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Shadowy figures circle for ‘daunting’ China transfer window
SHANGHAI, June 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Lukas Podolski rejected China because
of “dark channels” and one prominent football agent warned that getting
transfer deals done there was muddied by shadowy figures ramping up prices.
Welcome to the murky business of the Chinese transfer window, which creaks
open on June 18 for four weeks of wheeler-dealing while most people are
watching the World Cup in Russia.
Transfer deals are notoriously opaque in any country, but experts said that
China — a relatively new global football frontier suffused by seemingly
endless cash and ambition — presents some unique challenges.
German former international star Podolski last year turned down Chinese
clubs to join Vissel Kobe in Japan and the striker later shed a rare light on
how transfer business gets done in China.
“Sure, it’s tempting to hear you could earn EUR15m to EUR20m in China, but
the way of negotiating — with eight, nine agents sometimes interfering — is
close to that of criminals,” Podolski, now 33, told Sport Bild.
And while the wages might be higher in the Chinese Super League (CSL) than
almost anywhere else, “what goes into your account in the end will be
significantly less given all the dark channels involved”.
Leon Angel, chairman of Base Soccer Agency in London, said that he was
“constantly receiving interest” from China in his clients, including Danny
Rose, Kyle Walker and Ashley Young, all in England’s World Cup squad.
Podolski’s experience is familiar to Angel, who has completed “several”
deals to China including for striker Demba Ba, who joined Shanghai Shenhua in
2015.
“It’s no secret that in the past there has been corruption in Chinese
football, but when you head into the unknown, it’s daunting if you don’t know
who you have to deal with,” said Angel, one of the few agents to reply to
AFP’s request for comment on the sensitive issue of transfers.
“Transfer negotiations in China are often very complicated due to the
number of third-party intermediaries that somehow are involved in the
possible transactions.
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“It is very rare for a Chinese club to directly approach the selling club
in Europe or official intermediary of the player.
“Instead, the majority of the time this is done through third parties who
drive up the prices and often do not have control of the situation, leading
to confusion.”
– ‘Vested interests’ –
Chinese clubs have in the last two years made a string of eye-catching
signings.
In January 2017, Brazilian attacking midfielder Oscar left Chelsea for
Shanghai SIPG for an Asian-record EUR60 million. He admitted he moved for the
money.
Rivals Shenhua signed Argentine striker Carlos Tevez on wages reported at
the time to be the highest in the world of EUR730,000 a week. He quit after
one disappointing season, saying it had been “a holiday”.
But it is not just big names arriving in China for overinflated wages and
transfer fees.
One Belgian agent said there was widespread incredulity there when Tianjin
Teda signed the winger Frank Acheampong for a reported EUR6.5 million from
Anderlecht, where the Ghanaian was out of favour.
Xu Ting, who is certified as an agent by the Chinese Football Association
(CFA), said: “The huge transfer fees do not bring players who match the
price, but are the money-making tools of some vested interests.”
– X-factor players –
President Xi Jinping is on a drive to improve Chinese football from
grassroots to international level, but Xu warned these “vested interests” —
among them club officials in charge of transfer budgets and agents — are
holding back government ambitions.
The agent Xu alleged that some club officials buy players not because they
are good but purely so they can line their own pockets, while there exist
illegal “shadow contracts” that conceal from public view the true worth of
the sums involved in the transfer.
Chinese clubs over-paying to bring foreigners such as Tevez in on a
“holiday” was not what Beijing had in mind so the CFA last year clamped down
with a 100 percent transfer tax on incoming overseas players and restricted
teams to three foreigners per game.
“It’s important to understand this is a market with a very different
mindset,” said Angel, underlining the differences between transfers in Europe
and China.
That mindset and the curbs mean Chinese clubs “tend to look for attacking
players.
“Big names, as profile is very important, and they must be either quick,
goalscorers or game-changers,” he added.
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