Factbox - Chinese investment in European clubs and players
REUTERS - Here are some of the major deals that Chinese entities have made for European clubs and players in the past 15 months:
Nov 2, 2015: Chinese model car maker Rastar Group agrees to takeover La Liga club Espanyol in a deal valued between 14.3 million euros-17.8 million euros ($15.4 million-$19.10 million).
Dec 1, 2015: A Chinese consortium led by China Media Capital (CMC) Holdings and CITIC Capital agrees to pay more than $400 million for a 13 percent stake in City Football Group, the owner of a number of soccer clubs, including England's Manchester City and New York City FC.
Dec 16, 2015: FIFA reports reveals that more than 252.3 million Chinese viewers, or 18.1 percent of the total population, tuned in during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, giving the country the largest global audience share.
Jan 26, 2016: AS Roma's Ivorian striker Gervinho leaves Italy for Hebei China Fortune FC in the Chinese Super League for 18 million euros ($19.3 million).
Jan 27, 2016: Brazilian midfielder Ramires joins Chinese club Jiangsu Suning from England's Chelsea for a fee reported to be in the region of 25 million pounds ($31.3 million), setting a new transfer record in China.
Feb 3, 2016: Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande sign striker Jackson Martinez from Atletico Madrid for 42 million euros ($45.1 million).
Feb 5, 2016: Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Alex Teixeira snubs interest from Premier League club Liverpool to join Chinese side Jiangsu Suning for a fee of 50 million euros ($53.7 million), smashing the Chinese transfer record for the third time in 10 days.
Feb 17, 2016: Striker Ezequiel Lavezzi leaves French champions Paris St Germain for Hebei China Fortune for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal, with the Argentine reported to be earning $12.5 million per year.
May 24, 2016: Chinese brokerage Everbright Securities and internet entertainment company Beijing Baofeng Technology buy a 65 percent stake in Italian-owned sports media rights firm MP & Silva (MPS), valuing the company at more than $1 billion.
June 6, 2016: Chinese electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd agrees to buy nearly 70 percent of Italian soccer club Inter Milan for 270 million euros ($290.1 million) in the highest profile takeover of a European team by a Chinese firm.
June 11, 2016: French top-tier club Nice is bought by a group of Chinese and American investors headed by Alex Zheng, president of hotels group Plateno, and Chien Lee, founder and CEO of NewCity Capital.
June 14, 2016: China's Ledman Group buys Australian A-League club Newcastle Jets for around A$5 million ($3.8 million).
June 14, 2016: Aston Villa confirms that Chinese businessman Xia Jiantong's Recon Group has bought the English soccer club. British media report that the deal is worth about 76 million pounds ($95.7 million).
June 29, 2016: Zenit St Petersburg forward and Brazil international Hulk moves to Chinese club Shanghai SIPG for a reported 56 million euros ($60.2 million).
June 29, 2016: Forward Eran Zahavi signs with Chinese side Guangzhou R&F from Maccabi Tel Aviv for an Israeli record transfer fee of $8 million.
July 11, 2016: Southampton striker Graziano Pelle joins China's Shandong Luneng for a reported 13 million pounds. The deal is reported to have made Pelle the sixth-best paid player in world football, with a weekly salary of 260,000 pounds ($327,000).
July 20, 2016: English second-tier club Wolverhampton Wanderers confirms it has been taken over by China-based Fosun Group, with British media reporting the sale to be worth about 45 million pounds.
Aug 5, 2016: An agreement is reached for the sale of Premier League club West Bromwich Albion to Yunyi Guokai (Shanghai) Sports Development Ltd, controlled by businessman Guochuan Lai. British media report that Lai paid about 150 million pounds to buy the club.
Aug 5, 2016: Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi agrees to sell historic Italian soccer team AC Milan to a consortium of Chinese investors in a deal valuing the club at 740 million euros, including 220 million euros of debt.
The consortium included development and investment fund Haixa Capital and Yonghong Li, chairman of management company Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing, as well as some state-controlled companies whose identities were not disclosed.
The Chinese consortium has paid two 100 million euro deposits to the Italian soccer club's owner, though the deal has been delayed because the group has struggled to get approval from Beijing to go ahead.
Dec 23, 2016: Chelsea announce that midfielder Oscar, a Brazil international, will join Shanghai SIPG in a deal reported by British media to be worth 60 million euros. Oscar is reported to be earning about 400,000 pounds a week in China.
Dec 29, 2016: Former Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus striker Carlos Tevez joins Shanghai Shenhua from his boyhood club Boca Juniors on a reported salary of 615,000 pounds ($774,000) a week. Media reports suggest that the Chinese club paid Boca 84 million euros ($90 million) to sign Tevez.
Jan 3, 2017: Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel turns down an offer from Serie A champions Juventus to join promoted Chinese side Tianjin Quanjian from Zenit St Petersburg. It is widely reported that the 27-year-old will earn 18 million euros a year in China.
($1 = 0.9318 euros)
($1 = 0.7985 pounds)
($1 = 1.3259 Australian dollars)
(Compiled by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Edited by Martin Howell)