Shanghai price to pay for a ticket to anonymity

ANOTHER week and another big-name Premier League player linked with a move to China.

In fact, scratch that. It’s more a case of another day and another big-name Premier League player linked with a move to China, at the moment.

The Chinese seem hell bent on snatching the stars of our game by waving obscene amounts of money in their faces as they try to establish themselves as the major nation in the global game. So, should we be worried? I don’t think so, not really. Yes, there are some great stadiums out there and a couple of beautiful cities.

And they don’t half roll out the red carpet when you get there. I was in China fairly recently with, among others, Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Fabio Cannavaro, and we were treated like royalty.

But, while they might be able to attract the odd mercenary to their league with the offer of half- amillion quid a week, or players at the back end of their careers, football is about building teams, rather than having a handful of star players.

That’s why the Premier League will always be the place to play.

So much depends on the strength of the league – or, in our case, leagues – and the big question is always about how good domestic players are.

Australia have managed to make a national t eam with as many home-based players as foreign-based players, and the US will get there.

But it’s going to take China another 20 or 30 years.

And that is why it’s just a fad in footballing t e r ms a nd not somewhere the world’s most talented 19-year-olds are going to be looking at and saying, ‘That’s where I want to be’. Ask yourself this: would you buy a s ubscription to t he channel

They might be able to attract the odd mercenary but the Premier League will always be the place to play