Didier Drogba
Drogba could be set to follow Anelka to Asia. REUTERS

Chelsea duo Didier Drogba and Alex are both considering their next steps very carefully this week, with the former being offered a lucrative role at Shanghai Shenhua and the latter currently deciding over whether to make the move to QPR.

Mark Hughes has just come into the fold at Loftus Road, but the Rangers manager has already made it clear that he is targeting Alex to build on his defensive line up and keep the club in the Premier League this season.

Alex handed a transfer request into Chelsea last month, and is definitely set for a move away from Stamford Bridge in January, and Hughes says the 29 year old is now considering his future after QPR put forward a good offer.

"I think talks [with Alex] are ongoing," the former Fulham manager said.

"I spoke to the boy yesterday and went through what we're trying to do here and my feelings towards him as a player.

"I have a huge regard for what he could do for us here. Things have to fall into place before you can get the player over the line. Until I get an update, that's as much as I know."

Meanwhile, Didier Drogba is looking more likely than ever to exit Chelsea this month, with the striker's contract running out with the club in summer, and having refused a new deal on the basis of it only being for another year.

Drogba is widely favoured to make a move to Shanghai, and join fellow former Chelsea teammate Nicolas Anelka at the newly revamped Chinese club.

And though Chelsea had been hoping to hold on to the star, who has been instrumental in the Blues' success over the last eight years, Shanghai believe they can coax him into a deal this week.

"Maybe we can complete a deal before Chinese New Year [January 23]," Shenhua director Zhou Jun said on Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter). .

Chelsea has seen some big changes since Andre Villas-Boas took over the managerial role at the club at the start of last season, with Florent Malouda also considering leaving the side, and a plethora of new faces coming into the fold.

Drogba's possible exit comes on the back of quotes from Carlo Ancelotti yesterday, in which the former Chelsea manager said that for the Blues to get the best out of Fernando Torres, they would need to let the African star go.

"Training Chelsea, when the club is in the middle of a major generational change, is complicated," he explained to Gazzetta Dello Sport.

"Take Torres and the crisis he has lived through there. I now know if you decide to invest strongly in him, you have to sell Drogba.

"Didier is like Filippo Inzaghi was at AC Milan. He simply devours any competition. It's not that he's evil - nor was Inzaghi - it's just the way they are."