Paris Saint-Germain winger Ezequiel Lavezzi. (Photo : Getty Images)
Paris Saint-Germain winger Ezequiel Lavezzi, a rumored target of English Premier League champions Chelsea FC and Italian Serie A club Inter Milan, is reportedly considering a "big-money move" to China this summer.
Football Italia reported that Chinese Super League squad Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC had offered €10 million of annual wages plus bonuses to Lavezzi and the 30-year-old Argentina international is said to be set to "reflect on the offer" until his contract with the French champions expires at the end of the season.
However, the Blue Devils allegedly "wants to close a deal in the first few days of February" ahead of the Feb. 27 closure of the Chinese winter transfer window.
Caught Offside noted that Lavezzi has long been planning a move away from Parc des Princes as soon as his current contract with the French capital club ends, and because of that Les Parisiens wants to sell him during this winter window "to avoid losing him for nothing in the summer".
The report also said that Lavezzi could receive up to €16 million a year in compensation from Shanghai Shenhua including all gratuities.
Meanwhile, Calcio Mercato indicated that Inter Milan had offered the Villa Gobernador Gálvez, Argentina native a salary of €3.5 million a year to play in San Siro, which is way below than the Chinese club had proposed.
Lavezzi has been with PSG since July 2012 after the reigning Ligue 1 champs bought him from Napoli for €26.5 million and was signed to a four-year contract worth €30 million. He had appeared in a total of 163 games for Les Rouge-et-Bleu in all competitions for four seasons, scoring 35 times during the said time period.
CSL teams had been spending heavily during this year's winter transfer window. After a €33 million transfer by Brazilian midfielder Ramires from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning and an €18 million move by Ivorian forward Gervinho from AS Roma to Hebei China Fortune, the latest big-money transfer to China was that of Colombia international Jackson Martinez, who was bought by Guangzhou Evergrande from Atletico Madrid for €42 million, the largest in Chinese football history.
There were also rumors that Russian Premier League club Zenit Saint Petersburg had turned down a humongous €90 million bid from Shanghai Shenhua for its Brazilian winger Hulk.
