Blackburn's Yakubu set to join Chinese club Guangzhou R&F

Blackburn Rovers striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni is set to join the Chinese Super League (CSL) side Guangzhou R&F, a club official confirmed on Tuesday.

"We are in final talk with him, and the negotiation is almost done," Lu Yi, vice president of Guangzhou R&F club, told Xinhua.

"The job is 99 percent done. If nothing goes wrong with the final one percent, Yakubu will arrive at Guangzhou this week, and we started doing the registration in the Chinese league for him," he added.

Blackburn Rovers have been relegated after a disappointing Premier League season despite the 17 goals the 29-year-old Nigerian scored for the team.

The club's top scorer ranked a joint fourth at the Premier League scoring board, after Arsenal's Van Persie, Manchester United's Rooney and Manchester city's Aguero.

Yakubu demanded an escape clause when Blackburn Rovers signed him from Everton last season, therefore Guangzhou may bring him to China with a great bargain.

"The club still have to pay an estimated 6 million euros a year to the Nigerian," a source close to the club told Xinhua.

Lu refused to give any detail of the contract.

"I can't say anything about the contract now," he said. "Two months ago, we began to contact with Blackburn and the player. He has been our first choice in the position of center forward."

Newly promoted Guangzhou R&F are currently third in CSL table, five points behind league leaders and city rivals Guangzhou Evergrande, who have become headlines with the acquisition of Italian coach Marcello Lippi and Dortmund striker Lucas Barrios.

China's mid-season transfer window opened on Monday, with Barrios joining Guangzhou Evergrande and Chelsea striker Didier Drogba close to Shanghai Shenhua.

Not so famous as Drogba and Barrios, Yakubu has been a scoring machine in the English premier league and national team. He scored 114 goals in 10 years at the English league since he joined Portsmouth in 2002. He has been a regular for the Nigerian national team since 2000 and scored 21 goals in 54 appearances.

"I believe Yakubu is the one we need most," said Lu. "He has a good reputation and his ability has been tested in the world's most competitive league."