Jiangsu Suning have agreed a deal to sign Alex Teixeira from Shakhtar Donetsk for €50m (£38m), the Ukrainian club have announced on their website.

Alex Teixeira scored 89 times in 223 appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk and becomes the third big arrival in China in the past fortnight.

Liverpool had been closely linked with a move for the 26-year-old Brazilian during the January transfer window and Shakhtar said they rejected a €24m offer from the Premier League club for the attacking midfielder, with their asking price being €70m euros for a summer transfer.

However, Shakhtar have now announced a deal with Chinese side Jiangsu. A statement on shakhtar.com read: “Shakhtar Donetsk and Jiangsu Suning FC have agreed on all the necessary formalities for the transfer of Alex Teixeira to the Chinese club. Transfer fee for the Brazilian midfielder is €50m. Shakhtar thank Alex for the time spent in the team and wish him success at his new club.”

So the mass exodus to China continues. I've heard that Lavezzi is on the brink of a move there as well.... Chinese clubs also made a mega money moves for Oscar, Hulk and a few others in January, but they were rejected.

Thoughts?

Source : http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/feb/05/alex-teixeira-jiangsu-suning-shakhtar-donetsk

@TheGame For the price they are asking for player like this, is insane. In next year clubs will probably buy decent player for 100M.
One hundred million. Clubs like Chelsea can attract players not by the money they offer but, by the name.
How in the hell do you even think about going to China instead of playing for Chelsea/Liverpool? There's nothing else, just money. What would you choose?

• Playing for Chelsea/Liverpool earning 70k/week.

• Playing for "somerandomteam fc" in China earning 300k/week?

Even as a United fan, I don't believe you would reject these changes to play in top fotball.

Actually, for 230k extra a week many probably would.. Footballers are greedy nowadays.

@quik, that is how every developing market works. You need initial costly investments before working towards the goal of self-sustenance. Teams like Chelsea, City, PSG, etc. had to do that as well when they were bought out by billionaires. The idea is that the money you pay for the player now will bring in more talent, sponsorship, fans, coaches, etc. The fee may be "insane", but to them it is just business and the player himself knows this and made the personal choice to join. You'll find greedy players everywhere you look. No need to single out just this one.

@KTBFFHSWE You're right but, instead of that they should be more greedy on football winning the games, not just earning money.
@TheGame I know they were overpaying but, it's always up to player, Chelsea/PSG and all similar teams are in Europe. Teams have to got vision and not just insane money spending. You see it perfectly on Chelsea they got the goals and they have won everything. Look at Anzhi Makhachkala, they spend millions and it got them nowhere. European top football will always attract players when there are competitions like, Champions like and so on. Everyone watches it, all scouts, ain't nobody going to watch some China's competition with all the other competitions we got here.

Now you're starting to sound greedy. Any other country on the planet is entitled to want to bring the best players from around the world. Europe shouldn't have a monopoly on talent. That would not be good for the game in the long run. Just because you don't watch "some China's competition" doesn't mean over a billion people don't.

A billion people most likely don't though^. Also, there's a difference buying talents for ridiculous amounts of money just for marketing and the sake of it to China. At least in Europe we try to start from the bottom by instituting grassroots systems for playing football through working youth systems etc. But other than that, I agree. European football shouldn't have monopoly on talents.

that moment when a user says their own username :D

That would not be good for the game in the long run.

Agree with both sides though. China should try and develop their youth systems instead of spending millions on talented players. But at the same time, they are entitled to talent, even if they are overpaying. China becoming a world football empire both scares and delights me. For a long time I dont think any country has had the financial power and national interest to out do Europe. But then again, how will world football change if China do become a power house? Will the rest of Asia follow? How will the Chinese national team do if the domestic league improves? All questions I hope will be answered in the near future.

It's not that I don't want China to do well. But I don't want the price of players to hyper inflate either, and that's what is going to happen if this keeps up. Lest we forget, there was turnover at the top of the game on a year-to-year basis in EVERY LEAGUE until the late 90's. It wasn't until Chelsea was bought that billionaires really started muscling money into the game.

The same arguments then are the same arguments now. Should we let any team simply buy success? Does tradition matter? Is it good for the game to have an unbreakable set of elite teams that can never be removed because of their assets?

What is far more concerning than the transfer fees themselves is the wages. Martinez and Teixeira are now in the top ten individual salaries in global soccer. Lest we forget, Martinez was basically a flop in Spain. Now he's like the fourth highest paid player in the world.

What's best for the game then? Would you rather see Galatico teams or a more evenly distributed pool of players that results in real competition? I, personally, would take the latter without hesitation. Clearly, this is not a unanimous answer.

The real problem is that this adds even more to the already grown problem of insane transfer and wages. This system cannot continue much longer. Even historical giants like Barcelona are starting to feel the pressure of inhumane wages. Messi's new deal will take around 40% of barcelonas budget by himself. Players like Neymar will feep they deserve just as much or near the amount Messi earns and will then have to either agree tue contract and cut your teams budget down
To around 30% (so forget signing big name players) or let one go.

Every continent has the right to compete. Europe is also very wrong with the wages and the transfer fee some teams pay. The fact is, many of the Aisan teams will not keep up with Chinas financial capability. I wish that money was invested into putting a successful youth academy in place and then reshaping football as a popular sport.