They say that money talks, it solves everything for many people which is great while there is plenty of it, but becomes a problem if and when the money stops flowing.
So I watch the recent media reports related to Chinese football signings and transfers where the money being spent appears to be increasing disproportionately to the reality of the real world and wonder how long this current model will be sustainable? It sounds great at the moment, but my fear is that the football business in China will reach a peak and then implode on itself!
There is definitely no doubt that the money will attract foreign players to China that are at the end of their careers in Europe or South America, or those younger players who would typically not get into the top teams in either continent and I am sure that any of us in a similar position would do the same.
However what does worry me is the fees currently being paid by Chinese teams to attract Chinese players which are both very large and disproportionate to their abilities, although this is of course a relative and subjective assessment.
The big concern is that in the relatively near future transfer fees for Chinese players will have been driven so high that it would make the chances of any of them being taken up by clubs elsewhere in the world, very unlikely just because their choice of players with similar abilities is far greater and the cost lower.
You may ask why I as a non-Chinese should care, and the answer is that I would like to see the standard of football in China develop so that the domestic game improves significantly and the whole football experience becomes more entertaining, if China was to really adopt football and makes it part of the national culture it would be amazing. In the long term this would improve the quality of play from the grassroots level upwards.
It would also an argument that if the value of footballers and their salaries were to increase in China, more young people would be attracted to play and perhaps this would also drive up the standard and quality of the national game. But I still believe that for the domestic game to improve, and for the national squad to perform better, its football players must play in leagues outside of China for long enough periods to absorb football culture, skills and teamwork that they can then bring back with them.
Football quality isn’t something that can be improved or fixed in a year or two, it will take a generation, a change in attitudes, greater grassroots development and a long term, consistent and well managed strategy and this needs the same group of people involved and directing it for a long period and a focus on the long and not the short term. Of course those people also need the skills and experience to develop and then implement the strategy, and where are those people in China?
This debate about China and football will be had for years to come, and possibly during that time little or no real progress will be made to improve all the facets of football because what everyone is obsessed with is only what they see on the pitch.
The appreciation of all the work carried out in the background before and after is ignored because its not ‘sexy’ or ‘face enhancing’, but without this work there is no quality performance on the pitch. The money is being thrown in the wrong direction, and although good players should be paid appropriately, there are far better uses of the cash if the beautiful game is to really be improved in China.