The player goes where the heart (or the multimillion-dollar investment) is.
This year we have seen a surge in Chinese soccer investments, both in China and Europe. Chinese billionaires have been buying up European clubs and, more interestingly, they have been buying top players to take home.
It's pretty safe to say that unless you're a Chelsea fan, you probably hate Diego Costa. His mastery of the dark arts of football tends to rub a lot of people the wrong way. He is the pantomime villain of the Premier League, the Loki of the world's game, the Iago to the Othello that is the Premier League referee.
This January’s transfer window was something of an oddity. Instead of the usual headlines involving the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain, the biggest story came out of China. The Chinese Super League, CSL, spent $278 million during the winter transfer window, outspending the $250 million dropped by the Premier League. So, we decided to take a look at the top paid footballers in China today.
President Xi Jinping has set out to revamp China's football development system, which includes the goal of having over 100,000 new players by 2017.
3 punches to the face. 2 red cards. 1 flying kick to the chest. Uzbekistan may have actually killed a player for crying’ out loud.