For years, China and the Chinese Super League were known as the place where players went for a major payday.
Leaving elite European football behind, countless players of varying abilities sought to make some serious money in the far east, often being heavily criticised by the fans they left behind in the process.
Chinese clubs like Guangzhou, Shanghai Port and more had seemingly endless amounts of money pumped into them as China sought to become one of the best footballing nations in the world.
It was all part of a ridiculously ambitious programme set out by the Chinese Football Association in 2016 that sought to make good on President Xi Jinping’s desire for China to win the World Cup by 2030. It included plans to have a football pitch for every 10,000 people, with an ambition of having 50million people actively playing the sport in the country.
Safe to say, eight years on from the publication of the Football Association’s programme, things haven’t quite gone to plan. China once again failed to qualify for the World Cup in 2022, finishing fifth out of six in their third-round qualifying group for Qatar.
As a result, the investments in the game are drying up fast. But who were the 10 most expensive purchases in the history of the Chinese Super League and how did they fare in the country?
10. Marko Arnautovic
Arnautovic’s desire to leave West Ham boiled over into a messy divorce in January 2019.
The Austria international demanded to be sold after the club rejected numerous bids for him, and eventually, he went to Shanghai SIPG (now Shanghai Port) for a reported fee of £22.5million.
Such was the extent of the bad feelings between the two parties, West Ham did not even include a thank you in their announcement.
The reason he wanted to leave was obvious, with his wage reportedly hitting £10million annually in China.
He scored 19 goals in 28 Chinese Super League appearances but after leaving to join Bologna at the start of the 2021-22 season, he openly…
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