BEIJING, Aug 28: Former Chelsea strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka could be sold by China’s Shanghai Shenhua due to an escalating equity stake row among shareholders, local media reported.

Chairman Zhu Jun, who holds a 28.5 per cent stake, would only pay his share of the club’s daily costs if his demands for greater control were not met, said the China Daily.

Zhu currently controls the Chinese Super League club along with five state-owned enterprises after becoming a shareholder in 2007.

The agreement was that if he invested $23.6 million over two years, his stake would increase to more than 70 percent, the newspaper reported.

The Oriental Sports Daily reported that Zhu had ploughed more than $94 million into the club in the past five-and-a-half years, while the state-owned companies had spent nothing. The transfer of shares stalled in 2009 and again last year, a source said.

The futures of Drogba and Anelka could be in the balance if Shenhua fail to make their salary payments.—Reuters