China’s "unprecedented spending" on foreign football talent "faces curbs" after the government issued a rebuke over the "irrational" sums lavished on top players from around the world, according to Panja & Lin of BLOOMBERG. The comments by China’s Sports General Administration "come days after the unveiling of two of the highest profile arrivals to the country’s top division." Argentine Carlos Tevez, a 32-year-old forward "reaching the end of his career," will become the world’s best-paid player with a reported salary of $42M per season. He joined Chinese Super League side Shanghai Shenhua "shortly after" Shanghai SIPG paid Chelsea $75M for Brazilian midfielder Oscar. The SGA said China’s government will "regulate and restrain high-priced signings, and make reasonable restrictions on players' high incomes." The sums being paid by teams in China "have spiked" since President Xi Jinping made football a "national priority" in '15. The fees "have upended the global player transfer market." With teams showing "little sign of restraint, the government may introduce specific curbs, including an as-yet-unspecified upper spending cap on transfer fees and salaries," according to the sports administration (BLOOMBERG, 1/5). In London, Tom Hancock reported the warning "comes as Beijing seeks to curb capital flight disguised as foreign investment." Some Chinese companies "are thought to have moved billions of dollars offshore via acquisitions to escape the country’s weakening currency," with analysts noting a "particular tendency to overpay for foreign assets." China’s "football spending splurge spread around the world over the past year, with Chinese companies buying a stake" in Man City and acquiring Serie A side AC Milan, alongside lesser known teams. The SGA was "partially echoing the language of four senior finance regulators" who last month issued a joint statement saying they were monitoring "irrational" overseas investment in real estate, hotels, film, entertainment and sports clubs (FINANCIAL TIMES, 1/5).
YOUTH MOVEMENT: REUTERS' David Stanway reported Xinhua said on Thursday that Chinese clubs have been "burning money" on the acquisition of "expensive and overpaid" foreign talent and have "neglected the development of domestic players." An SGA spokesperson said that to help nurture "hundred-year clubs" rooted in local communities, China needed to "put its teams under stricter financial supervision, and seriously insolvent clubs should be forced out of the league" (REUTERS, 1/5).
'NOTHING BUT SICK': ESPN.com's Mark Lovell reported Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeneß labeled the spending power of Chinese clubs "sick" the day after Borussia Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was linked to a world-record €150M ($158.9M) move to Shanghai SIPG. Hoeneß said to Sky Sport News Deutschland, "It's sick. It's nothing but sick. I only hope that it's just a phase like we had in America at one stage" (ESPN.com, 1/5).