After a breathless few weeks during which the entire sporting world has been talking about Chinese football (with yours truly quoted by AFP three times, FT twice, El Pais, Hicimos, Vice Sports and interviewed by CCTV, BBC and Al Jazeera among others), let’s take a look at a few stories that could be cropping up over the next 12 months…
1. Which high-priced foreign import will be the first to flee the CSL?*
Well, you didn’t really expect all these new signings to have a happy ending, did you? The days when Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba left abruptly after not receiving their promised piles of cash may be (mostly) over, but it’s hard to believe all of Alex Teixeira (below), Jackson Martinez, Ramires, Fredy Guarin, Gervinho and others will settle seamlessly into their new teams on the other side of the world.
Brazilian Alex Teixeira arrives in Nanjing after signing for Jiangsu Suning
That’s not to say that they will all disappear next week – Asamoah Gyan and Demba Ba, for example, hardly set the league on fire last year and are still playing in China – but if these players’ agents can attract interest from a serious contender in Europe (and their pay cut is at least softened by a hefty signing bonus), then you have to think there could be some further moves this summer.