Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande have broken the Asian transfer record by signing Atletico Madrid’s Jackson Martinez for £31m.
The 29-year-old Colombia striker has signed a four-year deal and will join winter training in Dubai on 9 February
He scored only three goals in 22 appearances for Atletico following his £24.8m move from Porto last summer.
Editor’s Note: Chinese Football isn’t mucking about as of late. After breaking the league record by spending £25m on Chelsea’s Ramires they’ve now blown that out of the water with Jackson Martinez coming on board. The signing of Martinez puts it in the all time top 50 transfers (where exactly depends on currency conversions – but it’s definitley in the Top 50 Pounds Sterling)
This is a player who had a pretty dreadful season at Atletico in comparison to his time at FC Porto. So for Atletico to make a profit on their sizeable outlay is a pretty amazing bit of business. Question will be asked whether Martinez is going for a pay day, the answer to that is quite obvious but a further question that needs to be asked is how strong can the Chinese Super League be? – Can it one day even supersede Major League Soccer as the Footballers post Europe adventure, with more signings and the amount of money swirling about they have every chance.
