Chinese Super League Spending HUGE Money To Become Major Soccer Power
By Ty Duffy
The Chinese Super League is throwing serious money around the soccer transfer market.
Aspiring super club Jiangsu Suning bought Brazilian midfielders Ramires from Chelsea for $36 million and Alex Teixeira from Shaktar Donetsk for $56 million. According to a report today, they also tried to land Oscar from Chelsea for $108 million.
Columbian striker Jackson Martinez moved to Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao from Atletico Madrid for $45 million. Ivory Coast and Roma star Gervinho moved to Hebei China Fortune FC for $20 million. All of the aforementioned players are still in their 20s.
Those, of course, are just the transfer fees. Manchester City star Yaya Toure may have a $43 million per year deal after taxes to move this summer. The same report suggested Wayne Rooney declined $36 million per year to leave Manchester United and John Terry could earn $29 million per year when he leaves this summer.
These are bold moves for a league that started in 2004 and has been best known for match-fixing.
It’s not clear whether this trickle of players will become a flood. But, players generally don’t want to move mid-season or before major tournaments (Euro 2016 and Copa America Centenario this summer). That’s moving between clubs in the same leagues. Moving continents to China is a bigger undertaking. That move may look more attractive in July/August.
The targets being South American and African players may not be a coincidence. They don’t have the same local ties European players to do. They play there because it’s the highest level of competition. But, it’s the highest level of competition because that’s where the money is. Players aren’t flocking to the English Midlands for the food and the weather.
It’s also hard to disentangle state and private industries in China. South America and Africa are two areas China has been projecting political and economic power.
This Chinese Super League aggressiveness may have a knock-on effect for MLS. Los Angeles FC, undoubtedly, will want a big star when the club launches in 2018. Does Cristiano Ronaldo still come if a Chinese club is offering to pay him more than 10 times as much factoring in taxes?