In the Beijing hour of February 22, a high-profile media personality, Pan Weili, posted a video on his personal social media platform that delves into the current wave of salary restrictions in Chinese soccer.
Pan Weili analyzed: "This wave of salary restriction, in fact, what kind of players are most troubled? I divide Chinese players into four camps, the first three camps are limited. First of all, if you look at the salary restriction as a reward and punishment mechanism, it actually has little impact on the current international players. In recent years, those players who have been in the national team for a long time have long been vested interests, and they have successfully embarked on the journey of the golden dollar era."
"They have accumulated wealth of at least tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, and even if their annual salary is reduced to $1 million or $2 million in the future, their annual income can still reach the level of $1 million through reasonable financial management, and their quality of life will not be affected at all. Even if they reach the extreme, they will just stop playing soccer. Therefore, those current international players whom you hate are actually penalized very little."
"The second category of players is the 95, 97 age group of the middle generation, although not complete experience of the golden era, but happened to encounter the golden period of the U23 policy. In the years when U23 players were madly snatched by Chinese Super League teams, they became the meat and potatoes, signed a lot of high signing fees, but also enjoyed at least three or four years of U23 policy dividends, harvesting a lot."
"The third category is those young players who are 17 or 18 years old, such as the students of Evergrande's soccer academy, who are like second-year university students who are suddenly told that they can graduate and earn money in advance. Even if Evergrande gives a lower salary, they are still considered to enter the workplace to experience life in advance. What's more, any policy and era has cyclical turnover. After ten years of the golden dollar era, the next downturn era will only last five to eight years at most, and it won't last forever. And five to eight years from now, they are in their prime and still have a chance to sign big contracts in the next period."
"The last category, and I think the most unfortunate, are the players who are now around twenty-three years old. They are on the verge of signing the first big contract of their lives when they hit this downturn era. By the time this era passes, they will be in their mid-thirties and will probably not be able to wait for a really big contract." (DD)
