Chinese football clubs have had "their biggest-spending winter ever, poaching talent from the world’s richest leagues with big-money transfers as they buy into President Xi Jinping’s dream for the country to become a heavyweight in world football," according to Charles Clover of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Chinese clubs are "responsible for three of the four biggest deals in the winter transfer window." The "booming transfer market" in China comes amid amid an influx of money into the Chinese game, "driven by tycoons seeking political favours but also by genuine optimism about the prospects for football in the country as it seeks to develop sports." Several "top Latin American and European players signed with Chinese clubs." In January Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Ramires went to Jiangsu Suning for a Chinese Super League record €28M ($30.6M), Hebei China Fortune bought Ivorian striker Gervinho from AS Roma for €18M ($19.7M) and Shanghai Shenhua swooped on Inter Milan’s Colombian int'l Fredy Guarin for €13M ($14.2M). Chinasportsinsider.com Founder Mark Dreyer said, "These guys are big, big names. Everyone is trying to impress each other and outdo all the other clubs with big signings. It's all because of the influx of money." The CSL is "reckoned by analysts to be the best in Asia but it is still far behind the best in Europe." Dreyer said, "Chinese owners have to pay more, and they know that." CastleHill Partners CEO Peter Schloss said, "Its not unusual to see this in China because of the amount of TV money that has entered the China Super League" (FT, 2/2).
DESTINATION CHINA: In N.Y., Ewan MacKenna wrote Brasileiro team officials are "used to the phone calls." They "expect them." Agents and execs, middlemen and managers, "all of them looking to make a deal in the game’s greatest shopping mall." But where once the interest regularly came from Madrid or Milan, these days the voice on the other end of the line "is more likely to be calling from Beijing or Shanghai." Last year, teams from the CSL "bought the rights to perhaps the Brasileirão’s two best players." Last month, Chinese clubs "plucked four key players from the reigning champion, Corinthians, and a top striker from São Paulo." Cruzeiro Sporting Dir Thiago Scuro said, "Brazil needs to learn to live with this. We were always a target, but what's changed is the big clubs in Europe are taking very young players, to have time to develop them there. But China is signing the star players in their 20s. We cannot fight this, as it's economics, not football." Brazil has always been a net exporter of football talent; "no country sends more professional players abroad." But Brazil’s "slumping economy and the chronic financial problems plaguing domestic clubs -- it is not uncommon for players to go unpaid for months -- have some regarding China’s current shopping spree as a worrisome asset-stripping of the Brazilian game." Corinthians Sporting Dir Edu Gaspar said, "It's not a surprise to lose players when you are champions, but the big surprise was they went to China. It's not so frustrating. It's the market. You just have to replace them. ... With the crisis here, the prices they are offering, we can't compete with that" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/1).
