Since football was invented the Premier League came into being in 1992, we’ve become used to the frequent media criticism of the influx of foreigners.
There are the usual staples, none of them backed up by evidence: foreigners invented diving; foreigners invented obscene contract demands; foreigners KILLED FOOTBALL AS WE KNOW IT.
The Chinese Super League is a few years behind when it comes to things like that, but this January saw several big-money arrivals who look set to change the face of one of the world’s emerging leagues.
Clubs in China outspent every top European league this winter, with the likes of Ramires, Alex Teixeira and Jackson Martinez moving east.
And the impact was immediate, with all 16 goals in the leagues opening weekend coming from foreigners, with this Teixeira strike among the highlights.
Alex Teixeira tearing it up in China with two goals on his debut pic.twitter.com/X4gzZRWCxY
— oddschecker (@oddschecker) March 7, 2016
This hasn’t gone down too well with one local media outlet, unfortunately.
The Guangzhou Daily called it ’embarrassing’ that no local players had found the net on the opening weekend.
‘From the perspective of the development of Chinese football, it is a despicably bad thing, the paper claimed.
The full list of goalscorers are as follows:
Tim Cahill (Australia)
Fernandinho (Brazil, two goals)
Ramires (Brazil)
Alex Teixeira (Brazil, two goals)
Marcelo Moreno (Bolivia)
Jackson Martinez (Colombia)
Gervinho (Cote d’Ivoire)
Demba Ba (Senegal)
Ibrahima Toure (Senegal)
Ha Tae-Goon (South Korea)
Osman Sow (Sweden)
Chen Po-Liang (Taiwan)
Ersan Gulum (Turkey, one goal and one own goal)
