True plus a new language is not particularly hard to pick up if one is so inclined. Its just that a lot of people on here do not have to migrate so they think a 'cultural shock' is so huge that a player won't settle but for those in economically tough situations things like language are the least of your worries.
Transfer Tweets - 2017 | When posting a tweet in a foreign language, post English translation too
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I can understand choosing for money once, but twice is a bit too much for me. Turned down an offer from Juve, I really hope he loses his spot in our national squad now.
China will make it difficult for European clubs to sign South American talents. Can see them having a top league within 10 years.
I did wonder why Juventus were signing Tomás Rincón, if they had Witsel coming in on a free at the end of the season.
Zenit were ready to accept Juve's €6m offer before the Chinese came in with a whopping €20m offer for a player who only had six months left on his contract, of course Zenit snapped their hand of with a deal like that. Witself himself could've earned €4.5m/year at Juve while he now will earn €18m/year in China. His career could've been so different if he chose to play for honours instead of money. Benfica -> Zenit -> China is pretty underwhelming.
He is obviously a big fan of money.
Yep, but it is what it is. It's of course easy to criticize his decisions but everyone choses what they want in life, I just think it's a bit disappointing.
Wow, I saw the links a few days ago but I didn't realise it was this advanced! I've never rated him anyway, so the sooner he's out of the NT the better.
Yeah, Nainggolan Dembele KDB is the way forward imo but unfortunately Martinez doesn't seem to rate Nainggolan.
Anyway, that's stuff for another thread. Witsel can do one as far as I'm concerned.
There was a guy who played for Spurs a few years back, can't remember his name, and he admitted that he didn't really like football he just did it because he was good at it and paid well. Not all players are in love with the game and have grand ambitions for prestigious careers and trophies I guess.
Benoit Assou Ekotto
David Bentley too, seems playing for Spurs kills any passion you have for the game, I can see why to be honest.
I'm surprised at so many of these players going to China but I don't think it's sustainable. I've done a lot of travelling in China and also lived there as an ex-pat for a while, in one of the more 'westernised' and modern cities. Here's why I don't see this being any more than a fad:
The language is rock hard, probably the hardest I've come across - they'll rarely if ever need it though. The food, can be weird, but again they'll be eating at the top tier and can choose whatever they want.
The sport is not very popular. The Chinese love basketball but in general, China doesn't have much of an affinity for 'team sports' - they seem to prefer solo sports like table tennis, athletics etc.
The nightlife is effing abysmal. Outside of Shanghai and Beijing, the nightlife is the worst you've ever come across - I don't see a footballer used to going to hip, trendy nightclubs with strict guestlists and hoardes of willing wannabe wags getting wasted...warming to the sort of gaudy, tacky, sterile atmosphere you find in the major nightclubs in China. They will not enjoy themselves. China simply doesn't 'get' good nightlife.
Basically, I'd bet that 9/10 of these players arrive, see the quality of competition, see how unappealing the nightlife is, and resign themselves to it being a quick, massive payday then jump ship.
The language is rock hard, probably the hardest I've come across - they'll rarely if ever need it though. The food, can be weird, but again they'll be eating at the top tier and can choose whatever they want.
The sport is not very popular. The Chinese love basketball but in general, China doesn't have much of an affinity for 'team sports' - they seem to prefer solo sports like table tennis, athletics etc.
The nightlife is effing abysmal. Outside of Shanghai and Beijing, the nightlife is the worst you've ever come across - I don't see a footballer used to going to hip, trendy nightclubs with strict guestlists and hoardes of willing wannabe wags getting wasted...warming to the sort of gaudy, tacky, sterile atmosphere you find in the major nightclubs in China. They will not enjoy themselves. China simply doesn't 'get' good nightlife.
Basically, I'd bet that 9/10 of these players arrive, see the quality of competition, see how unappealing the nightlife is, and resign themselves to it being a quick, massive payday then jump ship.
Aye, that's him.
Oh I see. €20m for Witsel who's only got 6 months left on his contract. Only in China I guess. When he moved to Zenit, you already knew he was more interested in money than any career based aspirations.
Why pay 20m if Zenit were already willing to sell for 6m? I understand paying the players crazy money so they go to China but why the club?
I think for 18 million he could buy a good night life, or at least a personal jet to the big cities.
It is fake money for a large scale experiment imho, just one or two paychecks and this bubble league will be going tits up by the Summer.
True. Time will tell I guess but I just don't see it lasting. I think there'll be a small influx of players going over there, then it'll die down and those players already there will be counting the days off their contracts to move back to better leagues.
You obviously can't if it's the people. Flying to another city might work in theory but in reality it's not really a good idea. You have to go to the plane, then you have the flight, then you have to go to the club. Even with a private jet that's just way too much shit if you want to go to a club.
However Witsel plays for a club that is right on the doorstep of Bejing so the whole problem doesn't even apply to him.
And honestly I don't know how important the nightlife is to him or footballers in general.
I'm convinced here's something dodgy behind these deals. China has taken a strong stance against capital flight in the last 12 months. IMO, a lot of these deals are a way of getting round that. Parking money safely in the form of players as assets.
I agree that there's something dodgy. However, wouldn't parking money in assets require that these assets can be made available if necessary? I doubt any of the players who have moved to China recently will ever be bought by another club for a reasonable fee.
I've never really understood the valuing of footballers as assets. Say a player has 6 months to go on his contract so he's sold on the cheap. He signs a long-term contract at the new club, is recognised as an asset at the purchase price and amortised over the length of his new contract. However, because he's signed a new long term contract his market value would increase (players on long contracts cost more than those at the end of their contracts), so does he then get revalued at his new fair value?
I think Batistuta hated it too just a "job" to him.. And Christian Vieri preferred Cricket.
Vieri preferred cricket? Sounds a bit far fetched! Does Italy have a team?
He was born in Australia i think.
Edit: His family moved there when he was a kid.
Born in Italy but raised in Australia according to Wiki.
That's ridiculous. A talented footballer in the middle of his career with no ambition at all. His next 4-5 years should be the best for him, but he decides China.
Happy to hear we're not just giving players away. Everton are desperate to get reinforcement and they should need to pay for their players just like every other club.
I like the stance on not selling players for peanuts, but with someone like Schneiderlin, who has been barely passable as a Premier League player for some time, it's a risky game!
Not that long ago was one of the best cms in the league. Someone will pay 20m for sure
Two clubs are seemingly in for him and its the beginning of the window, no reason to take the first offer.
This guy is a Journo who, I think, writes for the Liverpool Echo. Plus Paul Hirst retweeted him.
Yeah I know, I'm just chuckling at it being common knowledge Mourinho is selling him, common knowledge we rejected £19m so Joyce has provided us with the really useful information that we want £20m or more.
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