According to Tianjin Daily, Shandong Taishan FC plans to bring in Zeca, who is expected to pay a transfer fee of 1.8 million euros, and he is expected to be the highest-priced player brought in by a foreign aid in the new season.
Compared to Zeca, Shandong Taishan FC paid about 7.2 million euros when they brought in Fellaini in 2019, which is four times as much as Zeca's transfer fee. Currently, Chinese Super League clubs are getting tighter and tighter in terms of finances. However, Zeca's own transfer fee of €1.8 million was also double the transfer fee of last season's kingpin Aziz. At that time, the Wuhan Three Town club spent only 900,000 euros to bring in Aziz, which means that clubs have returned to investing in player introductions this year.
Arguably the craziest period of foreign aid introduction in the Chinese Super League in the last decade was around 2016 and 2017.In 2016, Shanghai Harbour Club brought in Elkeson for a transfer fee of 180 million euros and Hulk for 560 million euros, Jiangsu Suning Club brought in Ramires for 280 million euros and Teixeira for 500 million euros, and Guangzhou Evergrande Club brought in Martinez for 420 million euros to bring in Martinez. It wasn't until 2017 that Harbour Club brought in Oscar for €600 million in what was considered an extremely flashy move that seems almost unbelievable today.
An analysis by Tianjin Daily points out that although it is not yet clear how Chinese Super League clubs will bring in foreign aid this year, free agents are bound to be the preferred target. This is because a free agent means that only the player's salary, as well as the necessary taxes and agent's commission, need to be paid, thus minimizing expenses. In addition, clubs will be more careful in considering the duration of the contract, goals and other details when bringing in new foreigners.
