Chinese Super League outspends Premier League on winter transfers

The Chinese Super League splurged 334 million pounds ($411 million) on soccer players during the winter transfer window in 2017, a record outlay that eclipsed the 215 million pounds dished out by Europe's biggest spenders, the English Premier League.

This winter's transfer window was a tale of two halves. Huge names in international soccer, including Brazil star Oscar and Argentine striker Carlos Tevez, headed to China in multi-million pound deals, before the CSL imposed more stringent limits on fielding foreign players and China's General Administration of Sport said it was considering a cap to prevent out-of-control spending.

"What started with a flurry of activity and an influx of high-value overseas talent, rather petered-out to nothing,"Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at Salford University, told China Daily. "Yet the numbers reveal a different story."

This year's winter outlay was the CSL's largest ever, surpassing that of the Premier League and totaling more than the French, German, Italian and Spanish top divisions combined.

Shanghai SIPG was the biggest spender, breaking the CSL transfer record with the 60 million pound ($74 million) purchase of Oscar. Shanghai Shenhua shelled out a reported 40 million pounds ($49 million) for former Premier League star Tevez, while top talent including Belgium's Axel Witsel and Nigeria's Odion Ighalo chose CSL clubs ahead of other suitors.

The domestic fee for a Chinese player was also broken, when Zhang Chengdong moved from Beijing Guoan to Hebei China Fortune for a reported 20 million euros.

In an effort to curb spending and nurture Chinese talent, the league changed the "4+1"rule to "3+1". It means that, starting next season, teams will only be able to name three overseas players plus one Asian non-Chinese player in a match-day squad. The General Administration of Sport also announced it was considering a cap on spending, to stop teams "burning money".

Chadwick said: "Tevez's reported salary is astronomical. Whilst his arrival in Shanghai is arguably what tipped the balance and caused the State to intervene in moves designed to moderate the player transfer market."

Tevez reportedly earns 615,000 pounds ($756,000) a week in China, which is believed to be more than superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

One of the window's biggest storylines came to a close last week, when Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney rejected an imminent move to China. Rooney will remain at United for the rest of the season, but a transfer this summer seems likely.

"It will be interesting to see what happens during the next transfer window as I still maintain that a Chinese club will seek to break the world transfer record,"Chadwick said. "Already, there have been rumors about Diego Costa, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. There could be a hot summer ahead."