The record for a transfer fee of €42 million in the Chinese Super League, which existed for only two days, was once again refreshed. Yesterday, Jiangsu Suning Football Club announced that it has signed a four-year contract with 26-year-old Brazilian player Alex Teixeira Santos in the middle of The Donetsk Miners of Ukraine for a transfer fee of 50 million euros (about 367 million yuan). The €50 million transfer fee is also the most expensive transfer window this winter.
Born on 6 January 1990, Teixeira joined Ukrainian giants Donetsk Miner in 2010 for 6 million euros, helping the team win five league titles and three Ukrainian Cups in six years. Teixeira, who has just turned 26, is one of the hottest strikers in European football this season. This season, Teixeira has scored 26 goals and assisted five times in 26 appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk, and has scored 22 goals in a staggering 15 league appearances.
In European football, Teixeira has also been watched by many giants, with Chelsea and Liverpool both looking to sign him. However, Liverpool's offer of 24.5 million pounds (about 32 million euros) was rejected by the miners, who reportedly asked Liverpool for 38 million pounds (about 49 million euros), and the two sides did not negotiate in the end.
Teixeira's super high value is also the fourth time that the "standard king" of the Chinese Super League in this transfer window has changed hands, and the previous three "standard kings" are: Evergrande striker Elkeson transferred to The Maritime Harbor for 18.5 million euros, Suning signed Ramirez for 28 million euros, and Evergrande signed Colombian striker Martinez for 42 million euros.
It is certainly a good thing that Chinese Super League teams have made greater investment, but it is not very rational to frequently spend 200 million or 300 million yuan for a player. If there is no more investment in youth training, the Chinese Super League's "crazy burning money" move will one day be unsustainable.