Chinese Super League champion Guangzhou Evergrande has vowed to bring in a world-class player by the middle of the year after a lackluster time in the preseason market.

The Cantonese club, which broke the domestic league's transfer record with several big signings last year, has retained its foreign contingent for the new season, but has so far missed out on luring the likes of Didier Drogba and Park Ji-sung.

"There were a lot rumors, day by day, saying Evergrande would buy some players, but none of them were true," said Xu Jiayin, president of the Evergrande Group. "The club has set high standards for new signings and we will bring you some surprise at the middle of the season."

Xu said the club had three requirements for foreign signings: The players must be younger than 28, they have to be at the peak of their careers and they should be more competitive than the club's current members.

"We never imagined we could buy world-class players when we brought in Muriqui in the second division, but after that, we had Cleo, for $4.5 million, and later Dario Conca, for more than $10 million," said Xu, who plans to invest 700 million yuan ($111 million) into the team this year. "This is the third year of Evergrande in soccer, and our standard is rising along with the development of the club."

According to Chinese Football Association (CFA) rules, each club in the Super League is restricted to having no more than five foreign players, including one from Asia, which means one of Evergrande's current five will leave the team this summer.

The real estate tycoon took back his previous words of selling Cleo on Thursday.

"I said sell Cleo last year because I was concerned about his frequent injuries, and we can't play competitively in the AFC Championship without a center forward," Xu said. "But now he is playing pretty well, and there is no reason for us to sell him. It's also reasonable for us to buy another forward as we have to play the AFC Championship and the domestic league at the same time.

"We need to create the same competitive mechanism among foreign players as that for Chinese," he said. "Nobody is special at Evergrande, whoever plays out of form or behaves against the coach could be excluded from the lineup."

Xu, who is expecting the team to claim an Asian championship in five years, has urged the squad to defend its domestic title and make the quarterfinals of the AFC Championship this season, where it will meet the champions of the J-League, K-League and Thailand league in the group stage.

In the club's new incentive plan, the team will be awarded 6 million yuan for winning a game in the AFC Championship, 3 million for a draw, and another 6 million for advancing to the next round. Also, the players, together with the coaching staff, will receive 3 million yuan for a victory in the domestic league, but will also be fined the same amount for a loss.

The club headed to South Korea on Thursday to prepare for its debut at the AFC Championship next Wednesday against K-League champion Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Club chairman Liu Yongzhuo said it is fully prepared for the tournament.

"The AFC Championship became our priority right after we won the domestic championship last year," Liu said. "We have a technical department taking charge of the cup preparations. Our staff has inspected our opponents.

"I know our opponents were in Guangzhou to watch the CFA Super Cup (Evergrande won 2-1 against Tianjin Teda), and we have prepared for them too."

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