Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande to field Chinese-only squad by 2020 ending mega-money foreign moves

CHINESE SUPER LEAGUE champions Guangzhou Evergrande want no more foreign players by 2020.

The Far East’s most dominant side – dubbed the “Manchester United of Asia” – will end their big spending on overseas recruits.

CLAIM YOUR FREE £10 BET WITH SUN BETS

Getty Images

Carlos Tevez became the world’s highest-paid player on £615,000 a week when he joined Shanghai Shenhua in the winter transfer window.

And it was Guangzhou themselves who sent shockwaves around the world with a then-record purchase of ex-Atletico star Jackson Martinez for £31.9million last February.

But now the big-spending league’s biggest club – who are managed by World Cup-winning ex-Brazil boss Phil Scolari – have laid out plans to curb their lavish funding and instead focus on homegrown players.

Club boss and real estate tycoon Xu Jiayin said he planned to strip out all foreign players by the end of this decade, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Reuters

EPA

Getty Images

Xu said: "In my view, the ideal all-Chinese squad for Evergrande is composed of a world top manager and all native players.

"Our purpose... is to contribute to the development of Chinese football and all our work needs to be focused on this."

Xu's comments follow an official crackdown on "irrational" spending after Chinese clubs broke the Asian transfer record five times in a year by recruiting the likes of Chelsea's Oscar and Watford's Odion Ighalo.

Chinese authorities said they would rein in transfer fees and cap wages, while cutting the number of foreign players each team can use from four per match to three.

Another report claimed Super League teams would automatically forfeit games 3-0 this season if they don't field at least one under-23 Chinese player.