China

Players who have swapped the Premier League for China

| 01 February 2019

Players who have swapped the Premier League for China

Marouane Fellaini is the latest player to move between the two leagues.

Marouane Fellaini has brought his five-and-a-half year spell with Manchester United to an end with a move to Chinese Super League outfit Shandong Luneng.

Here, Press Association Sport looks at other players currently with clubs in China having headed there from the Premier League.

PAULINHO

Very happy in China. Have a nice weekend! 🇨🇳⚽️👊 @GZEvergrandeFC pic.twitter.com/PW8Onk160u

— Paulinho (@paulinhop8) July 18, 2015

After two years with Tottenham, the Brazil midfielder left to join Guangzhou Evergrande in the summer of 2015 for a fee of 14 million euros (£9.9million at the time). He won the league twice, then made a surprise switch to Barcelona in 2017, before returning to Guangzhou a year later on a season-long loan.

RAMIRES

Thanks to all the Jiangsu Suning fans for the fantastic reception! Obrigado pela recepção, torcedores do Jiangsu! pic.twitter.com/1h6dWDCxbU

— Ramires (@Rami7oficial) February 9, 2016

Paulinho's compatriot Ramires signed for Jiangsu Suning from Chelsea in January 2016 in a deal believed to be worth £25m – a Chinese Super League record that would be broken twice in the following 10 days. The midfielder, who had been with Chelsea since 2010, was sent off on his Jiangsu debut before helping his new club finish runners-up behind Guangzhou that season.

GRAZIANO PELLE

🎉⚽️✌🏻️🇨🇳 Happy for the win & a little for the first goal too 😁😉 New experiences, new adventures and new victories!!! pic.twitter.com/yi0Hbeqa1R

— Graziano Pellè (@GPelle19) July 21, 2016

Italy striker Pelle moved to Fellaini's new employers Shandong for £13m in July 2016, having scored 30 goals in 81 appearances for Southampton after joining from Feyenoord two seasons earlier. The 33-year-old netted 16 times for Shandong in 2018.

OSCAR

Good morning 😃 #ShanghaiSIPG ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/JpgwkQHpVe

— Oscar (@oscar8) January 7, 2017

Another Brazilian to leave Chelsea for China, Oscar moved to Shanghai SIPG in January 2017 after finding himself out of favour with then Blues manager Antonio Conte. Chelsea cashed in as they received a reported £52m, which gave them a handsome profit of around £30m on the playmaker they bought from Internacional in 2012. Last year he helped Shanghai SIPG become Super League champions.

ODION IGHALO

Having scored 15 Premier League goals for Watford in 2015-16 and then managed only one in the first part of the following season, Nigeria striker Ighalo joined Changchun Yatai in January 2017. He has fared well on the goals front in the Chinese top flight, hitting 15 in 2017 and 21 last year – although the latter campaign saw Changchun get relegated.

MOUSA DEMBELE

Belgian midfielder, Mousa Dembele joins Guangzhou R&F from @SpursOfficial pic.twitter.com/72UIjcM0lk

— AFC (@theafcdotcom) January 17, 2019

The 31-year-old Belgium midfielder moved from Tottenham to Guangzhou R&F last month. Dembele, who would have been out of contract in the summer, had been with Spurs since 2012.

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