The CSL’s summer transfer window saw yet another record fee paid, as more international players arrived in China, but the league’s top scorer, Demba Ba, is looking at months on the sidelines after a bad leg break.
It is a measure of how much the pulling power of the Chinese Super League (CSL) has exploded over the past year that the summer transfer window, which closed last week, contained a handful of blockbuster deals, but was still considered quieter than expected.
Topping the list was Brazilian international Hulk, whose $60 million transfer from Zenit St Petersburg to Shanghai SIPG broke the Chinese transfer record for the fifth time this year – although the other four times occurred at the start of the year when the current football frenzy truly began in earnest.
Hulk appreciating the flowers (and his pay packet)
But if Hulk’s move from Russia to China – or from one second-tier league to another – can be dismissed as a player who is more interested in maximizing his bank account than testing himself against the best in the world, Graziano Pelle’s move from Southampton to Shandong Luneng certainly raised some eyebrows.