Argentine arrival heralds Chinese football's "real estate era"

Jul 12, 2011, 13:08 GMT

Beijing - Chinese media believe the arrival of Dario Conca could herald the start of a 'real estate era' of wealthy investors trying to buy success for their teams.

Conca signed Monday for Guangzhou Hengda, known in English as Guangzhou Evergrande, who are currently top of the Chinese league and unbeaten this season.

The record fee of 10 million dollars and annual salary of 4.8 million euros over three and a half years have increased expectations that Evergrande will buy its way first to the Chinese league title and then to the Asian Champions League.

Xu Jiaying, one of the directors, has said Hengda wants to build the first Chinese team to be ranked top in Asia over the next five years.

The official Xinhua news agency said the Chinese Super League had entered a 'real estate era', with Evergrande among 13 real estate firms that are the owners of the league's current 16 teams.

But the agency said it was worried that the real-estate firms could create a bubble in the football economy.

'Is the capital chain of Chinese football safe?' it asked. 'Once the real estate companies have problems, the stable conditions of Chinese football will certainly be affected.'

Xu Jiaying welcomed Conca to Evergrande on Monday night with a party on board his yacht in Guangzhou's Pearl River.

Many fans with home-made banners with messages in Chinese, Spanish and Portuguese welcomed Conca at the airport in Guangzhou earlier Monday.

Conca said: 'I am happy to come to China, come to Guangzhou. I hope my arrival will bring changes to Hengda, and also hope I will enjoy my stay here. This is a completely new trip.'

'I never was never met with flowers, wreaths and an airport pickup in Brazil. I think I will really like this city. I will work hard, to reward the football fans with excellent results,' he said at the airport.

But the Liaoning Daily, in the north-eastern province of Liaoning, sounded a sour note when it questioned why China cannot produce its own Conca.

'Due to our over emphasis on success, [in youth football] we always choose the players with strength and tall stature,' the newspaper said.

'This is not because our team members or our coaches do not make efforts. It is because of the weaknesses of the Chinese football system,' it said.