The recent January transfer window will mainly be remembered for fact that many big name players signed with Chinese clubs. We saw Ramires, Guarin, Lavezzi, Jackson Martinez as well as Alex Teixeira leave Europe to play in Asia. This does not appear to be a short term trend at least according to agent Riccardo Schifano who gave an exclusive interview to GianlucaDiMarzio.com. Schifano is a 36 year old lawyer who moved to China to follow his client Michel Herrero who currently plays for Guangzhou R&F, at first he was only supposed to stay for a few months but he decided to become a consultant for the club.
This is what Schifano had to say about football in China:"It's a movement that is constantly growing, there are more and more fans in China. It's an enormous country, very rich and the figures paid are proportional to what Chinese clubs can afford" Moving to China isn't easy despite the financial rewards:"You need to live there on top of playing and it's not easy, especially for a footballer. You need to realize that anyone you come in contact with is Chinese, they do not have our footballing culture. To help grow the movement we should also import some directors of a high caliber"
Most players tend to go where they pay the highest wages, and Schifano expects more transfers to take place:"The Chinese market is driven by the mood of the presidents, it's almost a competition as to who will spend more. Keep in mind the transfer fee record was broken three times in a single week in January. Now it belongs to Jiangsu Suning after they spent 50 million on Alex Teixeira. But Shanghai Shenhua's president, after he lost out on Lavezzi, has declared he's ready to get revenge with another record transfer. Then there was no time in February, but in June we'll see some big things. The names? Here in China there is continuous talk of Ibrahimovic and Balotelli, who is by far the most famous Italian player" Could another Serie A player be next?:"Yes, last January I was close to bringing another one to China, but unfortenately nothing happened, but there are excellent chances in June"
Interview by Mario Lubrano
