Record as Hulk signs SIPG deal
SHANGHAI SIPG signed Brazilian forward Hulk from Zenit St Petersburg for an Asia transfer-record US$62 million yesterday.
Zenit said SIPG paid 55.8 million euros (US$61.92 million) for 29-year-old Hulk, plus possible bonuses if he plays well in China.
That figure tops the US$56 million Jiangsu Suning paid this year for Brazilian Alex Teixeira. Guangzhou Evergrande paid US$47 million for Colombia’s Jackson Martinez. It is also a Russian record sale.
SIPG will reportedly pay Hulk US$22 million annually, double what his compatriot Neymar, the Brazil captain, makes at Barcelona.
Chinese conglomerates have snapped up clubs in the Chinese Super League, giving them dramatically increased spending power.
In the past year, Chinese teams spent more than US$300 million to recruit stars from the European leagues such as Ezequiel Lavezzi and Ramires, spurring talk of an unsustainable bubble.
Hulk passed a medical test at a Shanghai clinic on Wednesday after he was greeted by hundreds of fans at Pudong airport. He will join a squad led by former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who is under pressure to improve results after falling 12 points behind league leader Evergrande.
A press conference will be held in Shanghai today to announce “the Incredible Hulk” joining SIPG, a club spokeswoman said in a statement.
Hulk, a left-footed striker, joined Zenit in 2012 from Porto. “Over the last four seasons, I have been very happy,” Hulk said in a farewell message to fans on the Zenit website. “Go, Zenit! You will always be in my heart.”
Hulk, or Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, won the Russian Premier League with Zenit in 2015 but said last year he faced racism in Russia in “almost every game”, and warned it could be “really ugly” when Russia hosts the World Cup in 2018.
He leaves Russia at a time when many of its clubs are slashing spending, as the state-owned firms that bankrolled Russian football come under pressure in a recession amid low oil and gas prices.
Along with Hulk, Zenit is also likely to part company with Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel this summer.
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