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Former
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini became the Chinese Super League's latest
big-name foreign manager last week ©Geoff Caddick (AFP)
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AFP Sports looks at five
top arrivals at the cash-rich Chinese Super League this European summer:
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Football:
top arrivals in China
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AFP
report continues:
Manuel Pellegrini (Hebei
China Fortune)
The
former Manchester City boss became the Chinese Super League's latest big-name
foreign manager last week after being replaced by Pep Guardiola, despite
winning the Premier League in 2014 and guiding City to the Champions League
semi-finals last term. His first task, after swapping the rarefied surroundings
of City's Eastlands for the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Center Stadium in
northern China, is to get fifth-placed Hebei into the Chinese Super League's
top three and earn AFC Champions League qualification. They are currently five
points adrift of third-placed Shanghai Shenhua with seven games left to play.
Graziano Pelle (Shandong
Luneng)
The
striker was an integral part of Italy's front line at Euro 2016 but may not be
for much longer after new Azzurri coach Giampiero Ventura warned that he risked
his place by moving to China. Pelle, 31, scored 30 goals in 81 appearances for
Southampton before his move to Shandong Luneng for a reported €15 million (US$17
million). He remains in Ventura's squad for now, and has scored three goals in
seven starts for his new club who, according to reports, have made him one of
the world's highest paid players with a salary of €300,000 a week (US$340,000).
Papiss Cisse (Shandong
Luneng)
Senegalese
international striker Papiss Cisse, 31, also joined Shandong Luneng for an
undisclosed fee to form a new-look strike partnership with Pelle after leaving
relegated English club Newcastle United. He scored 44 goals in 131 appearances
in four-and-a-half years with the Magpies and has two already in six Chinese
Super League appearances since his reported £2.5 million transfer (€3 million, US$3.25
million).
Felix Magath (Shandong
Luneng)
Not
content with signing Pelle and Cisse, Shandong also recruited the no-nonsense
German former Fulham and Bayern Munich boss Magath to replace ex-Brazil coach
Mano Menezes in June, after a season that has seen Shandong languish in the
lower half of the table despite reaching the AFC Champions League
quarter-finals. Magath will be looking to revive his fortunes after he led his
last club, Fulham, to relegation from the English Premier League in 2014 and
was then sacked after losing the first four matches of the next campaign in the
second-tier Championship.
Hulk (Shanghai SIPG)
The
muscular forward from Brazil made headlines at the beginning of July when
Sven-Goran Eriksson's Shanghai SIPG splashed out a reported €55 million (US$61
million) to bring him from Zenit St. Petersburg. But they have yet to see much
return on their investment as, after scoring nine minutes into his debut
against Henan Jianye on July 10, he was stretchered off on 21 minutes clutching
his knee and hasn't played since. Eriksson said last week that Hulk should be
fit for the second leg of SIPG's AFC Champions League quarter-final at Jeonbuk
Hyundai Motors on September 13.
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