Overview
The transfer market is now open this summer and new signings are being made left and right. Players are coming back after being sent out on loan and others are starting new chapters of their career with new clubs. It is usual for the bigger European teams to splash out millions of pounds for the best players but one league, in the past couple of years has made some very unusual and expensive signings, the Chinese League.
Comparison With Other Leagues
Now, I have nothing against the Chinese League by any means but I think anyone who watches football on a regular basis would be in agreement that it is not one of the most popular leagues in the world. In fact the MLS (Major League Soccer) probably gets more attention than the Chinese League does, which is shocking considering how unpopular Soccer is in America.
Crazy Player Earnings
Not only are these Chinese teams signing some of the most sought after players in the world like Hulk, Oscar, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Fredy Gaurin, they are signing them for insane deals. For example, the deal that Lavezzi signed with Hebei F.C. grants him £400,000 as reported by mirror.co.uk. This ranks him with the top earning professional footballers even though he is no where near one of the best in the world.
Where Does The Money Come From?
So where are China getting all of this insane amount of money from? The Chinese president Xi Jinping has came out and said that he wants to turn China into a football super power. To do this he has pooled massive amounts of money into buying some of the world’s top stars and bringing them to China to gain popularity for the sport, but to also get children interested in playing and to hopefully have China qualify for the world cup some day. I would say this investment in football could go either way for China. If they think it could gain popularity it could bring in massive amounts of money to the country, but if they do not succeed they could be left in serious debt from the ridiculous wages the players are offered. Either way Chinese league has stuck to their promise and has consistently bought the players they will need to make the Chinese League a top league in the world. If they can make it work they will surely have a league with regular viewers.
