Fri, Aug 02, 2019 page16

• China resurgent in transfer market

  ‘SAVVY RECRUITMENT’: Clubs chose players for soccer reasons rather than for show and shunned has-beens, an expert said, as nearly 100 million euros was spent

  • AFP, SHANGHAI
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  Gareth Bale’s ￡1 million (US$1.21 million) per week move from Real Madrid collapsed, but Chinese soccer has re-emerged as a force in the global transfer market, despite measures to rein in spending.

  Marko Arnautovic, Salomon Rondon and Stephan El Shaarawy all landed in the Chinese Super League (CSL) during the summer transfer window that closed on Wednesday.

  There was also a flurry of domestic transfers, while Champions League-winning coach Rafael Benitez is to take over at Dalian Yifang.

  Nearly 100 million euros (US$110.39 million) was spent in transfer fees by CSL clubs, compared with the record 128 million euros splurged in the summer of 2016, Oriental Sports Daily reported.

  Austrian Arnautovic was the biggest mover, swapping West Ham United for CSL champions Shanghai SIPG for 25 million euros.

  However, it was Bale’s proposed transfer to Jiangsu Suning that really made headlines and renewed fears about Chinese clubs distorting the transfer market with wages the rest cannot match.

  The 30-year-old forward was set to sign a handsomely paid three-year contract with Jiangsu, but Real pulled the plug at the last moment because of wrangling over the fee, a source said.

  Two years ago, the Chinese Football Association — at the behest of the government — slapped a 100 percent tax on transfers of incoming foreign players.

  The prohibitive move worked: In the summer of 2017, the highest-profile arrival was Anthony Modeste on loan from Cologne.

  The association brought in more cooling measures at the start of this year, including a cap on the wages of Chinese players and a limit on bonuses.

  Clubs were also told that their annual expenditure this year could not exceed 1.2 billion yuan (US$173.86 million), which would decline to 900 million yuan in 2021.

  However, in light of the latest transfer dealings, those measures were now “a pile of waste paper,” the Oriental Sports Daily said in an opinion piece.

  Harry Belford Spencer, cofounder of First Pick Group, a Shanghai-based sports advisory company, said that the 2017 tax has deterred CSL clubs from shelling out huge transfer fees.

  “The dust has settled and teams are now more savvy about their recruitment,” he said.

  However, the Briton said that CSL teams continue to offer wages that are two or even three times what players earn in Europe.

  William Bi, a Beijing-based sports expert, said that this transfer window was the “hottest” since the winter of 2016.

  “The football spending spree from the East seems to have resumed,” he said, agreeing with Spencer that clubs were smarter, buying players for soccer reasons rather than show and shunning has-beens looking for a final payday.

  Bi said that Chinese soccer would attract more highly rated coaches such as Benitez, as there is no transfer fee and clubs can justify the outlay on wages to the government, because having top-notch managers helps Chinese soccer.

  “For financial reasons, it is still far away from claiming China is a big spender like three or four years ago,” Bi said. “But for the time being, what we can feel is that the hidden hand [of the government] curbing football investment is gradually loosening.”
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