From an English point of view, yes it would make sense to move here. However once you actually arrive, you (the footballer) would soon realise what a mistake you've made. Thats why you get players who move here for a season, take the pay check then leave again (i.e. Anelka).

I also think 'we' the fans often underestimate our players mindsets. Yes you can see lots of example of players 'jumping ship' because they get more money for essentially playing the same position e.g. Sterling moving from first team Liverpool to first team Man City. However while footballers are conscious about the money, after a while when they get so uber rich, money isn't as important as playing, because if you don't play, your value (and thus your wages) decreases e.g. Scott Sinclair.

This is why China will always be great for older players who know their days in their cushy top flight team are numbered. For other players who just follow the money, let me give you a cautionary tale of Demba Ba.

When he signed for Shanghai Shenhua, despite being injured, his team had promised it's fans he would play AND score on his debut. After sitting on the bench for 70 minutes and the team getting no where near the goal, the ref suddenly gave Shanghai a penalty, Ba was subbed on (limping) and was told to take the penalty. Only, he missed, and missed badly. However the ref decided that the defenders had encroached (even though none had) and demanded the penalty be retaken, which it was and Ba finally scored with the goal keeper essentially jumping out the way of the ball. Ba was then subbed off looking like an awkward teenager at a toddlers birthday party.

If Ba was just in it for a money, he made a terrible mistake, despite 'some' talent, the Chinese super league is basically made up of actors, sorry amateur footballers. While playing in a Shanghai derby match, an opposition player basically went all San Marino on him and broke his leg, he hasn't played since and may never again. Once his contract runs out, it looks like he will miss out on the rest of his career. Worth it? Probably not.

Just a fad. china is a cheap copier of talent. look at their purchases of antiques, quality consumer goods, foreign property, etc. They burn brightly and invest heavily for a short period of time before realizing that they are, in fact, still chinese and no amount of money or merchandise will change that. the term nouveau riche is an understatement. They are cheap, tasteless wannabes who rip off the poor in their own country and seek desperately to copy the culture of others. That'll never appeal to the global millions

Edited by Jamesrichards8 (14 Jan 2017 12.09am)

When you’re knocked on your back and your life’s a flop...

It's definitely okay to have a certain amount of beef with China, however some of what you've written above is not only unjustified, it's damn right wrong.

Firstly China has plenty of talent, it just needs the right investment to bring it out. Dont believe me? Look at the Olympics, during the 1970s they won nothing, in the 1980's they started to invest and by the 1990's they started to break into the medal table. Now look at them! Give them a couple of decades and they will be at a world cup.

Moving on to their purchases of antiques. Again your right, the Chinese are buying a lot, however I might suggest you actually look at what kinds of antiques they are actually buying. I think you'd find alot of them are ancient Chinese artefacts which were illegally removed from China decades ago.

" They burn brightly and invest heavily for a short period of time before realizing that they are"

If you look at China's 5000 year history, you'd actually find they have been burning very brightly for longs periods of that, I mean they did invent gunpowder after all. Still don't let facts and history get in the way of a good rant.

"They are cheap, tasteless wannabes who rip off the poor in their own country and seek desperately to copy the culture of others

So they work hard and for not alot of money, not sure why this is suddenly a bad thing. They are all tasteless, despite having ancient culture, excellent culinary and interesting linguistics thats it - they are all totally tasteless because you said so. Whats next? Oh they 'rip off the poor in their country'. While any country with 1.3 billion people of course has issues, since 1980 they have managed to bring over 500 million people out of poverty, with another 200 million promised in the next 20 years. Still - not good enough for James Richards - f***ERS!

Whats the last 'argument'? - Oh they try and copy other peoples cultures? Absolutely - how DARE they come over to OUR country, invest £10,000's pounds of THEIR OWN MONEY in to OUR CULTURE to try and build bridges, and then, they have the cheek to want to enjoy the same things WE BRITISH want to enjoy. I mean, my god, why can't we have the kind of people who'd just insist we adopt their entire culture to suit them instead! HOW UTTERLY SELFISH!

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Try again!
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Edited by snytaxx (14 Jan 2017 5.53am)

I have enjoyed reading your input about a league that I'm still only just learning about. I will tell you something, I like to bet on football and it strikes me now just how many games abroad might be fixed. It's a big concern ya know, because until now I would never have believed it.