China sending football market to stratosphere_美文

China sending football market to stratosphere

"Being an emerging league and certainly not the first choice of most star players, football clubs in the CSL have to pay skyrocketing salaries to attract top footballers," Andrea Sartori, global head of sports advisory practice for KPMG, whose Football Benchmark reports cover the business of soccer, told China Daily USA. "The long-term cost-benefit analysis of these investments has still to be demonstrated."

The Daily Mail reported that the CSL planned to offer Ibrahimovic £56 million this past summer, but after the form he's shown this season at Manchester, they made the more dramatic pitch.

Ibrahimovic, 35, who retired as a stalwart for the Swedish national team after Euro 2016, is enjoying a renaissance at Old Trafford this season with 11 goals in 16 matches for Jose Mourinho's team.

"As long as he (Mourinho) needs me and the team needs me, I'm here," Ibrahimovic has said. "In my mind, I'm fresh. I'm like a 20-year-old boy. I feel fresh, I feel good and I'll keep going," the rangy star said on Saturday.

He went on later that day to score both goals for United in a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

While Ibra might not be ready to make the move to China now, the money will probably stay on the table for him in 2018.

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Greg Fountain is a copy editor and occasional presenter for China Daily. Before moving to Beijing in January, 2016 he worked for newspapers in the Middle East and UK. He has an M.A in Print Journalism from the University of Sheffield, a B.A in English and History from the University of Reading.