Conca joins Shanghai SIPG

Argentine midfielder Dario Leonardo Conca has joined Shanghai SIPG after passing a medical, the Chinese Super League club announced on Saturday.

"It is my pleasure to come back to China and join the SIPG, thanks to all my Chinese fans," Conca said.

"Although Shanghai is a strange city for me, I'm sure that I can adapt to the environment and perform wonderful games for all of you," he added.

Conca had a successful two-and-a-half year spell with Guangzhou Evergrande and returned to his former club Fluminense last January. He scored 16 goals from 59 matches across all competitions in 2014.

Sun Hao, the deputy general manager of SIPG FC, told the press why they had signed the contract with Conca.

"The first reason is that Conca meets our coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's requirements. What's more, Conca had a successful experience in China before, I believe that he can reproduce it and help our team enhance the strength as quickly as possible," Sun said.

SIPG was ranked fifth last season. With the signing of Conca, Sun Xiang and Shi Ke recently, Eriksson exuded with confidence about the upcoming season.

"This year is very important for us, and I'm very proud of being here to give Conca a warm welcome. As you know in China everyone loves Conca, no matter you were Guangzhou Evergrande's fans or not," the former England coach said.

"Having many wonderful players now, we will try to reach the top three in the new season. Champion title? If we can earn victories one after one, why not? " added the 66-year-old Swede.

Conca is said to be unhappy at Fluminense due to a delay in the payment of image rights after investment group Unimed parted ways with the club in the end of 2014.