‘Super-tax’ kills off takeaways for the Chinese

CHINESE football’s “super-tax” has had a massive effect on their league – and made it a virtual no-go area for overseas stars.

For the previous two winter transfer windows, China’s Super League spending had topped any of the sums spent in Europe.

But the current Chinese window – which shuts at the end of this month – has been far more quiet.

It’s because clubs in China have been hugely hindered by a governmentimposed tax, which effectively doubles the cost of foreign players.

The behaviour of players such as Carlos Tevez (above) – on £615,000 a week during a stint with Shanghai Shenhua, which he recently described as a “holiday” – has also built mistrust of overseas footballers within the Chinese government. Simon Chadwick, an expert on Chinese football at Salford University, says the 100 per cent tax won’t go away until trust is rebuilt. And that could take years. “The government in China don’t like to be taken for a ride – and that’s exactly what they think has happened,” he said.

“The 100 per cent tax – coupled with the state declaring that they will crack down on the levels of expenditure we’ve seen in the past two years – means that clubs are no longer spending the kind of sums they were. “And I don’t see that changing. “There’s a massive amount of mistrust of foreign players and, as long as that remains, then so will the super-tax.

“The days of players disappearing to China, on the kind of money that Tevez was given, are over.

“Chinese clubs are definitely thinking twice before spending their cash.”