SHANGHAI: Zenit St Petersburg’s Brazilian international Hulk arrived in Shanghai Wednesday to sign for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG team, as the cash-flush Chinese Super League embarks on a new round of transfer spending.
A horde of cheering red-shirted fans mobbed the 29-year-old at Shanghai airport as he made his way through the arrivals halls carrying two bouquets of flowers.
Russian media have said Zenit would be paid around 55 million euros ($61 million) for his services. But according to posts on China’s Twitter-like Weibo, SIPG’s general manager Sui Guoyang has said the figure was “not that high”.
Website transfermarkt, which tracks dealings in the sport, put the fee at 58 million euros.
SIPG said on a verified Weibo account the “Incredible Hulk” would undergo a medical on Thursday, after which he would be officially signed, with a press conference to follow later.
The deal could break the Asian transfer record of 50 million euros, paid by Jiangsu Suning for Shakhtar Donetsk’s Alex Teixeira earlier this year in China’s world-leading transfer splurge.
