Cristiano Ronaldo's massive transfer to Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr caught the world's attention last month, but in other circumstances the five-time Ballon d'Or winner could have gone a step further east.

The transfer of the Portuguese star to Saudi Arabia, after canceling his contract with Manchester United, indicated a shift in the compass of Asian football that began before the Covid-19 epidemic and continued to leave a significant impact.

With money pouring into Chinese clubs - usually owned by debt-reliant property developers - the Chinese Super League has attracted top players and coaches since early in the past decade.

Chinese contracts with astronomical numbers

In 2016, Shanghai SIPG signed Brazilian duo Oscar and Hulk for a total of €130m ($141.27m), highlighting a competition that already included World Cup-winning coaches Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Shortly after, Carlos Tevez joined Shanghai Shenhua for 600,000 pounds a week ($743,820), according to speculation, cementing China's position as the latest lucrative destination for footballers.

There are much larger numbers than that, including Real Madrid's refusal to transfer its former star Gareth Bale to a Chinese team for a record weekly salary of more than one million dollars, noting that the Welsh player was not participating at the time mainly with the "Royal".

It was normal 5 years ago to find stars refusing contracts with major European clubs to join Chinese teams, such as former Belgian star Marouane Fellaini, who left Manchester United in 2019 after representing him in 119 matches, preferring to move to Shandong Luneng, China, for getting a higher fee. Much of course.

The authorities showed concern about lavish spending, so they tightened the procedures, but did not reduce speculation that the most famous players would move to China, and it was not a great surprise that Ronaldo was associated with joining Chinese clubs.

Ronaldo, in particular, was the focus of speculation in 2018 regarding his move to Tianjin Guanjian (the generous and rapidly developing spender) after taking pictures of the club owner with Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo's agent.

Rich clubs are closing their doors

But after 5 years, many things have changed, and Tianjin became one of the first clubs to close its doors due to legal or financial problems, while Wuhan Yangtze was the last club to collapse this week.

Few were spared from the decline of Chinese football.

And in early 2021, Jiangsu Suning Club - owned by one of the country's largest retailers - disbanded, months after winning the league title for the first time.

The two-time Asian champion Guangzhou, who once dominated Chinese football, deteriorated after its owners (China Evergrande Real Estate Development) were forced to reduce financing after the government imposed restrictions on borrowing.

China's anti-Covid-19 policy posed tougher challenges for clubs.

Talents infiltrated the Saudi Professional League, and the current top scorers in this competition, Anderson Talisca (Al-Nasr Club), Abdul Razzaq Hamdallah (Al-Ittihad Club), and Odion Ighalo (Al-Hilal Club) previously played in China.

Saudi Arabia showed great ambition in football, as it prepared to host the 2027 Asian Cup and requested the organization of the 2026 Women's Asian Cup.

These steps came after China was forced to give up the rights to host the 2023 Asian Cup due to its anti-Covid-19 policy.

Despite the easing of restrictions related to the Corona pandemic in a dramatic turnaround last month, Chinese football has already been severely damaged and its luster has disappeared.