Argentina’s former Manchester United and Manchester City
striker Carlos Tevez has signed for Shanghai Shenhua in the latest big-money
Chinese deal, reportedly making him the world’s best-paid footballer.
The acquisition of the 32-year-old from Buenos Aires side
Boca Juniors will "greatly enhance" the team’s front line, Shenhua
said on Thursday."The club looks forward to Tevez helping Greenland
Shenhua attack cities and strike stockades in Asian and domestic matches and
contribute to more exciting games for fans," it said, calling him
"the most outstanding striker in Argentina’s history".
It did not put a value on the transaction, but Argentine
media previously reported Tevez would make $84m over two years under the
contract 20 times his previous earnings.
Boca thanked Tevez, who was on his second spell with the
club, scoring 25 goals in 56 matches, including a double in a 4-2 Clasico
victory over their bitter rivals River Plate this month. Boca wished him good
luck, saying he had left fans with "unforgettable memories" and they
would be "dreaming of your return"."We’ll work on bringing you back," it said.
"No effort is too great to have you wearing our shirt again."
After passing a medical Tevez will join the rest of the
squad on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where they are holding preseason
training until late January, according to Shenhua. The side are coached by
former Uruguay international Gus Poyet, who was installed last month after the
club parted ways with his Spanish predecessor Gregorio Manzano despite
finishing fourth in the Chinese Super League.If reports are correct, Tevez’s pay of $42m a year makes him
the world’s best-paid footballer (purely on his club pay), catapulting him past
the previous top three: Cristiano Ronaldo, said to take home $23m a year after
tax from Real Madrid, his teammate Gareth Bale, and FC Barcelona’s Lionel
Messi.All top footballers pad their salaries with lucrative
sponsorships, which can send their incomes still further into the stratosphere.Tevez is the latest international name, many of them South
American, lured to Chinese football for eye-watering sums of money.
Crosstown rivals Shanghai SIPG, coached by former Tottenham
Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas, last week agreed a reported £60m deal for
Chelsea’s 25-year-old Brazilian midfielder Oscar.
Before the Oscar deal Chinese Super League clubs had already
splashed out more than $400m on players this year, after President Xi Jinping
laid out a vision of turning the country into a football power.Chinese teams broke the Asian record three times in just 10
days in the January-February transfer window, and moved it still higher when
Brazil’s Hulk joined SIPG for €55.8m in July.
Significantly, Chinese clubs are now competing with European
rivals for world-class players, who are opting for astronomical pay packets
over the chance of a career in football’s top leagues.
Fans welcomed the latest deal. "Shanghai’s football has
had its spring," said a poster on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. "Aren’t
you looking forward to next season’s Shanghai derby?" Tevez, who has also
played for Italian side Juventus during his career, has more than 70 caps for
Argentina. He married the mother of his three children, Vanesa Mansilla, last
week in Uruguay only to discover after the ceremony that his home had been
burgled.
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