The Chinese Super League continues to pursue European soccer stars. Its latest target is 24-year-old Chelsea forward Oscar. The Blues turned down an offer of $109 million U.S. from Jiangsu Sunning for the Brazilian on Wednesday, according to the Telegraph.
Despite the monstrous offer, Chelsea wants to keep Oscar in an attempt to turn its season around, according to the Score. Currently in 13th place in the Premier League table, with matches upcoming against Manchester United in league play and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, the club will need Oscar if there is any hope of success. Taking into consideration the Blues sold forward Ramires to Jiangsu Suning last month for $36 million in transfer fees, the Blues are growing thin at midfield.
Suning isn't discouraged. The club signed forward Alex Teixeira from Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk for $51 million U.S. on Wednesday, according to the Daily Mail. Shakhtar Donetsk manager Mircea Lucescu all but confirmed the deal.
"We have agreed the sale of Alex Teixeira to China. But we will wait a bit to finalise it due to the situation with Luiz Adriano. But it's all sorted on our side," Lucescu said, according to the Telegraph.
Liverpool was rumored to be interested in Teixeira at the transfer deadline, however manager Jurgen Klopp felt the asking price was too high for the Brazilian.
"We made offers, I won't say too much about that, but they were realistic, absolutely, with the premium of it being January, the Premier League, all the plusses you have when you make negotiations," Klopp said according to the Daily Mail.
Aside from adding Teixiera, Jiangsu Suning is expected to pursue Manchester City forward Yaya Toure with a contract offer of $43.7 million U.S. after the season. But the Nanjing-based team is not the only Chinese club making a splash in the transfer market; Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao made headlines this week, signing Jackson Martinez from Aletico Madrid for a transfer fee of $45 million U.S.
