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In a strange turn of events, Nicolas Gaitan and Yannick Carrasco left Atletico Madrid for Chinese side Dalian Yifang earlier this week in an unforeseen transfer, collectively amounting to €48 million.
As shocking as it is, Carrasco's decision to move has raised a lot of eyebrows and left the fans and critics alike in a quandary. Why would he move to a Chinese side at this stage in his career? Why would he ditch a European powerhouse for the unassuming surroundings of China? Why did Atletico Madrid let this move materialize?
These and many more questions continue to do the rounds as the speculations are rife ever since the news broke out. But regardless of the existence of a plausible answer to these questions, this move certainly doesn't spell good for the Belgian. Here are the top five reasons why.
#1 His World Cup chances are severely hampered
Let's cut to the chase and address the immediate ramification of this transfer - Yannick Carrasco has put his own World Cup hopes in hot water with his decision to move to China.
Belgium is a team packed to the rafters in all departments, and the last thing to do in such a case is vanishing from the scene rather than making a case for yourself, which Carrasco just unbelievably abstained from, thereby hampering his chances of making it to Roberto Martinez's squad.
His prospects anyway looked quite bleak given the fact that he made only 17 appearances in the league and scored just thrice, an indication of his poor run of form this term.
But instead of fighting it off to resurrect his spell in front of goal, Carrasco chose to leave all the mess behind uncleared; moreover to a place which neither boasts A-grade football nor garners much attention beyond its borders.
So, the last remnant of the dynamic midfielder in Europe is a poor shadow of his rip-roaring self, which might just entice his Belgium coach into considering other options.
#2 China is not the right place to hone one's skills
Why I'm saying this is because Carrasco is only 24, and has a whole decade of football ahead of him. So, with time and age on his side, staying put in Europe was definitely a better option given the platform he had at Atletico Madrid and the competitiveness of the league they ply their trade in. China can brag about nothing of the same.
Not only is the platform not big enough to announce oneself to the world or make an impression, the league also lags light years behind its European counterparts when it comes to being competitive.
Despite possessing some well-known names in Oscar, Ramires, Graziano Pelle, Gervinho, Ezequiel Lavezzi and countryman Alex Witsel, the league remains criminally short of flair, domestic heroes, fierce rivalries like we see in Europe, as well as glorious histories that might just ignite one.
Chinese football, with all due respect, is as tawdry as it comes and surely not a place for a 24-year-old talented footballer to sharpen his skills.
#3 Carrasco stares into the abyss of anonymity
Ever since he burst onto the scene at AS Monaco as a prodigious teen, Carrasco looked like a star in the making; one earmarked for the future. At Atletico Madrid, whom he joined in 2015, he also got a grander stage to showcase his talent and subsequently hone them under the tutelage of a master tactician like Diego Simeone.
But this sudden, out-of-the-blue move to China has irreparably stalled the making of the star, and the implications are that he'd be forgotten soon.
Carrasco has left his development as a footballer so hamstrung with this move, he'd now be seen as a promise that never delivered; or worse, fade from the memory as if he never created any.
Players like Ramires, Oscar, Alex Teixeira, and even Jackson Martinez, who all timely grabbed the headlines for good performances, are unheard of ever since they embarked on the Chinese expedition. They are completely out of the picture, and Carrasco runs the same risk once the dust settles.
#4 The Chinese league is mired in avarice and corruption
Whilst the flaunting of fat pay cheques has worked tremendously in their favour, the Chinese League is actually a cesspool - rampant with corruption, marred by match-fixing allegations and managed by megalomaniacs whose penchant lies in only assembling foreign players to add more and more glamour to the team. Execution of a particular brand of football or inculcating valuable footballing ethics is still oblivious to the league.
With some recent clamp-downs on the league ending with a barrage of players and officials being banned from the game or even jailed, Chinese football is also grappling with such deceit and duplicity apart from just the poor quality of football exercised.
A player like Carrasco needs an environment that's conducive to his growth as a footballer, and a beleaguered China clearly can't provide that at the moment.
#5 Dalian Yifang have only gained promotion to the Chinese top tier this year
Founded as recently as 2009, Dalian Yifang plied their trade majorly in the second and third tier of the Chinese football stratum and gained promotion to the top flight again last year after a gap of three years.
The club themselves are relatively obscure to the demands at the highest level of football in the country whilst their best ever finish in the Super League was when they ended up at fifth, way back in 2012.
That means Dalian Yifang are mere also-rans in the league and forget about winning; they may be best positioned to finish just around the mid-table. So, joining a club of this ilk is a massive step backwards especially in the case of Yannick Carrasco who was primed for bigger things with Juventus and Arsenal being reportedly linked with him.
Now instead of competing against the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the biggest of the platforms, he's left to contend with Chinese players with minimal experience in the top flight and a club that's still inconsiderable when it comes to the top flight.
