The Chinese government’s decision to introduce a salary cap to its country’s Super League was just the ticket to alert Walter Sabatini (and a host of others) to the possibility of Bologna grabbing the services of former Stoke City and West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic.
Arnautovic, reputedly earning £200,000-a-week (about $18m CAD per year) playing for Shanghai Port FC is immediately unaffected by the change, as is any other player still under existing contract, but when his deal expires at the end of 2022, he’ll be subject to a maximum $3.5m CAD per year.
Chinese Football Association chairman Chen Xuyuan spoke out in favour of the salary caps, insisting that CSL clubs had ‘burned’ too much money in recent years.