China's top football clubs "have until Sunday to respond to plans to introduce a transfer levy" in an attempt to "curb" spiraling expenditure on overseas players, according to Michael Church of REUTERS. The Chinese FA wrote to all 32 clubs in the nation's top two divisions on Wednesday, outlining details of the proposed "player-transfer leverage fee." The clubs "must give feedback by the end of the weekend." Clubs deemed to be in debt, based on accounts lodged with the CFA for the year ending '16, that spend 45M yuan ($6.6M) or more on foreign imports -- or 20M yuan ($2.9M) on domestic signings -- will be "forced to pay an equivalent amount" in a levy that will be invested in youth development programs. Restrictions "will also be put in place for players who join clubs on loan" (REUTERS, 6/14).
NO RUSH: XINHUA reported Man City CEO Ferran Soriano urged China to "be patient in developing its football culture and vowed to offer help in that effort." Following Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.K. in '15, Man City has become one of the most popular EPL clubs in China. At the end of that year, China Media Capital, headed by Shanghai media mogul Li Ruigang, bought 13% of City's parent company, City Football Group, for $400M. Soriano: "We are very lucky to have a Chinese investor. ... We have a lot of interest in China and we also have a lot people and resources in helping China developing its football. We see China as a land of opportunity for global football" (XINHUA, 6/14).
