Frank Lampard has turned his back on a £20million offer to join former Chelsea team-mates Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka in China.
Mega-rich Chinese Super League club Guizhou Renhe were prepared to break the bank to land the 34-year-old, who will be a free agent in the summer when his contract runs out at Stamford Bridge.
Guizhou Renhe were ready to offer the England midfielder a £250,000-a-week, two-year deal starting in March.
But Lampard could not be tempted to move to China despite Guizhou Renhe stating on their website that the player had agreed to the switch and would be team captain.
A Chinese source said: ‘The contract offered to Lampard was amazing and he would have been treated like a God out there. It would have been a great adventure for him.
‘But although there were a lot of talks, he would never give a definite ‘yes’ and a couple of weeks ago Guizhou Renhe finally gave up.’
LA Galaxy, Manchester United, Juventus, Lazio, Monaco and Fiorentina have all been linked with Lampard.