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Three of the best Colombian players have just left well known clubs from Europe and landed in the Chinese Super League, where their new teams paid a lot of money for them.
The latest to sign to play in the Far East is Jackson Martinez. Martinez failed to convince at Atletico de Madrid, the team that bought him last summer for €35 million and has now sold him for €42 million euro to Guangzhou Evergrande. Atletico made €7 million profit on Martinez.
The signing set a record in the Chinese Super League, breaking the previous one set just last month when Chelsea sold Ramires to Jiangsu Suning for €32 million.
With just three goals and two assists in 22 games for Atletico de Madrid, Martínez’ performance fell far behind his teammate Frenchman Antoine Griezmann, nowadays one of the best players in La Liga.
Martinez will play under former Brazil head coach Luis Felipe Scolari at Guangzhou.
Previously, Tianjin Teda signed Colombian forward Fredy Montero for €5 million from Sporting Lisbon.
When Montero arrived Portugal in the 2013/14 season he played in 29 games and scored 13 goals. This season he has played in 12 games and scored three goals.
In Lisbon, his compatriot Teofilo "Teo" Gutierrez and other foreign players bid farewell to Montero.
Sporting fans loved Montero. Photo: @hooligan10_29 | Twitter
Tianjin Teda hopes to have better results with Montero than it had with fellow Colombian Wilmar Jordán, who failed in China and now is playing Arabian soccer.
Finally, midfielder Fredy Guarin left Inter Milan and went to Shanghai Shenhua in a transaction that cost about €15 million plus performance bonuses.
Guarin scored just one goal in 16 games played in Italy. In five of them he came off the bench.
In the Shanghai, Guarin will be joined by another Colombian, Giovanni Moreno.
Spanish coach Gregorio Manzano is happy for having Guarin in his team. Photo: @grmanzano | Twitter
For this trio of Colombians, pressure will be lower in China than it was at Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon and Inter Milan.
The Chinese Super League is played between March and October. 16 teams compete, each of whom can have five foreign players, including one from the Asian Football Confederation.
Colombian players have been successful in China. For example, in 2010 Duvier Riascos, a forward who played for Shanghai Shenhua, was the Super League MVP of that season and in 2015 Henry Palacios wore the uniform of the Beijing Guoan and will continue to do so this year.
Who knows, will be Radamel Falcao next?
