The Chinese transfer record has been broken for the third time in 10 days with Shakhtar Donetsk’s Brazilian forward Alex Teixeira moving to Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning in a move reported to be worth around 50m euro. Chinese Super League sides have caused quite a few heads to turn with Teixeira's transfer being the latest after high-profile moves for Jackson Martinez and Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Ramires.
Chinese sides are becoming increasingly ambitious with even Chelsea’s Oscar recently being linked with a mega-money transfer to the Chinese Super League. Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool were interested in securing the services of Teixeira throughout the transfer window but they could not agree on a fee with Shakhtar. On being asked why he chose Jiangsu Suning instead of either Liverpool or Chelsea, Teixeira told Shakhtar's official website:
"Let's put it like this: everyone always knew that I wanted to stay in Europe and move to the English Premier League club,"
"But, unfortunately, all the proposals that came from them, were somewhat windy and did not contain anything concrete.
"Now I have received a serious offer from China. Of course, I’m moving there.
"At this stage, the Brazilian national team will move away from me a little further. But let's see what happens in the future."
The move evoked some incredulous reactions from fans and pundits alike on social media.
The move made Teixeira among the top earners in football and the Premier League, La Liga and other European Leagues will now be wary of the spending power in China.
Teixeira has been in stunning form this season having scored 22 goals in 15 games.
Arsene Wenger wary of China’s spending power
Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger has said that the Premier league should be wary of the spending power of teams in the Chinese Super League. When asked whether Premier League teams should be worried, Wenger was quoted as saying:
"Yes, of course.”
"China looks to have the financial power to move the whole league of Europe to China." However, he did also wonder whether the Chinese clubs would be able to sustain such incredible expenditure.
"Will they sustain their desire to do it?" he asked. "Let's remember, Japan started to do it a few years ago but slowed down.”
"I don't know how deep the desire in China is. If it is a very strong political desire, we should worry."
