(Bloomberg) -- China's unprecedented spending on foreign soccer talent faces curbs after the government issued a rebuke over the “irrational” sums lavished on top players from around the world.
The comments by China's Sports General Administration come days after the unveiling of two of the highest profile arrivals to the country's top division. Argentine Carlos Tevez, a 32-year-old forward reaching the end of his career, will become the world's best-paid soccer player with a salary of 40 million euros ($42 million) a season, according to media reports. He joined Shanghai Shenhua shortly after another of the city's teams paid London club Chelsea $75 million for its Brazilian reserve midfielder, Oscar.
China's government will “regulate and restrain high-priced signings, and make reasonable restrictions on players' high incomes,” the SGA said.
The sums being paid by teams in China have spiked since the country's president Xi Jinping made soccer a national priority in 2015. The fees have upended the global player transfer market, which until the emergence of China has been dominated by European clubs. In last year's winter trading window, Chinese teams outspent soccer's richest competition, England's Premier League.
With teams showing little sign of restraint, the government may introduce specific curbs, including an as-yet-unspecified upper spending cap on transfer fees and salaries, according to the sports administration. Clubs operating with significant deficits face being expelled from the top league.
China's top teams are backed by some of the country's richest men, including Ali Baba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma. The ruling Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, published an editorial last month cautioning against some of the excess, saying that 80 percent of the 4.1 billion yuan ($596 million) spent by the 16 clubs in the country's top division last season was on foreign coaches and players.
The SGA also took aim at recent investment in overseas clubs. Chinese buyers have swept through several European markets, investing in teams including Italian giants AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Xi, a soccer fan, has called for China to improve its domestic game, with the aim of competing in, hosting and even winning the World Cup. China hasn't qualified for the tournament since 2002, when it lost all three group-stage games. The SGA said more resources should be devoted to youth development and infrastructure. In June, the government announced a five-year plan to spend 1.5 trillion yuan on sports.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tariq Panja in London at tpanja@bloomberg.net, Linly Lin in London at llin153@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Janet Paskin at jpaskin@bloomberg.net, John Bowker
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