The billionaire owner of Tianjin Quanjian has revealed the Chinese Super League’s new rules have scuppered their hopes of signing Chelsea striker Diego Costa.
The Chinese Football Association have announced reforms which will restrict the number of non-national players clubs can select for their match-day squads.
Teams could previously select a maximum of four foreign players and have at least one Asian player in every game.
But now, starting from next season which kicks off in March, they may only name a maximum of three foreign players and a minimum of two Chinese players aged under 23 in each squad, with at least one in the starting XI.