Chinese clubs raid K-League for players
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, January 8, 2014
When cashed-up Guangzhou Evergrande defeated FC Seoul in the 2013 Asian Champions League final in November, it was no great surprise to anyone.
With the 2014 East Asian season approaching, Seoul and other South Korean clubs are dealing with a different kind of challenge from the Chinese Super League — it seems that barely a day goes by without a player from the K-League being linked to a move across the Yellow Sea.
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FC Seoul captain and Korean international Ha Dae-sung joined Beijing Guoan in a multimillion dollar contract. |
Chinese clubs have started raiding the ranks of South Korean football, Asia's most successful league in terms of continental club titles.
Last week, Seoul captain and Korean international Ha Dae-sung joined Beijing Guoan in a multimillion dollar contract. Teammates including Sergio Escudero, Park Joo-young and Mauricio Molina have also been linked to Chinese clubs.
The biggest move of the offseason so far, however, has been that of Dejan Damjanovic. The Montenegrin striker, who scored the goals that got FC Seoul to the ACL decider, signed for Chinese club Jiangsu Sainty in December for a fee of over US$4 million. He had been the top scorer in the K-League for the past three seasons.
"It was hard to leave Korea but I had seven great years and it was time for a change and a new challenge," Damjanovic said. "There are exciting things happening in China at the moment. There is a lot of money in the game there and players have to do what is best for them."
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It's not just Seoul that has been targeted. In the last week of 2013 and the first week of 2014 alone, Jeonbuk Motors saw defender Lim You-hwan sign for Shanghai Shenxin and then rejected a US$1.5 million bid for Belgian striker Kevin Oris from Shanghai East Asia, though the deal could still happen. Incheon United's Son Dae-ho is expected to finalize a move to Hangzhou Greentown and Seongnam striker Kim Dong-sub has been attracting interest from Chinese clubs.
More are expected to follow from the K-League. And there are also Korean players heading to China from Japan's J-League. On Sunday, Guangzhou R&F announced the signing of South Korean international Jang Hyun-soo from FC Tokyo.
The bigger Chinese clubs have benefited from some major corporate investment in recent years. The best-known is Guangzhou Evergrande, which has spent more than US$80 million since 2010.
"While there are some good teams in China like Guangzhou and Beijing who can challenge Korean teams, overall the standard in Korea is still higher," Damjanovic said. "Korea produces lots of good players and that is why Chinese clubs are interested."
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