Pelle to China - 12m

[CCFC_Urawa_Reds]

This reminds of the ignorance I encountered towards the J-league over 10 years ago. A lot of the Asian leagues have come, or are coming along, really well .. and their fanbases outshine ours in terms of noise and colour by some margin. Guangzhou Evergrande not only have some of the best Chinese players (with Chelsea and AC Milan sniffing around the likes of Zhang Linpeng) but are able to attract 2 time Brazilian league MVP Dario Conca and young, up-and-coming stars such as Elkeson, Goulart and Alan ... all who should supersede Fred in the Brazilian squad.
Guangzhou and Beijing can easily attract huge attendances (as can most teams for big games) and the quality and entertainment is a step up on that offered at the CCS for the most part last season.
Quite interesting that we feel the need to try and muscle in on the Beijing football market. Sure the city has a large population but they also have a smorgus board of European heavyweights playing friendlies and projecting their image there. They also have a very popular CSL side (Beijing Guoan) whose fans are extremely passionate about their team. We would be better off trying to get a foothold in some of the 'smaller' cities such as Xian, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Kunming (still all over 5 million) who have lost teams and fallen foul of the CFA. Beijing really isn't the be-all and end-all of China..... or Chinese football.

[surge]

This reminds of the ignorance I encountered towards the J-league over 10 years ago. A lot of the Asian leagues have come, or are coming along, really well .. and their fanbases outshine ours in terms of noise and colour by some margin. Guangzhou Evergrande not only have some of the best Chinese players (with Chelsea and AC Milan sniffing around the likes of Zhang Linpeng) but are able to attract 2 time Brazilian league MVP Dario Conca and young, up-and-coming stars such as Elkeson, Goulart and Alan ... all who should supersede Fred in the Brazilian squad.
Guangzhou and Beijing can easily attract huge attendances (as can most teams for big games) and the quality and entertainment is a step up on that offered at the CCS for the most part last season.
Quite interesting that we feel the need to try and muscle in on the Beijing football market. Sure the city has a large population but they also have a smorgus board of European heavyweights playing friendlies and projecting their image there. They also have a very popular CSL side (Beijing Guoan) whose fans are extremely passionate about their team. We would be better off trying to get a foothold in some of the 'smaller' cities such as Xian, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Kunming (still all over 5 million) who have lost teams and fallen foul of the CFA. Beijing really isn't the be-all and end-all of China..... or Chinese football.

There is, at this moment, no way that these players can obtain the same world recognition and development that they can outside of Asia. It would suggest that they are more interested in money and if those are the players that indicate we should be respecting the league then it's not a great argument.

Leagues outside of Europe certainly are coming on leaps and bounds but they'll attract positive attention by maximising their resources, sometimes money, and forging developmental links (to add to their already quite impressive culture and colour) with those behind the scenes ready to explode rather than signing players more interested in the money.

[CCFC_Urawa_Reds]

You obviously have little knowledge about grassroots Chinese football then. Many of the CSL sides have huge academies recently built (last 5 years) to nurture younger talent. Every league has its heroes, so why shouldn't China bring in 'stars' to inspire the young? Your argument could equally (if not more-so) apply to the huge sums Premier league teams pay for overseas stars to sell their product (at the huge detriment of English/British players).