Brazilian star Paulon on the Chinese Super League: I was attracted by the high pay, but the reality is more complicated than I imagined
Beijing time on October 14, the Brazilian media "UOL" reported that the Brazilian center back Paulão (Paulo Marcos de Jesus Ribeiro), who used to play for the Guangzhou team, revealed in an interview that the high remuneration was the initial reason that attracted him to join the Chinese Super League soccer.
In March 2011, when Gremio were interested in selling Paulon to our country, he frowned and shook his head. At the time, Paulon, from Rio Grande do Sul, was on the verge of signing with Libertadores after a stellar campaign for the Brazilian national team the previous year. 24 years old, he had no knowledge of the Asian soccer market but suspected that the move could be a turning point in his career. In an exchange with coach Renato Gaucho, Paulon demanded to be involved in at least one game for Libertadores, but was eventually persuaded to accept the transfer, which would have brought Renato Gaucho more than 2 million Brazilian reais.
Upon arriving in Guangzhou, Paolong found everything about this rookie Chinese Super League team to be juvenile, but in less than three months, everything changed. Thanks to the money provided by our tycoon Evergrande, the team is getting on track.
"You just can't imagine what the new training center looked like." Ten years later, Paulon recalled, "There was marble everywhere, everything was immersed in gold, it was over the top. Four or five fields were planted with well-manicured lawns, and the gardens were well tended. The training center was equipped with four hot tubs and huge gilded chandeliers."
However, after years of glory, the bubble of Chinese Super League soccer has apparently burst. A symbol of this is the fate of defending Super League champions Jiangsu, who "closed their doors" after e-commerce giant Suning cut off funding. Defender Miranda and striker Eder, who left the country at the end of 2020 without receiving a penny during their time there, are trying to lodge a complaint against the Asian club.
The affluence of the early days of the Chinese Super League soccer boom stands in stark contrast to the trough marked by crisis and uncertainty in recent months. Stock exchanges across the globe were rocked two weeks ago when Evergrande had to pay its creditors a whopping 1.6 trillion Brazilian reais in default payments. The Guangzhou team salon could close at the end of the season due to the downfall of its funders. The country's economy has slowed down significantly and with it, investment in soccer has declined. Clubs and players who once saw our market as a great business opportunity are now experiencing headaches and uncertainty.
