December 29 – Argentine striker Carlos Tevez has become the latest international star to head for China after signing for Shanghai Shenhua from his boyhood club Boca Juniors.
Although China is taking steps to reduce the number of overseas players in the Chinese Super League and boost development of domestic players, Tevez is reported to have cost an eye-watering €84 million having returned to Argentina last year after high-profile spells in England and Italy.
“Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC reached a transfer agreement with Argentina Club Atletico Boca Juniors. Carlos Alberto Tevez is officially joined Shanghai Shenhua,” the club said in a statement on its website.
The hefty price tag, if true, will make Tevez the world’s sixth most expensive footballer according to the German-based soccer information website transfermarkt.com. He is also in line to become the sport’s highest paid player reportedly earning around $753,000 per week on a two-year contract.
The price tag again breaks the Asian region’s transfer record.
The 32-year-old is the second big-money arrival at the CSL in less than a week after Brazilian midfielder Oscar joined local rivals Shanghai SIPG, coached by former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas in a deal believed to be worth €60 million. Before the Oscar deal Chinese Super League clubs had already splashed out more than $400 million on players this year.
Shanghai Shenhua, who appointed Gus Poyet as manager last month, finished fourth in the 2016 Chinese Super League, which ran from March to the end of October, 16 points behind champions Guangzhou Evergrande. The acquisition of Tevez will “greatly enhance” the team’s front line, Shenhua said, describing him, with considerable exaggeration, as “the most outstanding striker in Argentina’s history”.
Asia’s biggest transfer deals
Source: AFC
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