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Thibaut Courtois Aims Subtle Dig At Teammates Who Moved To China

Thibaut Courtois Aims Subtle Dig At Teammates Who Moved To China

Oscar and John Obi Mikel left Chelsea for the Chinese Super League and the Belgian has provided his thoughts.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

So many players have moved to the Chinese Super League in recent times and it feels like we are writing about them every single day.

Two Chelsea players made the move recently, with Oscar moving to Shanghai SIPG for a massive £52 million, while fringe player John Obi Mikel also made the China switch, having signed for Tianjin TEDA.

The likes of Carlos Tevez and Axel Witsel are also among the big guns to have joined the Chinese footballing revolution, following on from Hulk, Alex Teixeira, Jackson Martinez, Graziano Pelle and others.

Here are just some of the players to have moved to the Chinese Super League in the past couple of seasons:

One man who almost certainly one won't be moving to the Chinese Super League is Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, judging by his recent comments.

The Belgian, who has kept 13 clean sheets this season was asked by Sky Sports about the growth of football in China and the fact so many players have moved their, including some of his teammates.

Goalkeepers from abroad are not permitted to playing in the Chinese Super League at present, but the former Atletico Madrid loanee has no interest anyway and aimed a subtle dig at Oscar and Obi Mikel.

He said:

"Some players are more concentrated on what they will do after their football career and want to make sure their lives are financially settled."

"I prefer to play in big teams, earn a little less money and win trophies."

You can almost rule out Courtois playing in China in the near future but the quality of players playing in the league at present is seriously impressive.

At the end of December, we put together a Chinese Super League XI here:

There have been further big signings since then though and by the time the transfer window finishes, we'll likely be able to put together a seperate XI...

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