Another day, another article about the significant amount of money a footballer will be earning in the Chinese Super League. This time it's all about the less than glamorous acquisition of Belgium's Axel Witsel.
Central midfielder Witsel isn't really the kind of player that China has become accustomed to signing with the huge money of the Far East usually earmarked for attacking players like Oscar and Carlos Tevez.
However with his contract running down at Zenit St Petersburg it looks very much like the 27 year old is going to go after the cash in the next part of his career by moving to China.
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According to Belgian paper HLN Witsel will be moving to Tianjin Quanjian for 20 million euros in January. The midfielder will also earn 18 million euros a season with a further 2 million in bonuses, putting him in a similar bracket of earning as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi!
Witsel was very close to joining Juventus last summer but the Russian club pulled the deal at the last minute and it fell through.
It was thought that he would move to the 'Old Lady' in the winter for 6 million euros or in the summer for free but both Zenit and the player have decided to accept the money from Asia instead.
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The deal has not yet been finalised but it does seem almost inevitable that Witsel will move to China with both SIPG Shanghai and Tianjin Quanjian keen on the player and Quanjian leading the race.
The former Benfica player has been a mainstay with the national team in recent years but with competition from Radja Nainggolan, Marouane Fellaini, Moussa Dembele and Steven Defour his move to China could put his place in Roberto Martinez' team at risk.
Former Chelsea man Oscar recently became the world's highest paid player by moving to the CSL but was quickly overtaken by Carlos Tevez.
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There's a lot more of this to come!
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