Kuala Lumpur: 2016 AFC Champions League quarter-finalists Shanghai SIPG’s capture of Brazilian star Hulk is the latest in a series of record signings in Asia.
Date
Player
€
To
From
26/01/2015
Everton Ribeiro
15.0m
Al Ahli (UAE)
Cruzeiro
31/08/2015
Moussa Sow
16.0m
Al Ahli (UAE)
Fenerbahce
21/01/2016
Elkeson
18.5m
Shanghai SIPG
Guangzhou Evergrande
27/01/2016
Ramires
28.0m
Jiangsu Suning
Chelsea
03/02/2016
Jackson Martinez
42.0m
Guangzhou Ever.
Atletico Madrid
05/02/2016
Alex Teixeira
50.0m
Jiangsu Suning
Shakhtar Donetsk
30/06/2016
Hulk
55.8m
Shanghai SIPG
Zenit St Petersburg
The €55.8million transfer fee is the highest in world football so far in 2016 and the highest ever paid by an Asian club, an ever-growing record that has been broken seven times in 18 months, and five times this year alone.
United Arab Emirates outfit Al Ahli set a new Asian mark when they paid €15million for Cruzeiro’s midfielder Everton Ribeiro in January 2015, only to break their own record seven months later by splashing €16million for Fenerbahce’s prolific Senegalese striker Moussa Sow.
The Asian transfer record was then broken four times in a memorable two-week period in China in early 2016, a dizzying period which made global headlines and saw some of the game’s biggest stars head east.
It started on January 21 when five-time Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande sold two-time AFC Champions League winner Elkeson to Shangahi SIPG for €18.5million, and continued six days later when newly-promoted Jiangsu Suning spent €28million on Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Ramires.
Guangzhou Evergrande then put their stamp on Asia’s most remarkable transfer window, spending a jaw-dropping €42million for star Colombia and Atletico Madrid Jackson Martinez, only for that record to be shattered two days later.
Jiangsu Suning made reported Liverpool target Alex Teixeira the most expensive player in Asia by spending €50million - nearly three times more than the Asian record set a mere two weeks earlier - to secure the services of the Shakhtar Donetsk star.
As the transfer window drew to a close - with sighs of relief from clubs the world over - the flood of big-money signings came to a temporary halt, until this week.
Hulk’s €55.8 million move from Zenit St. Petersburg makes him the most recent player to set a new Asian transfer record, but based on recent trends he appears unlikely to be the last.
Photo: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com