Another league side Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, after an unsuccessful season, aims to challenge Evergrande in CSL this year. The club announced that they got Nigerian international striker Obafemi Martins from Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders on Feb. 19. Days ago it had announced they already got former Inter Milan talent Freddy Guarin.
The chase of stars also extends to the league's new promoters. Hebei China Fortune has got Argentine forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, the world's fifth most expensive soccer player, on the hook with a weekly salary of 400,000 pounds.
Apart from Lavezzi, the club also bought several famous footballers from European leagues, including Cote d'Ivoire striker Gervinho, Cameroon captain Stephane M'Bia, Sevilla midfielder Gael Kakuta and Australian defender Ersan Gulum. The newcomer is regarded as a dark horse in CSL this year, but some argued that it's hard for them to make any breakthrough because of weakness in back-lines construction.
But the price they paid didn't seem to pay off immediately as cash-rich Chinese clubs endured a disappointing opening night in the Asian Champions League on Wednesday. Both Guangzhou Evergrande, coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, and Shanghai SIPG failed to win their opening group games.
Not every club in the league joined in the binge. Promoted Yanbian Fude, who only imported some inexpensive players and topped in the second division league of China last season, still has attracted a lot of attention of other CSL sides.
"My players' desire for victory is stronger than the desire for money. They are all eager to prove themselves in the best stage for Chinese soccer players," said Park Tae-Ha, chief coach of Yabian Fude.
Australian international Tim Cahill believed that the expensive imports may impede the development of Chinese soccer.
"Does it help the Chinese? To a certain extent, no," the 37-year-old veteran who joined CSL side Hangzhou Greentown ahead of 2016 season told Fox Sports. "When you sign players like this, everything in the final third (of the field) is up to us (international strikers), if we don't deliver, it doesn't happen."
