Attendances and broadcast deals are rising in China as the government looks to build its homegrown talent tooWhen a little known club just promoted to the top tier of Chinese football is buying a regular starter from a club placed fifth in Serie A then you know that times are changing. But Gervinho aside there is a hitherto unremarkable mid-table club chasing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and paying Chelsea over $30m for Ramires and a moment division team paying $11m for a young Chinese player. China is set to become the biggest non-European league in the world in the not-too-distant future,overtaking the likes of the MLS, Mexico and any other you may care to mention.
The really big names that can be tempted to leave Europe often go to MLS – Beckham, and Lampard,Henry, Gerrard, or Kaka and Pirlo but China is increasingly able to pay big money (often too big at the moment but that is due to necessity more than naivety) for players that are not fairly so stellar but are generally much closer to their prime. Guangzhou acquire Ricardo Goulart,still only 24 and regarded as one of the top Brazilian prospects a year ago when he left Cruzerio, while Beijing Guoan has Renato Augusto one of four players from Brazilian champions Corinthians to make a recent whisk to China. East Asia is still a relative culture shock for players based in South America or Europe than North America but a growing number of Chinese clubs can offer huge salaries with Renato Augusto more than quadrupling his. The US transfer system can be complex with plenty of rules and regulations. In China, and it’s naked capitalism. There’s lots of money and lots of people gay to see that cash buying players from abroad.
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Source: theguardian.com