Arsene Wenger Cites End of Chinese Overspending as Lack of Aubameyang Competition
Arsene Wenger has explained why clubs in the Chinese Super League are no longer pricing other European teams out of moves for some of the world's best players.
The Gunners boss spoke to his club's official site in the wake of their come-from-behind Carabao Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea and opined on a lack of movement from clubs in China during the January transfer window.
Top Arsenal transfer target Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was supposedly in line to move to China after Borussia Dortmund were the recipient of a mammoth £73m bid from Guangzhou Evergrande.
However, those talks quickly got shelved and now Arsenal are leading the chase for the hotshot striker - the north Londoners seeing a £47m offer rejected by Die Borussen on Wednesday.
When asked why his team wasn't being challenged for the Gabon international's signature, Wenger claimed that it was China's new rules about foreign imports that had slowed down their dominance of the market in recent transfer windows.
He said: "Because they have slowed down in China and people haven’t noticed. Many people still think 'O.K. we will pay these prices because if we don’t, China will buy the players for a maximum price'.
"That is gone. We have to be looking well at what has happened in the past 10 months in China, and accept that they have slowed down. They are much more cautious about spending big money for European players."
The Chinese Football Association has put regulations in place that curbs its clubs' spending big on foreign stars, after a huge rise in the number of players from outside the country rocked up with the promise of massive salary packets.
Clubs are now only permitted to play three foreign footballers in each match to stop those from outside of China taking starting berths ahead of homegrown players.
Any team found guilty of breaching these new specifications could be hit with substantial fines, as Chinese president Xi Jinping looks to make his nation a footballing powerhouse in the future.
