The January Transfer Window - 2016

[Baddar]

Alex Teixeira is off to China as well.

[Nerf]

2 hours ago, Baddar said:

Alex Teixeira is off to China as well.

"I need to move to England to break into the Brazil team. I'll go there now or in the summer. Oh... hi money."

[stokeriño]

More like Shakhtar accepted the only bid that met their asking price.

[Rich]

To be honest, I would rather move to China than merseyside  

[stokeriño]

The Telegraph claims that Jiangsu also tried to buy Oscar for £75 million. lolwut

[MDK]

Yeah, there is a whole load of Brazillians going to China for big money. Tim Vickery was talking about it on a radio show while back.

[Chris2K]

I know people wouldn't turn down such huge money but surely there must be some part of them that realises that playing exhibition football in a minor league is a complete waste of their talents?

[stokeriño]

Well I can understand Ramires having won everything there is to win in England (plus Champions League and Europa League), he's 29 in March and not getting used that much any more at Chelsea. Most would go to Serie A or something but if stupid money is on offer and it's effectively his last chance at a big - scratch that - massive payday, then why not.

24 or 26 year olds who are touted for bigger things in Europe though...I don't see it. Unless maybe they only plan to spend 1 or 2 years there.

[Baddar]

I wonder if Ashley Cole is regretting not heading to China. Apparently he's earning less than 4k a week in LA now. Fair play to him though. I doubt he's short of a few bob.

[Benji]

He's also still getting paid part of his previous contract by Roma.

[MDK]

Does that not count against the salary cap in some way?

[Rich]

35 minutes ago, Chris2K said:

I know people wouldn't turn down such huge money but surely there must be some part of them that realises that playing exhibition football in a minor league is a complete waste of their talents?

If you look at it sentimentally sure.

 

But if you look at it in a reasoned fashion, as a footballer you only have a small window to make your money, and if someone is willing to pay you £300k a week in China for your talents, rather than £100k a week in Europe, then anyone who's in it for a pay day will choose the latter.  Quite frankly I don't see it as a waste of talent at all, I see it as them getting paid as a result of their talent.

[MDK]

If they get paid. Didn't Anelka or someone big not get paid for ages? Some big club was splashing out like mad and couldn't pay the wages.

[stokeriño]

Yeah, Shanghai Shenhua.

[Colly]

Read this on another forum:

In terms of attendances, MLS and China are similar but perhaps not for long. The 2016 Super League season, set to kick off in March, is the most eagerly-awaited yet. Last year saw an average attendance of just over 22,000, less than two hundred behind Italy and France. A high-ranking league official told the Guardian that this season will see the 25,000 barrier broken and predicts that by 2018, the Chinese Super League will be the third most-watched football league in terms of average attendance in the world behind the Bundesliga and the English Premier League.

 

Seems like they're serious about building the league so throwing money at some big names not quite past their prime (supposedly with some government funding) can only help attendances. Could be interesting to see who else might end up there rather than MLS.

[Jimmy]

I was reading yesterday that the President is a huge football fan, and wants to build the league, somewhat of in hope of building national talent and lodging a bid for the world cup. Also, probably just for his own enjoyment as he loves football. 

[The Lusophone]

44 minutes ago, MDK said:

Does that not count against the salary cap in some way?

The salary cap is more a guideline anyway...

[Colly]

More of a salary hairnet.

[Hobo]

The approach for Teixeria was something Klopp wanted. FSG arent keen on dealing with Shaktar or Kia Joorabchian who is Teixeria's agent. But they did to show Klopp they're willing to back him.

 

[Jimmy]

But only kind-of-but-not-really back him