It's been threatening to for a while, but it appears the Chinese Super league is finally making its claim to become a new power house of world football. As another rather uneventful January transfer window in England has drawn to a close, the window in China is still open, and the incredible list of player who have taken the journey to China is continuing to grow. After Didier Drogba signed for Shanghai Shenhua in 2012, the Chinese league appeared to calm down for a period, with only a few top name players moving to the country, and much like the MLS, these players where heading towards the back end on their career, which makes this January's transfer spectacular even more incredible!With still two weeks to go in their winter transfer window, the top tier of Chinese football has seen a staggering £105,445,598.18 spend on incoming players so far, comfortably topping the English Premier Leagues spending for this window and making it the highest spending league in the world for the winter window. As well as this, four of the top five spending individual clubs in this window have been Chinese, with only Norwich City bucking the trend. Now, we have seen obscure leagues spend incredible money on a lot of big name players in the past, the most recent examples being the MLS, bringing in the likes of Kaka, David Villa, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo all in a short space of time, the reason why this Chinese spending spree is so different and is making the whole football world take note is that, these players are not only big names, but still in the prime of their career and could force their way into some of the top teams in world football. Former Arsenal winger Gervinho made the jump this window, as did Colombian midfielder Fredy Guarin and the ever present, now former Chelsea deep lying midfielder Ramires. However, the two biggest deal of the window both broke the record transfer fee for Chinese football, and both 100% made the world of football stand back and watch, especially those in England!
The 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil saw a lot of players showcase their talents on the biggest stage of them all, and one striker who certainly took advantage of this was Jackson Martinez, despite stiff competition from team mates restricting his time on the pitch, when he started the group game against Japan, Martinez scored a very impressive brace, and showed the world what he could do! Alongside an incredible goal scoring record of 67 goal in 89 games for FC Porto in Portugal, in the summer of 2015 Jackson made a 35 million Euro move to Atletico Madrid, turning down long term suitors Arsenal in the process. Martinez has been on the radar for the London based club for quite a while, so when things failed to click at Atletico for Jackson, it was widely rumored that Arsenal would make another attempt to sign the front man. However, almost out of no where, 3rd February 2016 saw a Asian transfer record fee of 42 Million Euros agreed to bring Jackson to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao. This deal shook the world of football, seeing such a big name, coming from one of the worlds elite in Athletico, moving to China, however this wasn't the biggest deal of the window. 
Liverpool Football Club, the five time champions of Europe, 18 times champions of England, one of the world recognised super powers of the beautiful game, so who'd of thought they'd ever lose out in signing their number one target to a side from China? Well that's what happened. Brazilian attacking midfielder Alex Teixeria has spend the last few seasons letting the world of football know about his ability! With 46 goals in 62 games over the last two season for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, it appeared the Brazilian was to follow in the footsteps of fellow former Shakhtar stars such as Douglas Costa, Willian and Fernandiniho to make a big money move away from the club. When Liverpool approached the Donetsk based side about signing Teixeira in January of this year, they where turned down, and told they would have to offer upwards of 50 Million Euros to sign the Brazilian, despite trying to lower the price for most on the month, the English transfer window closed with the deal dead in the water. Alex Teixeira came out and said he wished for the deal to go threw to increase his chances of representing his national team. When the deal didn't happen, it appeared as if Teixeira was very disappointing with this decision and his comments hinted at a move to the club the following summer. However, no more then three days later, the 50 Million Euro price tag set on the Brazilian by Shakhtar had been met, not by Liverpool, but by Jiangsu Suning for a record Chinese transfer fee, meaning the record fee had been broken twice in two days! This deal ran riot in the English media, and made many people who has tried to ignore the Chinese Super League's spending stand up and take notice! A player with such high potential, has moved to the league, after failing to secure a deal to a traditional giant of the game! The back to back record transfers saw the Chinese Super League burst into the spot light, with many people questioning how and why this had happened! And then, days later it was revealed that Chelsea had declined a 60 Million Euro bid for Brazilian midfielder Oscar, which would have made him the third most expensive transfer in English football history (After Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and Fernando Torres to Chelsea). When this offer came to light, you certainly have to wonder what has caused this sudden influx of talent and this, almost obsession with the game which hasn't been seen before from the Chinese league. Chinese president Xi Jinping announced a goal to create a domestic sport economy worth $850bn by 2025. At the heart of this goal and the accompanying plan is the aim of hosting and winning the World Cup. The influx of money being pumped into Chinese football is of course going to attract many players to get involved in this country wide push, as well as top players coming to China, former England and Manchester City boss Sven Goran-Eriksson, and World Cup winning manager Luiz Felipe Scolari have started managing in the top tier of Chinese football. The increase in both playing and managing staff will see the standard of the league grow drastically, now the overall goal of the Chinese national side winning the World Cup may be very, very, very far in the future but the increase in talent in their top flight can only lead to good things for Chinese football.
Well the Leicester City owner said he would invest to ensure a top five finish for the foxes, and now they're six points clear at the top of the table, so you never know, in 2026 we may be seeing China win their first ever World Cup!
