Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has warned European clubs against trying to compete with the money being spent in the Chinese Super League.
A number of high-profile players have made the move to China in recent seasons, while the likes of Diego Costa, Dimitri Payet and Yaya Toure have all been linked with lucrative offers.
Wenger acknowledged that the CSL is a threat to European clubs, but believes that the majority of players will choose a higher standard of football over a higher wage.
"That's the danger, that the Chinese offers become the benchmark for Europe. You cannot compete with that but I still think that, when you're a footballer, the first thing is that you want to play against the best players in the best teams. Of course it's a worry but it happened in Europe before. It also happens when you're at a smaller club," he told reporters.
"Sometimes we had periods where we could not financially compete with the bigger clubs who took our players away from us. It can happen inside the country. My thought is that when you want to be a football player, your first aspiration is to play in the best league, against the best players.
"That has to be the first target, after that when you are a professional football player you want to combine the fact you can play in the best league, against the best players, for the maximum amount of money. I think that combination is the best in England at the moment, so I don't see why the players should leave the English Premier League.
"But China has moved forward, tries to promote football and I'm happy that football becomes very popular in China, but I still think most of the players, of the big players, will stay in Europe at the moment."
Arsenal duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have also been loosely linked to the Chinese Super League amid growing uncertainty over their futures.
Barney Corkhill
