What’s the story?
Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has come in the support of the players who are seeking a move to the cash-rich Chinese Super League.
In the last few years, several high-profile players have completed a switch to the Far East while at the prime of their career. The Chinese Super League clubs are paying top dollar to attract quality. And with a number of world-class players joining the league, the Catalan club’s manager believes there is nothing wrong if the player decides to leave the top European and South American clubs in completing a move to China.
"I think it's fantastic that players can decide to go to China and earn more money. In every profession, including yours, the press, people change jobs and earn more money and nothing is said - in fact, your friends congratulate you. It's great, but when you are a footballer? You're a traitor, a money grabber... It's strange. I think it's fantastic and I applaud those who do it but it's odd the way it's badly seen in football,” Enrique was quoted as saying.
In case you didn’t know...
The Chinese football had the Chinese Jia-A League as the main league, which was founded in 1994. 10 years later, that was rechristened as the Chinese Super League, where 12 teams competed for the title.
The number of teams has been increased and currently, they have 16 teams fighting for the top flight club competition in China. The CSL offers relatively higher salaries to the foreign players than compared to the homegrown players.
Each club can file five foreign players in the squad, out of which four of them can be on the pitch at a time. This is mainly to make sure that the homegrown players are given equal opportunity.
The heart of the matter
In recent times, several players with the European football experience have joined the Chinese Super League. The clubs from the Far East paid top dollar in completing the transfer of the likes of Oscar and John Obi Mikel from Chelsea, former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, Belgium international Axel Witsel and many others.
Enrique, who is managing the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez at Barcelona believes that the players should not be subjected to criticism if they decide to join the CSL to earn more money.
What next?
There will be more players who will leave the European clubs and make a switch to China and these clubs must be prepared to fight with more clubs in retaining the players. On a positive note, the selling clubs will receive a better price from the sale of their player to a Chinese club than compared when a similar transfer is done with another European club.
Sportskeeda’s take
Enrique’s comments make perfect sense as a player should not be subjected to criticism if he decides to earn more money by making a switch to Chinese clubs. It is a human tendency that a section of people would prefer to receive better wages at the job which they are doing and there should be no harm if footballers decide to do the same.
