Antonio Conte confident Chelsea can repel Chinese Super League raids
By George Perry
Antonio Conte believes the Premier League’s competition and prestige outweigh the lucre of the Chinese Super League. He appears to be in a dwindling minority.
Antonio Conte and Chelsea had an easy decision in allowing Oscar to accept Shanghai SIPG’s offer. Oscar was minimally involved in Chelsea’s season and did not figure into Conte’s vision the club. Oscar had little reason to stay around west London.
Diego Costa, on the other hand, will continue to be Chelsea’s striker for as long as his form and attitude stay at current levels. Costa has a solid chance of winning another Premier League title this year, which would translate into a Champions League return next year.
The economic pressures the Chinese Super League is exerting resemble the forces that the Premier League unleashed in the 1990s and early 2000s. But the disparity in the quality of football is much greater now. The money on offer may be compensating players for what they are giving up as much as for what they earn.
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Antonio Conte believes that players should factor in the quality and prestige of these tournaments before signing a ludicrous contract to play in China. Money is obviously important, but for competitors, China offers little next to England or the rest of Europe.
"[The Premier League] is really competitive and every player wants to come and play in this league. This league is the first in the world because of a lot of positive things. For this reason, I don’t think these offers from China are a threat for our league. – Telegraph"
Conte noted that playing for Chelsea carries its own cachet, even among the rest of the Premier League. No Chinese club has those intangibles, no matter how hard they try to buy their way to the top.
"It’s a great honour to play for Chelsea and for this reason I don’t see [China] as a threat for my players. The money is not everything. When you play for a great team like Chelsea, you must be pleased."
Antonio Conte may merely be kissing the badge and the flag as he girds himself for financial warfare. As a manager he is able to maintain a much broader picture. With his playing career behind him, he can account for things like culture, competition and history between leagues and clubs. To a certain extent, that is a luxury players may feel they do not have.
The Chinese Super League has not yet pursued managers as aggressively as they have players (yet, strangely, they are pursuing Mark Clattenburg). Andre Villas-Boas is one thing. When accomplished and established Premier League managers start receiving record-setting offers to take charge of a Chinese team, we will see what Conte says then.
Considering that Diego Costa and Jose Mourinho share an agent, perhaps the day is not far off.
Up until this year, the Chinese Super League was a twilight tour for players who were past their prime in the European game. Like Major League Soccer, it was a brief interlude between the top tier of the global game and retirement.
Next: Five years of Gary Cahill, Chelsea's defensive opportunist
With Oscar and Diego Costa, the Chinese Super League is forcing players to choose between playing the best possible football during the best years of their career and making an ungodly amount of money.