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Anelka poses with Shanghai Shenhua shirt

Striker Nicolas Anelka will join Shanghai Shenhua in January on a two-year contract after the Chinese club agreed a deal with Chelsea.

The 32-year-old was Avram Grant's first signing at Stamford Bridge in January 2008 and has scored 59 goals in 185 appearances for the London club.

His contract with Chelsea runs out in the summer and he had a transfer request accepted last week.

SPOTLIGHT ON SHENHUA First football club in China to be independent of government

Well-known former players include Ruben Sosa, Carsten Jancker and Jorg Albertz

Former Crystal Palace, Dundee and Cardiff player Fan Zhiyi began his career there in mid-nineties

Hongkou Stadium has capacity of 35,000 and staged final of the 2007 Fifa Women's World Cup

Shenhua have already put a picture of Anelka on the front of their website.

Anelka, who joined Chelsea in a £15m switch from Bolton, has been training apart from the first team since manager Andre Villas-Boas accepted his transfer request.

The Frenchman has scored only one goal in 15 games this season, with Didier Drogba, Daniel Sturridge and Fernando Torres preferred to him in attack.

ANELKA'S £86.8m TRANSFERS Feb 97: Arsenal (£0.5m)

Aug 99: Real Madrid (£22.3m)

Jul 00: PSG (£22m)

Jun 02: Man City (£12m)

Jan 05: Fenerbahce (£7m)

Aug 06: Bolton (£8m)

Jan 08: Chelsea (£15m)

Shanghai Shenhua finished 11th external-link out of 16 teams in the Chinese league last season.

They are determined to win the league and have already signed Brazilian forwards Cleo and Muriqui, as well as being linked with manager Jean Tigana and a host of other high-profile players, including Anelka's Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba.