Once it was China, not Saudi Arabia, on a multi-million pound recruitment drive to buy in the world's best football talent. In just a few years though, the Chinese Super League's big-money plans have imploded.
Sign up for notifications to the latest Insight features via the BBC Sport app and find the most recent in theIn June 2016, hundreds of fans gathered at Shanghai airport to watch one of the most famous footballers in the world make the city his home.As he strode through arrivals, a welcoming bouquet of flowers was thrust into his arms and a Shanghai SIPG scarf draped over his neck.
Less than a decade on, though, and the movement is in the opposite direction, with the bubble bursting and players leaving. "Oscar - I've watched him play with Chelsea - and obviously from playing Fifa, you know all of the players. It was pretty incredible." Tevez, who signed for Shanghai Shenhua from Boca Juniors, later described his year in the Chinese Super League as 'a holiday'
"I just feel so sorry for Hebei and what happened because they were one of the biggest teams with loads of big names and money," said Memisevic, who now plays for Al-Nasr in Dubai."It's really sad but it's been a thing at a lot of Chinese clubs. I've seen that Guangzhou and Wuhan are also disappearing. It's just really sad.
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