China spending more money than the Premier League
TRANSFER TALK
Another player goes to China amid stories emanating from the country that the Chinese government are going to stamp down on clubs burning money on players.
This time it is 29-year-old (30 in April) Chelsea and Nigeria international midfielder John Obi Mikel who has joined Tianjin TEDA on a free transfer for a reported wage of £140,000-a-week.
People wonder why we don't sign players, why we don't throw money at them, Ezequiel Lavezzi was a former PSG player we were interested in, but he showed money was his driving force by going to China. That isn't the sort of mentality we need at the club.
President Xi Jinping is pushing hard to turn China into a footballing power and the Chinese Super League in their winter window spent more than the Premier League did last January. In total, they spent £283.09 million (€331m - AUS$477.42m - US$349.41m).
It was also more than the other four top-tier European leagues combined - Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundesliga, the Primera Division in Spain and France’s Ligue 1.
He joins, to name a few:
- Oscar (Shanghai SIPG £51m)
- Hulk (Shanghai SIPG £47.43m)
- Alex Teixeira (Jiangsu Suning £42.50m)
- Jackson Martinez (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao £35.70m)
- Ramirez (Jiangsu Suning £23.80m)
- Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian £17m)
- Elkeson (Shanghai SIPG £15.30m)
- Gervinho (Hebei China Fortune £15.30m)
- Graziano Pellè (Shandong Luneng Taishan £12.79m)
- Ricardo Goulart (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao £12.75m)
- Paulinho (Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao £11.90m)
- Demba Ba (Shanghai Greenland Shenhua £11.05m)
- Fredy Guarin (Shanghai Greenland Shenhua £11.05m)
- Carlos Tevez (Shanghai Greenland Shenhua £8.93m)
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