China: the government wants to "curb irrational investment" in football

"To curb irrational investment, we need rules to reduce the cost of transfers and reasonably restrict excessively high income players," said, through its spokesman, the State General Administration of Sport of the People's Republic of China, on 05/01/2017.

This announcement follows the recent transfers activities of Chinese Super League clubs, such as the arrival of the Brazilian Oscar to Shanghai SIPG (Chinese Super League), from Chelsea FC (Premier League), on 01/01/2017. This transfer is estimated at €70m with, for the player, an annual salary estimated at €22.8m. During the January 2016 transfer window, clubs of the Chinese Super League had spent a cumulative total of €331m on player transfers, a higher sum than the Premier League.

"We will implement policies to encourage the growth of local players in the long term. To enforce these rules, to ensure the attractiveness of the game with the role of foreign players, to ensure fair play and allow local players to progress, we must find a balance," said the spokesman of the Chinese State General Administration of Sport on…