Brazil's Diego Tardelli in a friendly international match. (Photo : Reuters)
Cuca, the Brazilian Shandong Luneng coach, shared to reporters on Monday: "I'm not going to lie, I came here firstly to ensure my financial independence."
The former Atletico Mineiro manager was referring to his relocation to China's two-decade-old national soccer league, after he got tired of the pay conditions in the association football league of his native South American country.
Cuca was recently joined by former Atletico striker, Diego Tardelli, after the 29-year-old was recruited by Shandong Luneng for a transfer fee worth 5.5 million euros.
Tardelli has appeared in the world soccer headlines this week because he was chosen as a Brazilian national team player by Brazil's coach, Dunga, making him the first China-based Brazilian national. Dunga announced his squad in anticipation of the friendly matches that have been scheduled against France and Chile in the second half of March.
The experiences of Tardelli and Dunga were highlighted in the Chinese media on Monday due to the changing pattern of transfers in the soccer world that is seeing an increasing number of Brazilian football players making the decision to compete on behalf of Chinese teams.
A move that was once a subject of disdain, for prospective players were warned that their future chances on the national level will suffer, has been rejuvenated with the selection of Tardelli.
The inclusion of the Shandong Luneng striker was not complicated for Brazil's national team coach, as Dunga explained to the media that "we have Brazilian professionals working in all those countries."
However, Dunga did acknowledge that an added layer of complexity now exists due to the travel requirements that such a geographical spread demands, whereby the coaches of Europe do not have to travel to see their players, but the Brazil coach will have to.
