Chinese football clubs are upping their bid to lure talent away from Europe to the Chinese Super League. Over the past few years many prominent players such as Graziano Pelle, Jackson Martinez and Ramires have been tempted away by the eye-watering wages on offer, higher than those of even the richest premiership clubs.
Now it has emerged that China is launching a new offensive by offering players and managers so-called 'personality deals', which could see some of the game's more colourful characters heading east:
Jose Mourinho has reportedly been offered a 20% pay rise on his current deal at Manchester United if he agrees to personally insult and pull the hair of rival managers, plus storm out of at least one major press conference; Joe Hart has received a similar offer as long as he meets the requirements of dropping one clanger per month and having millions of Chinamen laugh at him in the street every day; Diego Costa has been offered Chinese citizenship and the national team's captaincy if he agrees to wear a pantomime villain's mask and kick puppies and babies behind the referee's back.
While seen as a worrying development by most, former president of UEFA Michel Platini has urged European clubs to adopt a similar approach to the Chinese, telling reporters that he has a few ideas of his own if anyone is interested.
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