Talking Balls: Silly Money, Superstars & Super Starts

Jonathan White | Dec 16, 2011 6:00 pm | Add a comment | 2956 reads

Abdul-Salam Bilal. Remember the name. He’s won the Premier League, the European Championships and the Champions’ League. His sights are now on the Chinese Super League and he’s just signed for Shanghai Shenhua. You might know him better as Nicolas Anelka. The Frenchman has left West London for Shanghai at the age of 32. He’s signed on a contract reported to be worth over RMB 2 million per week but he’s said to believe “that Shanghai will be a great city for the children.”

Whether Anelka is coming to China for reasons other than a massive pay day is irrelevant. His arrival has changed the face of Chinese football yet again.

Didier Drogba is being courted by Chinese clubs, with Dalian Aerbin set to tempt him with another RMB 2 million per week deal. Their fallback options in the case of the Ivorian rejecting them are said to be World Cup winner David Trezeguet and Argentine international Diego Milito. CSL Champions Guangzhou Evergrande have stated that they will spend USD 100 million this season. In the meantime, Beijing Guoan have secured the signing of … Shao Jiayi. The Chinese midfielder has returned to his hometown after nine years in Germany.

An excellent article on footballers heading to the East appears in the Independent here. They ask Cameron from the superb Wild East Football about the CSL’s part to play in this. It’s well worth a read, as is this excellent piece from The Economist on why China won't be ruling the world anytime soon.

One last word on the football comes from another high-profile CSL signing of a decade ago:

“At the end of 2002 I flew out to China. I hated it at first, especially the food. We had duck’s head, duck’s eyes, chicken feet, and a lot of bat. I was soon feeling bored and restless. When I wasn’t training there was nothing to do except hang around all day. I couldn’t speak the language and none of the hotel staff could speak English. When I wanted some water I had to point at the fridge and try to indicate it was water I was after. It was like being locked in a cave. China is eight hours ahead of England so whenever I rang home I always seemed to wake up my friends and they’d say, ‘---- off, why are you waking me up?’”

That was none other than Paul Gascoigne.

This is where Talking Balls admits that there are sports other than football. Briefly.

  • Beijing Ducks, led by the ever-likeable Stephon Marbury, are now a record-beating 10-0 in the CBA.
  • The CBA All-Star Game will be in Guangzhou on February 18 & 19.
  • Beijing Wushu officials have defended their conduct in the treatment of fighter Shangguan Pengfei after he was injured at the National Free Combat Championship in Hainan in October. Shangguan died in hospital this Monday. More here.
  • Soccer officials – including ex-CFA refereeing heads – will be going on trial in Liaoning starting Monday.
  • Lin Dan has spoken up for the use of the Hawk-Eye system in badminton to clear up contentious line calls. If Hawk-Eye is good enough for tennis, cricket and M*A*S*H, then why not?
  • Team China’s women’s short-track speed skating team is struggling for form while Wang Meng remains suspended indefinitely
  • Muriqui of Guangzhou Evergrande has won the CSL Golden Boot and the Player of the Year at the CSL Awards.

And finally, spot the FIFA World Cup rip-off at the CSL Awards.

Photos: TVLoop and China Daily