The 2024 Chinese football winter transfer window officially closed at 24:00 Beijing time yesterday.
Information from the internationally renowned and authoritative football transfer data website "Dezhuan" shows that as of 18:00 yesterday, the cumulative number of players transferred in and out of the 16 Chinese Super League clubs was 246 and 196 respectively.
The total transfer revenue and total expenditure involved were 2.8934 million euros and 9.8625 million euros respectively. This figure means that the Chinese Super League winter window transfer transaction income and expenditures have returned to a state of loss (deficit) this year.
Although the final data has yet to be officially confirmed, the league's total winter window signing expenditure is only about 10 million euros, and the vast majority of signing transactions are "zero price", which all shows the signing consumption of various Chinese Super League clubs in the "post-Golden Yuan era" Overall weak.
Transfer transactions show a loss in revenue and expenses
As of 18:00 yesterday, the 16 Chinese Super League clubs had completed a total of 246 transfers (person-time), while the cumulative transfers out were 196.
The difference between income and expenditure was 6.9691 million euros (deficit).
Data shows that in 2023, there will be a total of 193 inward transfers and 136 outgoing transfers for Chinese Super League club players.
At that time, the cumulative transfer expenditures and total income generated by each club were 3.226 million euros and 778.6 euros respectively, and the balance between income and expenditure was positive 4.56 million euros.
This is also the first time in 13 years that the Chinese Super League transfer winter window has shown a profit (surplus) as a whole.
It has to be said that due to factors such as the Chinese Super League's policy of recommending five foreign players to debut in the new season, clubs have introduced new players, especially the number of foreign players has increased significantly compared with last season.
In addition, the Chinese Super League clubs will resume participating in the AFC Champions League with their full lineup starting from the 2023 season. Among them, the Taishan team has reached the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League in the 2023-2024 season. All this objectively requires the Chinese Super League clubs to not only quantitatively recruit players in the new season. , it is even more necessary to improve the quality of signings.
Therefore, it is inevitable that the increase in investment in signings will lead to a return to deficit in transfer transactions.
Leading the list of foreign aid worth 1.85 million euros
Although global football activities have fully returned to normal operations since last year, judging from the actual situation, the Chinese Super League is still experiencing the pain of the "post-Golden Yuan era".
Against the background of operating beyond their means for years, most clubs in the Chinese Super League have maintained a cautious or even conservative attitude in terms of investment in signings.
Zeka, a foreign aid introduced by Shandong Taishan Club, temporarily leads the list of domestic professional football signings in this winter window with a price of 1.85 million euros. There is a high probability that he will become the "best player" in terms of player transfer value during this transfer window.
Compared with the 900,000 euro transfer price of Aziz, the "standard king" and the three-town foreign aid in the same period last season, Zeka's price has increased to a certain extent. Compared with Stanciu, there is still a significant gap in Zeka's worth, which is even lower than the worth of the "standard king" of the Chinese Super League in the "Jinyuan Football" era.
Although Zeka's transfer is Taishan Club's only non-free signing transaction during this window period, 1.85 million euros is currently the highest signing investment among the 16 Chinese Super League clubs.
Data shows that among the 237 Chinese Super League signing transactions completed during this window period, the vast majority are "zero-price" transfers or low-price rental transactions.
A considerable part of the transactions are actually players returning to their original clubs after the loan period expires. Even the current international players Lin Liangming and Gao Tianyi joined Guoan and Shenhua clubs respectively at zero transfer prices.
The club that has made the most signings in the new season is Chengdu Chengdu Club, which aims to compete for AFC Champions League tickets and the Chinese Super League championship. They have completed a total of 4 paid signing transactions, with a cumulative expenditure of 1.56 million euros, second only to Taishan and The club with the second highest transfer spend.
Among other clubs, 6 clubs have only completed one spending signing transaction, including the defending champion Shanghai Harbor and last season's third-place Zhejiang team.
Harbor's only consumer signing was the transfer of Brazilian foreign aid Yusa for 372,000 euros, and the Zhejiang team's only consumer signing was the loan of former international Sun Guowen for 192,000 euros.
"Cost reduction" may become the norm among clubs
Wuhan Sanzhen (1.37 million euros) and Shanghai Shenhua (1.31 million euros), which are temporarily ranked third and fourth on the list of investment in signings during the winter transfer window, have completed 3 and 2 signings respectively.
Among them, Shenhua introduced active international player Xie Pengfei from Sanzhen for 1.16 million euros.
It should be noted that the Wuhan Three Towns, the 2022 Chinese Super League champion club that is struggling in terms of operations, has shown a certain purchasing power during this window period, mainly because they purchased the current international players for 1.16 million euros and 640,000 euros respectively. Xie Pengfei and Wei Shihao were sold to Shenhua and Chengcheng, two clubs with relatively good financial conditions.
If nothing unexpected happens, Xie and Wei will rank first and second respectively on the transfer value list of local players during this window period.
Such a local player's top-price price is not even half of the transfer value of an ordinary U23 player five years ago.
During the opening of this transfer winter window, there are still three clubs that maintain "zero price purchases". They are the old clubs Changchun Yatai, Cangzhou Lions and the newly promoted Qingdao West Coast.
As another newly promoted polo team this season, Shenzhen Xinpengcheng has only made two signings, and the two players involved are local players Baihe Lamu and Peng Peng. The cumulative expenditure is only 642,000 euros.
Among the clubs that have spent money on signings, the one with the lowest spending amount is Meizhou Hakka. They introduced foreign aid center Rooney Ivar for 120,000 euros.
This year, in order to help each club improve their situation, the Chinese Football Association and the professional league management department have allowed each club to independently contact the club's first team and echelon for naming cooperation.
However, so far, only the Henan team among the 16 Chinese Super League clubs has implemented such cooperation as expected.
When "open source" struggles become a common phenomenon in domestic professional football, clubs will inevitably choose to "cut costs".
The Chinese Super League transfer market is actually a mirror of the current status of China’s professional football operations.
Text/Reporter Xiao Nan Coordinator/Du Rui