Former England Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has lured Argentine footballer Dario Conca "back to the Chinese Super League," his club Shanghai SIPG said on Wednesday, on a deal reported to be worth almost $11M a year, according to the AFP. The club said, "Conca will arrive in Shanghai soon and will be formally signed after a medical."
Conca returns to China "after only a year at Brazilian club Fluminense." He is the latest in a series of signings by Eriksson, "who has been building up Shanghai since he became coach in November" on a deal reportedly worth up to $6M a year (AFP, 1/29). XINHUA reported Conca said that "money was not the main factor in his decision to return to the Chinese league." The 32-year-old midfielder, who played for Guangzhou Evergrande between '11-13, said that "he agreed to the move not simply for the lucrative offer from Shanghai SIPG, but also because of Fluminense's delay in paying his image rights fee."
Conca said that if the club "had been financially healthy after Unimed parted ways with Fluminense in the end of 2014, the negotiations for his transfer would have been more complicated." Conca: "Certainly (the reason for my departure is) the internal problems, some things that happen within the club, make me consider departure as the best way. If I had a better plan provided by Fluminense, it would be more difficult for me to accept the transfer" (XINHUA, 1/28).