{"id":27383,"date":"2020-01-30T14:08:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T14:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?p=27383"},"modified":"2020-01-30T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T14:11:30","slug":"chinese-football-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was 2016 when the Chinese football league, aka Chinese Super League, started attracting many European football stars to the Far East. We saw players like Hulk (Zenit St. Petersburg to Shanghai SIPG), Oscar (Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG), Ramires (Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning) and many others move to China, some of them becoming among the highest earners in football.<\/p>\n

But things have changed since then. Regulations have come into place to combat Chinese clubs spending lots of money on foreign signings. The Chinese football league is now imposing a salary cap on foreign signings of $3.3 million a year<\/a>. A far cry from what some players are currently still earning. For example, Oscar is believed to be making \u00a3400,000 a week or more than \u00a320m a year.<\/p>\n

With this salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league, we can certainly expect less European players to decide to go on a Chinese adventure in the future. It is also likely we will see some of the big earners, now playing in the Chinese football league, coming back to Europe. Who can we expect to see returning to the West the coming years?<\/p>\n

Yannick Carrasco<\/h2>\n

The Belgium international left Atletico Madrid for Dalian Yifang in 2018. Though he was also being linked with Juventus, he chose to move to the East. After leaving Atletico, his value dropped from \u00a336m to \u00a318m. However, after a successful World Cup with Belgium, his value started going up again and now stands at \u00a325.20m. The left winger playing for DL Yifang and is currently the most expensive player in the Chinese football league.<\/p>\n

Carrasco has made no secret that he wants to return to Europe, having been in China for almost 2 years. He has been rumored to move to Arsenal and Crystal Palace amongst others in recent transfer windows but nothing concrete has come out of it yet. The 26-year old would certainly be an addition to most of the top teams in Europe, as he has Champions league experience from his time at Atletico Madrid, even scoring a goal in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

Oscar<\/h2>\n

The Brazilian trequartista moved from Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG in 2017 for a fee of \u00a354.00m. To this day, the fee represents an Asian transfer record. The attacking midfielder scored 24 goals in 79 appearances in China. A former Chelsea player, Oscar is now 28 years old, at the height of his career, and would be a useful addition to most teams in Europe.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2019, it appeared tht his time in China was coming to an end as his contract was expiring. But Oscar has since signed a new contract binding him to Shanghai SIPG until 2024. The player was linked to a transfer to Inter Milan, but a move never materialized. As he has now signed a new contract, a return to Europe is unlikely in the near future.<\/p>\n

Marouane Fellaini<\/h2>\n

The second Belgian linked with a return from the Chinese football league is Marouane Fellaini. The attacking midfielder joined Man in United in 2013 to replace Paul Pogba<\/a> and always had a difficult relationship with the United fans. The 32-year old only joined Shandong Luneng Taishan from Manchester United in February 2019 but faces a big pay cut due to the salary cap rules. Standing at 6 foot 4, not including hair, Fellaine has scored 7 goals in 22 appearances in the Chinese football league.<\/p>\n

Fellaini has been linked with a return to the Premier League and a reunion with his former manager David Moyes, now at West Ham United, has been rumored. When Mourinho became the new Tottenham manager, he also looked determined to bring back<\/a> the central midfielder to England but, in the end, nothing happened. His unique capacities as a breaker in front make him a player wanted by many managers. The Belgium international said he’s not currently thinking about a return to a European league yet, but he will consider ending his career in Belgium eventually.<\/p>\n

Hulk<\/h2>\n

The Brazilian forward was one of the first big players to move from Europe to China. In 2016, Hulk joined Chinese club Shanghai SIPG from Zenit for a reported \u00a345 million. Since moving to Shanghai, he’s struck home a staggering 67 goals in 81 appearances for his team. The former Brazil international is now 33 years old but could still play in a top European league for a couple of years.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian striker has revealed he is an Arsenal fan and has not ruled out playing in the Premier League one day. An extremely powerful forward, hence being known as Hulk, also admitted he still hopes to play in England before the end of his career. He was quoted as saying: “It’s always been a dream, it’s a very competitive championship and the stadiums are full in every game, no matter what the team.”<\/p>\n

Marko Arnautovic<\/h2>\n

Just like Fellaini, Marko Arnautovic only moved to the Chinese Super League last year. Shanghai SIPG reportedly paid a \u00a322.50m transfer fee to West Ham United to bring the center forward to the Chinese football league. The contract of the Austrian only expires in 2022 and he can still count on his big wage till renewal is up so a move might not be imminent.<\/p>\n

Arnautovic is performing incredibly well with Shanghai SIPG, having scored 9 goals in 11 appearances for the club. The 5th most expensive Austrian player is still an Austria international and playing in Europe would give him a bigger chance of making the starting XI in Euro 2020<\/a>. The 30-year old striker scores goals for fun and would walk into any mid-table side in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

The Darts Premier League is nearly back! For our extensive preview, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was 2016 when the Chinese football league, aka Chinese Super League, started attracting many European football stars to the Far East. We saw players like Hulk (Zenit St. Petersburg to Shanghai SIPG), Oscar (Chelsea to Shanghai SIPG), Ramires (Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning) and many others move to China, some of them becoming among the highest earners in football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[991,272],"class_list":["post-27383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-chinese-football-league","tag-featurehome"],"yoast_head":"\n5 football players playing in China who should return to Europe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With a salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league and hindering earning power, can we expect some big players to return to Europe?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With a salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league and hindering earning power, can we expect some big players to return to Europe?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T14:08:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-30T14:11:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/GettyImages-1133779795.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Callum Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Callum Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Callum Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0c814da6457f5b27974d69028b4ec928\"},\"headline\":\"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-30T14:08:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-30T14:11:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":949,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Chinese football league\",\"FeatureHome\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/\",\"name\":\"5 football players playing in China who should return to Europe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-30T14:08:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-30T14:11:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"With a salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league and hindering earning power, can we expect some big players to return to Europe?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/chinese-football-league\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"description\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Colossus Bets\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Colossus Bets\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SportsBigger\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ColossusBets\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/colossusbets_\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/colossus-bets\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ColossusBets\\\/featured\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0c814da6457f5b27974d69028b4ec928\",\"name\":\"Callum Williams\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d7c1d41f9cb9568abcc679e423e05a7d1e75b491ff1b23f21fcb5e7a972b27f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d7c1d41f9cb9568abcc679e423e05a7d1e75b491ff1b23f21fcb5e7a972b27f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d7c1d41f9cb9568abcc679e423e05a7d1e75b491ff1b23f21fcb5e7a972b27f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Callum Williams\"},\"description\":\"Callum is a marketing executive, freelance football writer and die hard Burnley fan who loves writing about sport, whether it's football, NFL or even horse racing. Having studied sport journalism until 2009, Callum worked in a high street betting shop before eventually moving into marketing. His ambition is to secure a job writing about sport for one of the national newspapers.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/callum-williams\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 football players playing in China who should return to Europe","description":"With a salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league and hindering earning power, can we expect some big players to return to Europe?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe","og_description":"With a salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league and hindering earning power, can we expect some big players to return to Europe?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/","og_site_name":"Colossus Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","article_published_time":"2020-01-30T14:08:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-30T14:11:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/GettyImages-1133779795.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Callum Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ColossusBets","twitter_site":"@ColossusBets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Callum Williams","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/"},"author":{"name":"Callum Williams","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0c814da6457f5b27974d69028b4ec928"},"headline":"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe","datePublished":"2020-01-30T14:08:45+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-30T14:11:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/"},"wordCount":949,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Chinese football league","FeatureHome"],"articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2020","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/","name":"5 football players playing in China who should return to Europe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-01-30T14:08:45+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-30T14:11:30+00:00","description":"With a salary cap being imposed in the Chinese football league and hindering earning power, can we expect some big players to return to Europe?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/chinese-football-league\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Chinese Super League players who could come back to Europe"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","name":"Colossus Blog","description":"Colossus Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Colossus Bets","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Colossus Bets"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ColossusBets","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/colossusbets_\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/colossus-bets\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ColossusBets\/featured"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0c814da6457f5b27974d69028b4ec928","name":"Callum Williams","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7c1d41f9cb9568abcc679e423e05a7d1e75b491ff1b23f21fcb5e7a972b27f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7c1d41f9cb9568abcc679e423e05a7d1e75b491ff1b23f21fcb5e7a972b27f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7c1d41f9cb9568abcc679e423e05a7d1e75b491ff1b23f21fcb5e7a972b27f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Callum Williams"},"description":"Callum is a marketing executive, freelance football writer and die hard Burnley fan who loves writing about sport, whether it's football, NFL or even horse racing. Having studied sport journalism until 2009, Callum worked in a high street betting shop before eventually moving into marketing. His ambition is to secure a job writing about sport for one of the national newspapers.","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/author\/callum-williams\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40949,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27383\/revisions\/40949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}