Billionaire owner of "Quanjian" from Tianjin, Shu Yuhui, revealed that recent changes in the rules introduced by the Chinese Football Association have hampered planned star transfers.
Yesterday we wrote that starting from the upcoming Super League season, Chinese clubs will only be able to have three foreign players in their starting lineup. Previously, four were allowed.
According to "Sky Sports" sources, "Quanjian" offered £30 million for London's "Chelsea" sniper Diego Costa, but were willing to pay up to £80 million.
"If the rule had been '4+1', like in the past, in that case we would have made a significant investment this year. However, now it has changed to three (foreign player limit - ed. note)," - Yuhui told Tianjin TV.
"This situation has changed our transfer plans. The internet reports about Costa are correct, we would like to see him (among us - ed. note). We also made an offer for Cavani and were in negotiations."
However, "Quanjian" team could not acquire Costa because "Chelsea" wanted to wait until the summer.
"We could not afford to wait half a season," Yuhui added. "We continue to wait and suffer, but eventually we will acquire someone."
"We applied to many snipers and made an offer for Benzema, but due to the change in rules we cannot do anything."
Recently, teams that have joined the Super League, led by world champion Fabio Cannavaro and with Axel Witsel moving, also revealed that they were negotiating with two more players.
"Mendes (Radamel Falcao's agent - ed. note) came to my house a few days ago and we also had thoughts about Costa, but we were ready to acquire two players. Contracts were agreed, the price was good. These are Falcao and Raul Jimenez (Lisbon's "Benfica" forward - ed. note)," Yuhui said.
"Contracts were ready, both players were ready to sign them, and then we received news about salary restrictions and foreign player limitations, which forced us to change our plans."
