presented Lippi with a certificate of appointment as the head coach. At this point, Lippi officially became the head coach of Guangzhou Evergrande.

Regarding this blockbuster change of coach, Xu Jiayin said: "The change of coach is a strategic decision of the company, not a sudden change of coach, and Lippi has been in contact for almost a year, and the official change of coach was only confirmed in early May this year." ”

When asked whether the change of coach will affect the team, Xu Jiayin said: "The game is not to play one game, and it will take 3-5 years to achieve the AFC Champions League." ”

For the former coach Lee Jang-so, Xu Jiayin showed his reluctance, he bluntly said that Lee Jang-so was the biggest hero of the team, but he had to be replaced from the company's development strategy. Xu Jiayin expressed his confidence in Lippi, and bluntly said that Lippi has a world-class concept, the world's highest level, ability and personal charm, and he will soon be able to lead the team to a new level.

Lippi said at the press conference that he had rejected invitations from Europe and Qatar, knowing that Evergrande's goal was to win the AFC Champions League, and he felt that this was the team he wanted to coach. Regarding the replacement of foreign players, Lippi said that he decided after observation, and Xu Jiayin expressed his support for the coaching staff. Lippi also mentioned that the increasing number of big-name players coming to China is not just for money. At the same time, he also said that he has watched many of Evergrande's Super League AFC Champions League games, and has known all the Evergrande players, knows their numbers, and needs to know their names.

Lippi said his contract expires in November 2014 and he hopes to renew his contract with the club at that time. Lippi also said that he would officially start work this afternoon, and when it came to why he joined Evergrande, Lippi said that he was impressed by Xu Jiayin's personal charm.

In this life, Evergrande was able to reach a cooperation with Lippi, and Arthur's Blackburn naturally played the role of a "matchmaker" in it, and as soon as Lippi became Evergrande, he announced the need for a top powerful center.

A strong center?

Evergrande was looking for the powerful center forward according to Lippi's request, and when Lippi gave the name of his former disciple Drogba, Liu Yongzhuo crossed out all the lists that his team had drawn up before.

Compared with Drogba, what Elkeson, what Dejan, is not worth mentioning at all, and compared with those foreign aid who need a lot of transfer fees, Drogba does not need a penny of Evergrande's fee, and the gambling factor is minimized.

In fact, Lippi "hand-picked" Drogba, and Drogba announced that he would leave Blackburn Rovers in January next year, all of which Arthur signaled to Monchi's team to operate behind the scenes.

On the one hand, Arthur hopes that in the future, he can use Lippi to manipulate Evergrande to introduce foreign aid, so as to lay out the transfer of foreign aid to the entire Chinese Super League, on the other hand, he also hopes to find a suitable home for the Blackburn veteran, who enjoys super high wages and benefits in the last few years of his career, and this time Drogba is the most preliminary attempt.

There are all kinds of signs that the time for Drogba to land in the Chinese Super League seems to be getting closer and closer. And the completion of the first step of Arthur's Super League plan is getting closer and closer.

After sending off Drogba, Blackburn Rovers are ready to bring in Andrea Pirlo, a superstar in the twilight years of football who is also at the end of his career.

Having said goodbye to AC Milan, where is Pirlo headed?

Andrea Pirlo finally said goodbye to AC Milan on Wednesday, who had been with him for 10 years, but he didn't say where his next stop would be at the time, and fans were inevitably suspicious, but in Italy, Pirlo's future has long been "written".

Timothy, editor of the 19th Century, revealed yesterday that Juventus had been in contact with Pirlo as early as the beginning of April, and the two sides had already reached an agreement that as long as Pirlo left AC Milan, Turin would be his only place to go. It is also because of Pirlo's guarantee that Juventus can pay up to 10 million euros for Aquilani and will never buy him out for 16 million.

Last week's edition of AC Milan Sport gave more details. According to the newspaper, Andrea Pirlo will travel to Turin as soon as next week to undergo a medical examination by Juventus, and if all goes well, the contract could be signed on the same day, after which Pirlo will appear in a Juventus shirt. Pirlo will therefore become a rare star who has played in the traditional top three like his coach Baggio, but Baggio went from Juventus to AC Milan to Inter AC Milan, and Pirlo's path is just the opposite.

Regarding the content of the contract, AC Milan Sport said that Juventus will sign Pirlo until 2014, with an annual salary of 2.5 million euros after tax, in addition to some bonuses depending on the team's results and Pirlo's performance. This is roughly in line with the 4 million annual income previously revealed by the newspaper, except that a considerable part of it will be paid in the form of bonuses.

However, just when everything seemed to be settled, everything suddenly changed, because Ancelotti, as a former mentor, personally came to Pirlo's home last weekend, naturally hoping that Pirlo would join.

Blackburn, or Juventus?

For a moment, Pirlo's belonging became confusing again.

In terms of strength alone, Blackburn is obviously stronger than Juventus, and Arthur is much more generous than the Agnelli family in terms of salary.

However, in the end, the Blackburn transfer team, who have been invincible in recent years, suffered from Pirlo.

The reason for this is simple, in fact, the reason for Pirlo's decision to leave AC Milan was not a financial problem, but the main disagreement was that Allegri preferred to use purely defensive players as a central midfielder, such as Ambrosini and Van Bommel last season, and Pirlo had to rely on the "side" in his plan, as he did in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

Although Pirlo could have played well in that position, Pirlo himself insisted on continuing his more familiar role as a playmaker, so the two sides eventually had to part.

In a previous interview, AC Milan coach Allegri gave a similar explanation: "Pirlo? Sometimes you have to choose according to your needs, but it's hard to satisfy both the club and the players......" Allegri said euphemistically, admitting that it was his choice that made Pirlo decide to leave.

At Juventus, though, Andrea Pirlo will be able to continue to play his role as the brain. Antonio Conte, who will become the new coach of the Old Lady next season, has publicly stated that he is willing to change his style of play for Andrea Pirlo.

Conte played a 4-4-2 formation in Siena last season, but Pirlo is more accustomed to the central position in the three-man midfield, so that someone can help him share the defensive tasks, so Conte signaled that he will not stick to the 4-4-2 rule, he can change to 4-3-1-2, so that Diarra and Marchisio are separated from Pirlo left and right "escort", it is Juventus's "respect" that has been recognized by Pirlo.

And Blackburn is impossible to give Pirlo such "respect", because compared with Juventus, who lacks a major general, Blackburn can be qualified to organize the back of the stars too much, especially Alonso, although compared with Pirlo, but if Pirlo joins Blackburn, he can only be used as a substitute for the veteran who has played for Blackburn for more than 11 seasons.

In Arthur's Blackburn, you don't like the new and hate the old.

After failing to "pick up" Pirlo, Blackburn announced that the transfer door was completely closed this summer, and Ancelotti ushered in the smoothest summer transfer since Arthur became Blackburn, and finally could breathe a sigh of relief.

……

2011-12 Blackburn Rovers squad (26):

Goalkeepers: Cech, Tom White, Butland

Defenders: Ashley Cole, Baines, Kompany, Vermaelen, Phil Jones, Martin Taylor, Raphael Varane, Branislav Ivanovic, Darmian

Midfielders: Duff, Bale, Alonso, Cambiaso, Lampard, Mesut Ozil, James Rodriguez, Bentley, Flamini

Forwards: Drogba, Torres, Owen, Hernandez, Suarez (to be continued.) )