Money isn’t everything: not all foreign players live up to multimillion-dollar Chinese Super League contracts
As China tries to secure Chinese players in foreign leagues, how do foreign players brought to Chinese Super League fare?
China is flexing its considerable financial muscle in “the world game”, expanding its reach into football in line with the passions of President Xi Jinping, who has made no secret of his love for the game and his ambitions for China to host the World Cup.
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At the same time, the Chinese Super League has acquired and negotiated with some of the biggest soccer stars from around the world in the past few years, swaying them to move to the mainland in return for considerable sums of money.
Foreign players for Chinese clubs have signed contracts expensive enough to catapult them to the salary range of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Yesterday, Jiangsu Suning reached a deal to sign Chelsea midfielder Ramires for more than US$34.7 million, the highest transfer fee in China’s history. Early this year, Shanghai SIPG tried to woo Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney with a $35.78 million per season contract, which he declined. While most players were met with initial enthusiasm, not all have lived up to the hype and the high price tags.
Here’s how some of the biggest players in China match up in salaries and on-field performance:
Dario Conca
On his second stint with a Chinese club, Conca first joined Guangzhou Evergrande in 2011 with little fanfare. The Argentinean soccer player’s move to China was considered a defining moment in the emergence of the Chinese Super League.
Upon moving to China, Conca scored nine goals in 15 appearances, helping Guangzhou became Super League champion for the first time in the team’s history. Local fans and media named him “King of Tianhe Stadium”
