Chinese Whispers Getting Louder

Whisper it quietly but there is a new player in the world of Football, that said it doesn’t take the biggest afficionado to know that China is hell bent on becoming a superpower in the beautiful game and the way they are going about things you get the feeling that they are going to achieve their desire.

Since a Government policy was created to bring China in line with the rest of the footballing world they have been buying up a large swathe of talent and in doing so money seems to be absolutely no object.

Over the past few months we have seem some simply eye watering figures not only quoted but paid as China looks to get on a par with the global giants of the game. This is something that is not going to happen overnight but with the signings they have made the mean business…..big business.

Take Carlos Tevez as a perfect example, he is reportedly earning £600k a week, yes a week. Frankly it’s quite an absurd amount of money for anyone to be earning let alone a Footballer but if that is what the market dictates then players of Tevez’s ilk or anyone for that matter would be stupid to turn it down.

With China flexing their financial muscle as of late many wondered just how sustainable this money against the wall policy and although the administrators of the Chinese Super League have recently implemented a cap on the amount of foreigners that can be named in a match day squad it has not dampened the desire to sign the worlds best.

The perfect example being Diego Costa, 12 months ago the thought of him moving from Chelsea to China would have been frankly absurd. But throw in a managerial spat and all of a sudden Tianjin Quanjian nearly pulled off the biggest transfer coup you are ever likely to witness.

All may seem harmonious at Stamford Bridge for now but that will not deter Tianjin Quanjian from trying again in the Summer. Come the end of the season when Antonio Conte can be given more time to source a replacement then that could very well mean that Costa joins the list of names that have swapped Europe for the Far East.

When it comes to financial terms then Chinese clubs will simply blow their European counterparts out of the water, there is absolutely no question of that. All that is left to be seen is whether a player wants to stay in the comfort of Europe or being a trailblazer in this exciting new footballing adventure which is unfolding in front of our eyes.