On February 25th in Beijing, an explosive news spread rapidly in the soccer circle. Japanese media football-tribe exposed that Chinese player Li Lei, who plays for Swiss powerhouse Grasshoppers, enjoys a super-high annual salary of 300,000 euros despite not being the absolute mainstay of the team, while the two Japanese players who play alongside him, Kawanabe Jun and Segou Ayumu, are not even paid as much as they are in the Japanese J-League, triggering widespread discussion about the Chinese team Grasshoppers' "favoritism" towards Chinese players. The Chinese team Grasshopper "favors" Chinese players.
The football-tribe further reports that Ayumu Seguro, a young Japanese player, has just moved to Grasshoppers from J-League side Cerezo Osaka last month, joining forces with Lei Li and Jun Kawabe as teammates. Although the two see Grasshoppers as a springboard for their careers, their annual salaries are not as good as they could be.
Ayumu Seguro, a young center back from the Sakura Osaka youth academy, is known for his outstanding physical conditioning and incredible fitness.In 2017, at the age of just 17, he made his professional debut in a battle against Victory Ship Kobe in the JLF Cup, setting a record for the youngest player to appear in a match in the team's history. Hailed as a talented player for the future of Japanese soccer, he steadily occupied a starting position for Sakura Osaka in 2020 and moved to Switzerland after just renewing his contract for two years.
Another Japanese player, Jun Kawanabe, 25, comes from Sanfrecce Hiroshima's youth academy.After being promoted to the first team in 2013, he had a brief loan spell with J2 League side Jubilee Iwata and helped the side make a successful run into the J-League in the 2015-2016 season. After a stellar 2021 season, he joined Grasshoppers in July and has made 22 appearances this season, scoring four goals and contributing two assists. Last month, he joined Premier League side Wolves but was loaned back to Grasshoppers until the end of the season.
The article mentions that Grasshoppers is a Chinese-funded club and that Li Lei joined from Beijing Guoan at the end of December last year and has only made 2 substitute appearances so far, but has contributed one assist. Although Li Lei is not a starter of the team, his annual salary is 300,000 euros, which is at the top of the team. While Jun Kawabe and Ayumu Seguro, the team's mainstays, are earning less than their annual salaries when they were in the J-League. (Source: DD)
