Transfers

The Ping Ping Chinese Football Association Super League, that is, China's first division soccer league, began play on Friday with 16 teams playing 30 games from now until December.

China wants to be a powerhouse in this sport. This country has made some efforts to be recognized in world soccer.

In fact, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a state plan for China to host the 2030 World Cup and win the World Cup before the end of the 21st century. And he also has taken selfies with players like Sergio Aguero.

With Pep Guardiola coming to Manchester City, so too must come the media storm of transfer rumours. It feels like pretty much every player who has ever been somewhat associated with Guardiola has been linked with a move to the Sky Blues in the past month and Gerard Pique is no exception. However, the veteran Barca defender had some surprising words to say in that regard. 

"My love for Manchester United is too great for me to sign for City," said Pique. "Even though Pep is a great coach." 

This January’s transfer window was something of an oddity. Instead of the usual headlines involving the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea or Paris Saint-Germain, the biggest story came out of China. The Chinese Super League, CSL, spent $278 million during the winter transfer window, outspending the $250 million dropped by the Premier League. So, we decided to take a look at the top paid footballers in China today.

John Terry is a dick.

This is not a particularly controversial opinion to have, more of an accepted notion that pretty much everyone on earth who is not a Chelsea supporter believes (and even the Chelsea supporters know this, deep down in the bowels of their consciousnesses.)

Why is John Terry a dick? To borrow a line from the United States Declaration of Independence, we hold this truth to be self-evident. I mean, just look at the guy.

How much value can be gained in the January transfer window? Well, it all really depends who you ask and the circumstances surrounding any given transfer.

Football pundits, coaches and administrators in Germany and further throughout the continent see spending in January as a sign of weakness that reflects a complete lack of planning from a club.

Three of the best Colombian players have just left well known clubs from Europe and landed in the Chinese Super League, where their new teams paid a lot of money for them.

The latest to sign to play in the Far East is Jackson Martinez. Martinez failed to convince at Atletico de Madrid, the team that bought him last summer for €35 million and has now sold him for €42 million euro to Guangzhou Evergrande. Atletico made €7 million profit on Martinez.

Grading transfer window performances is a stupid endeavor. No one can say for sure whether a club has performed well or poorly because the players haven't even taken the pitch yet for their new clubs.

But news outlets do this anyway because they can't think of any better use of time, and the grades get clicks, and clicks get money.

Undoubtedly media organizations are already in the throes of typing out their grades for this January transfer window, even though it hasn't even ended yet.

Alexandre Pato is coming home. Well, actually he’s leaving home. But he’s making a move back to his home away from home--Europe. The one-time Brazilian prodigy has reached an agreement with Chelsea for a six-month loan deal. At the end of the six months the club will have the option to extend the loan, make it a permanent deal or kick him to the curb. 

Javier Hernandez has been linked with Liverpool lately, and it isn't exactly hard to see why. Chicharito has been in magnificent form this season, scoring 21 goals in 24 games in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen. A player of his skill set could be exactly what Jurgen Klopp needs. The German's team has played some good football at times, but a lack of clinical finishing (and some suspect defending) has seen them fail to make any headway in the Premier League table.

Chelsea's defensive record is in shambles: they've allowed 34 goals in 23 matches this campaign. Last season's title winning defense allowed only 32 goals throughout the entirety of the season. More worringly for the Chelsea heirarchy is that the situation doesn't have any immediate remedies in the form of contracted players. Their backline is comprised of ageing stalwarts John Terry, 35, Branislav Ivanovic, 31, and Gary Cahill, 30.