Chinese football clubs have spent the most during the winter transfer period which closed on Friday. But the prospects for Chinese national team, Chinese Super League (CSL) and international competitiveness remain a riddle.
Ex-Chelsea midfielder Ramires, Argentine international Ezequiel Lavezzi, former Serie A duo Gervinho and Fredy Guarin, ex-Atletico Madrid striker Jackson Martinez and Cameroon captain Stephane Mbia are all on the list of Chinese clubs' recruits.
The Chinese transfer fee record is smashed four times in 2016, culminating in Jiangsu Suning's payment of 50 million euros for Alex Teixeira, also a target of English Premier League side Liverpool, from Shakhtar Donetsk.
New season of CSL kicks off on March 4. Then we'll see what these big contracts can bring to clubs and to the league as well.
BIG MONEY
CSL clubs have spent an unprecedented 317 million euros in total this winter, overtaking the expenditure in English Premier League.
Even China's second-tier League One is ranked ahead of Germany's Bundesliga, Spain's La Liga and France's Ligue 1 in spending, according to the transfer tracing website "transfermarket".
Sven-Goran Eriksson, former head coach of England, admits big money injected into Chinese football is an important factor to attract the Europe-based top players to come.
"I've been in Italy during the 90s when every player wanted to come to Italy because the football was very good, then I was in England during the 2000s and all the players wanted to go to the Premier League because of more money and the good football," said the Swedish, who is at the helm of CSL club Shanghai SIPG.
"Now, in 2016, it seems that every player wants to come to China for the same reasons. (All the money) will make the clubs much stronger."
AMBITIOUS
As Eriksson said, the focus in the world to invest in football changes about every ten year, but it's no coincidence for China to catch the spotlight.
It came about one year after a top-level team on deepening China's reforms, led by Chinese President Xi Jinping, approved plans to reform the sport in the country.
In contrast to China's success in other sports, China has been struggling in football for decades and only reached the World Cup finals once in 2002.
Club owners and investors have been rushing to pour money into football since the reform plan carries through, hoping to lift the domestic league and then international competitiveness.
Among them, Guangzhou Evergrande, coached by World Cup-winning Luiz Felipe Scolari, is the pioneer in exploring "big spending for big reward" as the club has won the CSL champion five times in a row and Asian Champions League twice. The huge success is accompanied by club's lavish spending in the past five years for high-profile coaches and players.
Jiangsu Suning, the biggest buyer this winter, just follows suit of Evergrande, aiming at overturning Guangzhou's dominance in three years.
"The target of Jiangsu is to win CSL in three years and Asian Champions League in five years," said the club in an official presentation this month.
The second-tier League One club Tianjin Quanjian also spent generously and then expects big. "Promotion to CSL, winning Champions League and Club World Cup" is the club's three-step ambitious plan.
WORRIES
Money brings highlight to Chinese football, but not everyone looks at it positively.
Sun Jihai, former Manchester City defender, said he "is not optimistic about the future" if heavy spending is always the priority for clubs.
"If all the big money is used on buying foreign players, it helps little for Chinese football and not every player is worth the money," said the 38-year-old, who is the first Chinese to score in English Premier League.
Sun's worries is echoed soon, at least from the Chinese clubs' overall performance in the Asian Champions League opening round this week. Four Chinese clubs have saw just one win from Shandong Luneng, which is viewed as a setback for CSL.
Defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande drew 0-0 with Pohang Steelers of South Korea at home, while Shanghai SIPG lost to Melbourne Victory 2-1 away.
"Chinese football needs a beneficial cycle. We need more domestic players to grow and play abroad," said Sun.
"If we can do that, maybe we don't need to pay that much to buy foreign players. We can find local players in the same level," added he.
But Eriksson thinks differently, believing the investment in clubs would eventually lead to national team success.
"Maybe 10 or 15 years ahead, I'm sure China's national team will compete well to win the World Cup," said the Swedish.
Eriksson gives credit to the improvement of Chinese junior players and praises CSL clubs for opening youth academies.
But Sun said the road to success will be long than most expected because the youth training system in China is still far behind its Asian rival Japan.
"In my opinion, if we hope to see a real improvement for Chinese football, we really need patience," said Sun.
