Shanghai boss Andre Villas-Boas fumes as new China foreign player rules throw plans into disarray

Big-spending SIPG spent €67m on Oscar and Uzbekistan captain Odil Ahmedov before new limit on foreigners was announced

Reading Time:2 minutes

Andre Villas-Boas, the newly announced football coach for Shanghai SIPG. AFP PHOTO / Johannes EISELE

Published: 2:52pm, 17 Jan 2017Updated: 2:55pm, 17 Jan 2017

Andre Villas-Boas has been given an instant insight into the political realities of working in China after his plans for the coming season were thrown into disarray by the Chinese Super League’s surprise new limit on foreign players.

Former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur boss Villas-Boas took over at Shanghai SIPG in the summer and immediately smashed the Asian transfer record by taking Oscar from Stamford Bridge for a reported €60 million.

But midway through the winter transfer window, with the start of the season just weeks away, the Chinese Football Association peremptorily announced that teams would be allowed to field a maximum of three foreign players in their matchday squads, down from five (four of any nationality plus one Asian).

Big-spending Shanghai have seven foreign players on their books, Brazilians Oscar, €55.8 million Hulk and €18.5 million Elkeson, young Ivory Coast winger Jean Evrard Kouassi, Koreans Kim Ju-young and Kim Young-gwon and Uzbekistan’s Odil Ahmedov.

Odil Ahmedov in action for Shanghai against Khaleej FC. Photo: Khaleej FC

Ahmedov was signed for €7 million before the new rule was announced, presumably to fill the ‘plus-one’ Asian foreign player slot.