Chinese Super League Offers Wayne Rooney 3 Year/$112 Million Contract; Over $35 Million A Year

[BossNYC]

I post this in the MLS forum because Wayne Rooney is a known major target for MLS and I want this thread to consider the growing conflict for players that MLS and CSL have.

Honestly, I would love for Shanghai SIPG (the CSL club offering) to get him at this price. Rooney is done and this is such an obscene number for a player that isn't worth that price that I have to believe it would negatively impact them. I don't see MLS clubs offering anywhere close to this figure for a 30 something Rooney.

Rooney doesn't really command the global following that a Messi or Ronaldo does. Though one has to wonder what price they'd be willing to pay for those guys.

Thankfully, since CSL is a P/R league, there's only a handful of clubs willing to toss this kind of cash around over there.

How big of a threat to MLS is CSL?

 

[MagnusPax]

Chinese Super League is like a rich version of the Austrlaian A-League right now. And many of the CSL are on the path to bankruptcy. I don't see them as a threat to MLS but maybe a some what competition for some high end players, like clubs in Quatar are to us.

 

[Falastur]

How big of a threat to MLS is CSL?

In the short term? Not very.

It's a similar threat to the Middle Eastern leagues, who just throw huge sums at players in the hope of signing a fading star, but the league is never going to be plush with talent in its current form.

Wait about 10 years. Then they might start being genuine rivals for big-name players. However, the beauty of the world being the place it is is that there are so many people in it. There might be the odd story about a Chinese team beating an MLS side to the punch over a player transfer, but I don't think the CSL will ever threaten MLS' position in any way.

 

[sbrylski]

In the short term? Not very.

It's a similar threat to the Middle Eastern leagues, who just throw huge sums at players in the hope of signing a fading star, but the league is never going to be plush with talent in its current form.

Wait about 10 years. Then they might start being genuine rivals for big-name players. However, the beauty of the world being the place it is is that there are so many people in it. There might be the odd story about a Chinese team beating an MLS side to the punch over a player transfer, but I don't think the CSL will ever threaten MLS' position in any way.

You could argue that growth of the CSL will help MLS. The more people chipping away at Europe's standing as the pinnacle of club football, the faster we get to balanced worldwide transfer of talent. Europe will always produce more talent, but they have the advantage of also importing the most talent. Maybe one day European academies become net exporters of talent.

 

[MagnusPax]

Has the Super League done anything to support the extremely pathetic Chinese MNT?

 

[BossNYC]

Has the Super League done anything to support the extremely pathetic Chinese MNT?

I originally was going to point out that the CSL has de facto DPs because they can only sign 4 players from outside of the Asian Confederation and a 5th player from within the Asian Confederation but not from China.

And seeing how the Asian Confederation is dominated by the mighty powers of Australia and Japan and China can't even qualify for the World Cup there it pretty much says it all for how the Chinese development is going.

 

[Falastur]

Has the Super League done anything to support the extremely pathetic Chinese MNT?

Define "support". Only one member of the current Chinese national team is based outside of China, if that helps?

 

[Kjbert]

I post this in the MLS forum because Wayne Rooney is a known major target for MLS and I want this thread to consider the growing conflict for players that MLS and CSL have.

Honestly, I would love for Shanghai SIPG (the CSL club offering) to get him at this price. Rooney is done and this is such an obscene number for a player that isn't worth that price that I have to believe it would negatively impact them. I don't see MLS clubs offering anywhere close to this figure for a 30 something Rooney.

Rooney doesn't really command the global following that a Messi or Ronaldo does. Though one has to wonder what price they'd be willing to pay for those guys.

Thankfully, since CSL is a P/R league, there's only a handful of clubs willing to toss this kind of cash around over there.

How big of a threat to MLS is CSL?

This has nothing to do with Pro-Rel. Why do some people ALWAYS make it about being Pro-Rel. It's like the meme where the kid hasn't told anyone he was vegetarian for at least 8 minutes.

 

[Ulrich]

If that's a real offer, Rooney would be insane not to take it. He makes a lot of money as it is, but that's more than just a life-altering amount, that's a family-tree altering amount of money. He'll never again be the player he once was, so giving three years of his career to the rag-tag Chinese league is the smart career/life choice.

 

[BxLio91]

This has nothing to do with Pro-Rel. Why do some people ALWAYS make it about being Pro-Rel. It's like the meme where the kid hasn't told anyone he was vegetarian for at least 8 minutes.

WE'LL NEVER BE A TOP LEAGUE WITHOUT PRO-REL

 

[Kjbert]

If that's a real offer, Rooney would be insane not to take it. He makes a lot of money as it is, but that's more than just a life-altering amount, that's a family-tree altering amount of money. He'll never again be the player he once was, so giving three years of his career to the rag-tag Chinese league is the smart career/life choice.

There comes a point where the money is nice, but it doesn't even matter. He's already accumulated so much - unless he has a gambling problem like Charles Oakley, he doesn't care.

 

[Ulrich]

There comes a point where the money is nice, but it doesn't even matter. He's already accumulated so much - unless he has a gambling problem like Charles Oakley, he doesn't care.

Oh I disagree - Rooney may have enough for himself, but when you can change the outlook not only for your kids/grand kids but also your extended family tree, you make the decision. Or hell, Rooney could become a great benefactor of charities or even start one of his own. If the option is there, he should take it.

 

[Falastur]

If that's a real offer, Rooney would be insane not to take it. He makes a lot of money as it is, but that's more than just a life-altering amount, that's a family-tree altering amount of money. He'll never again be the player he once was, so giving three years of his career to the rag-tag Chinese league is the smart career/life choice.

Realistically, the amount of money he has now is already a family tree-altering amount. He's already worth a nine-figure sum. This amount more would make little difference. The problem is, as many of the world's richest over the course of human history have found, there never really comes a point at which you have "enough" money. You can always find something else that you need another zero on your bank account for. If you're someone like me, it's the difference between renting and owning a modest two-bedroom house. For a successful career businessman in their later years, it's the difference between a Jaguar and a Rolls Royce. For a US politician (because our ones really don't make much money) it's the difference between being able to retire to a 10 acre estate or a 50 acre one, or the difference between being able to say you donate to a charitable establishment to protect your reputation or you own one. For Rooney, it's the difference between being able to spend three months a year for the rest of his life renting a 10-bedroom yacht in the Mediterranean or actually owning the yacht. Even for multi-billionaire businessmen there are things that they can easily persuade themselves that they need a further £10b to do.

The thing is, as said before, he already has enough money to fix up his descendants for a hundred years to come, and he knows that. The money will surely be a lure, though. What it boils down to, therefore, is whether he fancies that his reputation playing in a top-level league until retirement and the ease of life coming from living in a country he understands and can speak the language in is more important than how greedy he is for more millions in his bank account.

 

[Fantazma]

This has nothing to do with Pro-Rel. Why do some people ALWAYS make it about being Pro-Rel. It's like the meme where the kid hasn't told anyone he was vegetarian for at least 8 minutes.

Because grassroots and open system will bring millions of $$$ in investment

 

[Gotham Gator]

If Rooney takes this, he better make sure the money is backed by a letter-of-credit from a AAA rated bank.

 

[Ohenry]

If Rooney takes this, he better make sure the money is backed by a letter-of-credit from a AAA rated bank.

He just has to make sure he has direct deposit into a UK bank 2 days before each game.

You know that old saying? ... I wouldn't move to China for a million bucks. $35M might make me rethink that old adage.

 

[Gotham Gator]

He just has to make sure he has direct deposit into a UK bank 2 days before each game.

You know that old saying? ... I wouldn't move to China for a million bucks. $35M might make me rethink that old adage.

No, he needs to make sure they are good for all $112 million from day one. He can't have them going bankrupt 6-months in and then he's left Man U and spurned other leagues for a fraction of what was promised.

 

[Ohenry]

No, he needs to make sure they are good for all $112 million from day one. He can't have them going bankrupt 6-months in and then he's left Man U and spurned other leagues for a fraction of what was promised.

Next stop ... Qatar.

 

[NYCFCFan10]

I was ready to be horrified at the MLS clubs offering ~10-~15 million a year.

35 million is a beautiful thing. Enjoy, China.

 

[BossNYC]

This has nothing to do with Pro-Rel. Why do some people ALWAYS make it about being Pro-Rel. It's like the meme where the kid hasn't told anyone he was vegetarian for at least 8 minutes.

Yes it does.

In P/R leagues, only a handful of clubs at the top of the league can be counted on to have stupid money unless an oil oligarch buys an outside team which is rarer than Manchester City titles. The clubs that are actually consistently at risk of being relegated would never spend like this.

It's not like MLS where most any team can spend relatively big money without worry. Columbus Crew are talking about Falcao. Columbus!