Shearer Says: “Why would you go to China in the prime of your career?”
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Coral Ambassador gives his thoughts on the latest trend of players going to China…
Alan Shearer sat down with our very own Simon Clare this week to discuss the recent rumours around Diego Costa going to the China Super League and how he would have dealt with the situation back in his day.
Chelsea may be cruising in the Premier League of late, but that hasn’t stopped the rumours in the Press regarding Costa’s future at the club, with reports suggesting the Brazilian-born Spaniard was going to make the move to the cash-trapped Chinese Super League during the January transfer window.
You can watch the video below to see what Shearer has to say on the matter, but we’ve also picked out some of the best quotes from his latest interviews…
Simon begins the interview with a reference to the recent events at Chelsea, where Costa was linked with a big money move to Asia. Here’s what he had to say…
“It was a messy situation…but it didn’t seem to affect performances”
“It was a messy situation. It didn’t seem to affect performances. They played a game without him and they won very well and, of course, the week after that it was all calmed down. He then played the week after, scored [and] played very well.”
“Why on Earth would you want to go to China in the prime of your career?”
“There was obviously attention, or interest, from China, but he’s 28 years of age. Why on Earth would you want to go to China in the prime of your career? When China’s looking to build, but is nowhere near as exciting as the Premier League, or the Spanish League, or the German League or wherever.
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it’s all been smoothed over and then it was revisited toward the end of the season. If they’ve said to him “Look, stay here, help us win the league and then we’ll look at the situation again in the summer.””
Simon then asks the question to which we’d all undoubtedly like to know the answer. If Alan were a professional today, would he accept the offer to go to China?
“If I had the decision to go to China in my prime… no chance.”
“There are some players who are motivated by finance. There are some players who are motivated by winning trophies and the love of the game.
“I don’t know him [Costa] personally. If I had the decision to go to China in my prime…no chance. Why would you? I think you’d be crazy to go over there.
“I know it’s incredible sums of money…if someone is motivated by money, then China is the place for those guys. I can sort of understand it, coming to the last two or three years of your career.
You’re 34/35 and you’ve had a huge over to go over to China then yes, I possibly understand that, but not that 27 or 28 years og age when you’re in your prime.”
To finish, Simon asks Shearer what his thoughts are on the title race and whether it’s now a foregone conclusion that Chelsea will win it.
“I think it’s unlikely that anyone will catch them.”
“I still think there’ll be twists and turns. Can Chelsea be beaten three or four times? Yes. Because it seems as though everyone is beating eachother in that top six. Tottenham beat them, quite convincing, so they are beatable.
But they’re back to winning ways and looking very good again. I think it’s unlikely that anyone will catch them.”
