Over the last twelve months, we have seen an influx of top quality and well known players leaving top European teams to play in China. It has come as a surprise to many that the Chinese Super League is able to attract so many players who are in the prime of their careers. The Chinese appear to be finally embracing football and are eager to dominate Asia as the leading footballing nation and they appear to have the money to accomplish this.
This isn't the first time that China has tried to attract players to enhance the league. In 2012, Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba both joined Shanghai Shenhua, Yakubu joined Guangzhou R&F after his impressive season back in the English Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and Guangzhou Evergrande signed Lucas Barrios from Borussia Dortmund. Over the next few years, players came and went with the likes of Vagner Love leaving CSKA Moscow and Alessandro Diamanti leaving Bologna to join the Chinese league. The players who moved to China were good but not good enough to make a real impact.
This all started to change in 2015 when they started attracting key international players and well known names with history at the top levels. The difference was that now it wasn't just one or two players joining, it was a flood that would continue into the next year. Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao signed Paulinho and Robinho, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua signed former Liverpool and PSG midfielder Mohamed Sissoko, Demba Ba and Tim Cahill. Asamoah Gyan joined Shanghai SIPG and Eidur Gudjohnsen joined Shijiazhuang Ever Bright.
In preparation for the 2016 season, even more high quality players joined the league. Chinese Super League teams were beating major European teams to major big money signings. Burak Yilmaz left Galatasaray to join Beijing Guoan. Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao replaced Robinho by spending €42 million on Jackson Martinez. Hebei China Fortune signed Gervinho, Gael Kakuta and Stephane Mbia. Jiangsu Suning signed former Manchester City striker Jô, Ramires from Chelsea and they beat Liverpool to the signing of Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk but they still had to spend £38 million to get him. Shanghai Greenland Shenhua signed Fredy Guarin from Inter Milan and Obafemi Martins from Seattle Sounders.
The major signings don't stop with the Chinese Super League as Chinese League One (second division) side Beijing Renhe signed Croatian international Nikica Jelavic from West Ham. If teams from lower Chinese leagues are able to sign international players from top European teams, it is a real sign of how serious they are to try and improve their relationship with the worldwide footballing community. The most surprising thing is that they haven't done this a lot earlier due to how competitive the Chinese are with sports during events like the Olympics.
The Chinese Super League is the latest to try expanding and improving. It is following in the footsteps of the MLS but is trying to skip the phase of being known as a footballing retirement home. The MLS has come a long way and is earning more and more respect from the outside world but it has a reputation of only taking players at the end of their careers who are past their best. The Chinese Super League are spending a lot of money to avoid this by getting the majority of players in their late twenties and by taking players like Cahill and Martins from MLS clubs, they are giving the MLS a fight to be the best league from outside of Europe and South America.
The Chinese transfer window closes on the 26th of February so they could still bring a couple of big names to the Super League. The biggest rumour is that Hebei China Fortune are close to the signing of Ezequiel Lavezzi from PSG. Other stories have linked almost everybody with a move to China from Carlos Tevez to English Premier League players such as Juan Mata, Yaya Toure and Radamel Falcao. Chelsea also rejected a move for Oscar by a Chinese club during the January transfer window.
Now that the world knows the Chinese Super League has the financial capability and willingness to use it, more players will undoubtedly join a Chinese club. With all of that in mind, the Chinese Super League is most definitely a threat to European leagues as it has the ability to compete for the best players in the world and is not shy about meeting demands financially. The league needs time to grow and it will have to get rid of the limit it has on foreign players to be able to attract them all but it could become one of the best leagues in the world.
