Columbian striker, Jackson Martinez has completed his move to Chinese outfit Guangzhou Evergrande from Atletico Madrid. The player is the latest in a series of high-profile transfers to the country.
The move is worth a reported fee of €42 million, the highest of the January transfer window. The transfer also broke the record for most expensive signing by a Chinese club beating Ramires’ record of £21million from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning set only a week ago.
The Asian transfer market closes on the 26th of February, although Atletico tried to complete the move on Monday to have time to sign a replacement. The 29-year-old was then not in favor of the move, but the forward agreed to the deal on Tuesday, the last day of the window in Spain.
Atletico have surprisingly managed a €7 million profit in the transfer for a player who hasn’t exactly hit the ground running. Martinez has had a tough few months in Spain after scoring only twice in 15 La Liga appearances, and only netting once in the Champions League. He arrived in the summer for a fee of around €35 million from Porto where he had a prolific record, scoring 92 times in 132 appearances for the Portuguese giants.
The Columbian was also reported to have had a fallout with head coach Diego Simeone after a heated argument. Simeone apparently said he would not play Martinez and asked Atleti’s Chief executive Miguel Ángel Gil Marín to sell him in January.
The deal was brokered by famous agent Jorge Mendes who is known to be closely associated with Cristiano Ronaldo. Martinez has signed a four-year contract after completing a medical late Tuesday. He will travel to Dubai for the team’s winter training camp where he will meet ex-Spurs’ player Paulinho as well as his manager Luis Felipe Scolari.
Ramires was previously most expensive signing in Chinese football
Last week Ramires sealed a move to another Chinese club Jiangsu Suning for a fee of around £25 million which made him the most expensive Chinese signing for a week. The Brazilian followed in the footsteps of previous Chelsea stars Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka.
In total clubs in the two tiers of Chinese football have spent a sum of €200 million in the January transfer window. Jackson Martinez and Ramires will join the likes of Gervinho previously of Roma as well as another ex-Porto midfielder in Freddy Guarin in the Chinese League.
