As the transfer window draws to a close, a marathon of debt is quietly unfolding in the football world. Numerous clubs have been working overtime to deal with the thorny issue of wage arrears amidst deadline day tensions. In the Chinese Super League camp, Wuhan Three Town and Cangzhou Lions are listed, while Guangzhou are also facing huge financial pressure.
Of the group of struggling teams, Guangzhou was undoubtedly one of the quickest to act. From the owners to the players, all hands were on deck, even snapping up the club's equipment in a special promotion on Dec. 17 in an attempt to ease the financial woes.
However, the challenge facing Guangzhou is much more than that. Ex-coach Carlo Cannavaro's €1 million salary has yet to be paid, and the prospect of filling it with merchandise sales alone is a worrying one. Guangzhou's financial crisis has spread to the coaching team, with the Salvadoran coach and three assistant coaches all ready to look for other jobs.
Whether the Guangzhou team can pass the FA's admission test depends largely on whether Cannavaro can agree to repay the outstanding salary in installments. If the two sides can't come to terms, Guangzhou's debut in the new season may become a fiasco.
But getting Cannavaro to accept repayment in installments will not be easy for Guangzhou. Since the epidemic returned to the country, Cannavaro in Italy to coach Udinese has been a period of time, the end of the season but failed to get a contract extension. In the past from the Guangzhou team to get 12 million euros of annual salary now into nothing, Cannavaro naturally do not want to easily let go of this arrears of wages. Perhaps he is looking forward to the salary arrears as a Christmas gift, to bring him a little comfort.
