China's Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao club has agreed the transfer of Brazilian striker Elkeson to super league rivals Shanghai SIPG, for both "national glory" and money, the club said in an announcement.
"For the purpose of supporting Chinese teams to compete in the AFC Champions league, and for the national glory, we agreed Elkeson's transfer to Shanghai SIPG club," the club said in the announcement.
Evergrande has also admitted in the announcement that the club acquired "times" of profit from the transfer income of Elkeson.
"The premium of Elkeson created a record high number in Chinese transfer market, the club got back the 5.7 million investment, and acquired times of profit," the club said.
"Shanghai SIPG club paid 18 to 20 million euros to the Guangzhou club," a source close to Elkeson told Xinhua.
Deep-pocketed Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao club spent 5.7 million euros to bring the Brazilian to China in 2012.
The now 26-year-old striker scored 77 goals in three seasons for the South China's club. He scored the winning goal for the team in the AFC Champions League final last November, helping Guangzhou to win the Champions League twice in three years.
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao club has just raised 869.36 million Yuan (132 million U.S dollars) last Wednesday by issuing 21.73 million shares on China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) market.
The club was listed in November in NEEQ. Real property company Evergrande Group is now holding 56.71 percent of its share and 37.81 percent for E-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
