YANNICK CARRASCO has returned to Atletico Madrid on loan until the end of the season after nearly two years in the Chinese Super League with Dalian Professional FC, formerly known as Dalian Yifang.
The 26-year-old has been back in his native Belgium since the end of the Chinese domestic season in November – meaning that there are no coronavirus concerns.
Carrasco has returned to Atletico Madrid
Carrasco has already started training with Atleti againCredit: Alamy Live News
Despite playing alongside the likes of Salomon Rondon and Marek Hamsik, Dalian endured two fairly underwhelming lower mid-table finishes with Carrasco in their team.
The wing-wizard played well himself though, scoring 24 goals and assisting a further 17 during his time in China.
Carrasco was persistently linked with a move to the Gunners when he was at Atletico last time around – but favoured a return to his former club rather than a move to England this month.
While a trophy eluded him in his two-and-a-half seasons in La Liga, Carrasco scored in the 2016 Champions League final – and will be hoping to win back his place in Belgium’s starting XI ahead of Euro 2020.
Rafael Benitez, manager of Dalian, will struggle to replace Carrasco, with the Chinese Super League having imposed new salary cap rules.
No player joining the league can now be paid more than £2.5million-a-year – that’s around £48k-a-week.
For context, ex-Chelsea ace Oscar is believed to be earning around £385k-a-week at Shanghai SIPG.
Chinese authorities now want to discourage big name signings from Europe, instead hoping to nurture more local talent like Wu Lei, who left SIPG last year for Espanyol in La Liga.
The new salary cap only applies to new signings, so there is no immediate pressure for star players to leave China yet.
And the rule is just the latest sanction taken by the league try and discourage extravagant transfers.
A mouthwatering 100% tax is also required to be paid on transfer fees dished out by CSL clubs.
Carrasco netted in the 2016 Champions League finalCredit: —
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
