5 Players who moved to the Chinese Super League at the wrong time
Follow Us
Chinese Super League is the highest tier of professional football in Asia. The league has seen promising talents and quality players, many players have moved from major leagues in Europe and Spain to play in the Chinese Super League. Though the league may be a platform for many, it has also proved to be a bad move for many players and has affected many players careers.
Let’s take a look at 5 players who moved to the Chinese Super Leage at the wrong time
Carlos Tevez
Carlos Tevez is a quick, tenacious, powerful, hard-working and dynamic forward. The Argentine forward can play as a striker, a winger and even as an attacking midfielder. He made his debut for the Boca Juniors and won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup for them, before moving to West Ham United in 2006 and then to Manchester United in 2007. After an average career for Man Utd, he joined Manchester City in 2009.
After a successful campaign with Man City, he moved to Juventus for a three-year contract and was named as “Player of the Season” for the Italian side. The forward returned to his old side, Boca Juniors in 2015, to pursue his dream of winning the Argentine Primera Division. He made his dream come true as he helped the team to win the Argentine Primera Division, as he scored nine goals in 15 matches in the 2015 season.
Tevez made headlines in December 2016 when Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua announced a two-year contract with him from Boca Juniors. The striker signed the two-year contract for a staggering $41 million, which made him the world’s highest-paid player. But he could not do justice to the salary, as he scored only four goals for the team appearing in 20 games. He was criticized by the Chinese media and fans, as he was given the nickname of “Homesick Boy”. He later returned to Boca Juniors for his third spell, in 2018. On 4 June 2021, Tevez made an announcement about leaving Boca after playing for three years.
Oscar
An attacking midfielder from Brazil, Oscar made his debut at So Paulo FC in 2008. Butdue to a contractual dispute with the club, Oscar filed a lawsuit after his agent alleged that the club did not pay him his salary as promised. Thus, Oscar joined Sport Club Internacional in 2010. He appeared in 58 games and scored 15 goals for the club, where he spent the next three years of his career.
His performance at the Stamford Bridge was excellent despite the occasional decline in form. In his debut season for Chelsea, he won the Europa League and in the 2014-15 season, he assisted eight times and scored six goals helping the club to win the Premier League and EFL Cup. He represented the Blues in 131 games and scored 21 goals for them.
Shanghai SIPG officially confirmed on December 23, 2016, that the club had agreed on terms with Chelsea for the transfer of Oscar, which would be completed during the January transfer window for a reported £67 million. Oscar later informed that he was also being pursued by Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Juventus, but decided to play in China as the nation had incredible financial power. The £67m fee was an Asian football record, as he joined his teammate Hulk at the club. He has appeared for the now called, Shanghai Port FC in 100 games and has scored 31 goals. This explains had he stayed in Europe, he would have had a successful career.
Hulk
The Brazilian forward began his professional career with Vitória and then spent three years in Japan before returning to Portugal to play several seasons with Porto, where he won ten titles – including the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League and three national championships – and was named the league’s top scorer once. He had a successful career with FC Porto as he scored 54 goals in 99 games.
In 2012, he signed for Zenit Saint Petersburg in the Russian Premier League for €60 million, winning all three domestic titles and being named the competition’s best player and top scorer once each. After spending spent four seasons at Zenit, Hulk chose to join Shanghai Port FC. Many expected the footballer to join a top club in England, Spain or Italy, but he chose the Chinese club for the huge amount of money. The then Shanghai SIPG paid Zenit a massive £45 million with a weekly wage of around £320k, giving him a yearly salary of around £16.6 million. The salary was an Asian record in football at that time.
While the player performed exceptionally well in China, helping the team to win a league title in 2018 and FA Chinese Super Cup in 2019, a career in the European clubs would have meant a more successful career and he would have won more accolades. After a four-year season with Shanghai Port, Hulk returned to Brazil on January 29, 2021, and signed a two-year contract with Atlético Mineiro.
Yannick Carrasco
The Belgian footballer currently plays for the Belgian national team and Spanish club, Atletico Madrid as a winger. In his professional debut in football, he scored 20 goals in 105 games for Monaco. He also helped the team win Ligue 2 in his first season while the team finished runner-up in Ligue 1 the following season.
Carrasco signed a five-year contract with Atlético Madrid on July 10, 2015, for a reported fee of €20 million. He had a mediocre career with Madrid, appearing in 124 games and scoring 17 goals, assisting 17 times. Carrasco joined Chinese Super League newcomers Dalian Yifang on February 26, 2018, along with teammate Nicolás Gaitán. He spent the last two years in China, where he appeared in 52 games and recorded 24 goals and 17 assists. Carrasco returned to Atlético Madrid on loan until the end of the season on January 31, 2020. He signed a four-year contract to return to the club on a permanent basis on September 8, 2020, for a €27 million fee. The youngster spent the most important days of his career in the Chinese Super League, and although he performed quite well, an early entry to other European clubs would have shaped his career in a different way.
Alex Teixeira
Teixeira began his career with Vasco da Gama, making his debut for the senior team at the age of 18, before moving to Shakhtar Donetsk in November 2009. He spent seven years at the club, scoring 89 goals in 222 appearances while winning the Ukrainian Premier League five times. The Ukrainian club nurtured him as a midfielder and Alex gained a lot of tactics from Shakhtar.
In January 2016, Liverpool of the English Premier League made a €32 million (£24.6 million) bid to sign Teixeira, who expressed a strong desire to move to Merseyside. Shakhtar, however, turned down the offer, and Teixeira signed a four-year contract with Chinese club Jiangsu Suning on 5 February 2016 for a fee of €50 million. Texeira became the third big signing in the Chinese Super League in 15 days, following Jiangsu’s €21.5 million fee for Ramires from Chelsea and Guangzhou Evergrande’s €31.7 million fee for Jackson Martnez from Atlético Madrid.
Teixeira left Jiangsu Suning as a free agent in January 2021 due to the club’s financial problems. On August 2021, Teixeira announced his intention to join the Turkish Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and later signed a three-year contract with them.
Also Read: I-League: The tragic downfall of India’s original top division
Stay Updated!
Sadok Limma
(144 Articles Published)