Golden Football has become a thing of the past in Chinese football, and with its departure, domestic teams' transfer strategies have gradually shifted towards free signings. It is rare for any team to spend transfer fees on domestic players, and even if there are fees for foreign players, they are typically in the hundreds of thousands of euros. This transfer strategy is actually normal; it was the multi-million euro transfers of just a few years ago that were abnormal. In recent years, the top transfer fees in the market have been less than 5 million euros, and as time goes on, these fees are becoming increasingly smaller.
In the 2021 season, Shenzhen's Gintero, Wuhan Three Towns' Stancho in 2022, and Puzhisu in 2023, and Taishan's Zeeka in 2024, all had transfer fees that were decreasing, with the last two years seeing fees under 2 million euros, and 2023 even below 1 million euros. Given this football environment and background, fans do not hold much hope for the 2025 winter window. However, there is now a transfer that could potentially be a top-level transfer king for the 2025 Chinese Super League season.
According to news from Portugal, the main central defender of Famalicao, Richeli, may join the Chinese Super League during this winter window, with his next destination being the Chinese Super League team Qingdao West Coast. The Brazilian central defender will join on loan, but there is an option to buy for 2 million euros, with the loan period ending in December 2025. A buyout fee of 2 million is quite high, and based on the purchasing power of various teams over the past two years and the transfer news so far, it is likely that Qingdao West Coast's buyout of Richeli at the end of this year will make the Brazilian defender the transfer king of the year. It is hard to imagine that this year's transfer king would come from a relegation team.
This year, the most expensive signing for Shanghai Shenhua was Brazilian forward Minero, with a total price of around one million euros. The only known transfer fee for Shanghai Port was for midfielder Vital from Brazil, reportedly only 350,000 US dollars. Other teams like Taishan have no transfer news, and are likely to sign foreign players for free. Teams like Guoan and Zhejiang should also not exceed 2 million euros in their signings, as it seems that all teams have reached an understanding, not wanting to engage in an arms race, nor wanting to waste resources on transfers.
Richeli should also be the biggest-name foreign player signed this year, as he is the main player and captain of the Portuguese Super League team, having played for Famalicao for six years, with a total of 161 appearances. His value is 2.5 million euros, only lower than that of Crescendo, Leonardo, and others. Qingdao West Coast also seems to have a clear goal, with relegation avoidance being the first priority, followed by trying to achieve a better ranking. This player with a buyout fee of 2 million euros has also made fans very hopeful.