Highlights

• Evergrande in 2016. However, his time in China was plagued by injuries and lack of form, and he only managed to score four goals in 16 appearances. Martinez eventually returned to his former club, Porto, on loan, and has since played for Portimonense and now plays for Colombian side Independiente Medellin.

For a number of years, Chinese Super League clubs spent big to bring in some of the best players in European football in an attempt to grow the league into one of the best in the world.

That's all changed now, but for a while it wasn't uncommon to see a member of the division splash £25 million or more on one footballer. The modern day equivalent of this comes in the form of the Saudi Pro League, with clubs from this division now spending sums of money that make the Chinese Super League's expenditure look amateur.

The Chinese Super League's days of lavish spending now at an end, and it begs the question; what happened to all those mega-money signings? We've decided to take a look at the recent career paths of the 15 most expensive acquisitions, and find out what happened to them after their big money move to the CSL.

15 Anderson Talisca (£17.28m, Guangzhou Evergrande, 2019)

Talisca was tipped for big things after lighting up the European game at Besiktas and Benfica, but he opted to move to China at a relatively young age instead of looking to earn a big European move. The 29-year-old attacking midfielder excelled at Guangzhou, scoring 39 goals and assisting a further 13 in 65 games. Talisca is now plying his trade at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane, where he's been since 2021.

14 Axel Witsel (£18m, Tianjin Quanjian, 2017)

After five years in Russia with Zenit Saint Petersburg, Witsel chose the Chinese Super League as his next destination, and it turned out to be a bit of a stroke of genius. The Belgium international smashed it at Tianjin Quanjian, which prompted Borussia Dortmund to spend big to acquire his signature in 2018, before being snapped up by Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid in 2022 after more than 100 appearances in the Bundesliga.

13 Marek Hamsik (£18m, Dalian Professional, 2019)

Unlike Talisca and Witsel, Hamsik moved to China towards the end of his career, at the age of 32. The Napoli icon spent two years in the Far East with Dalian Professional, before joining Swedish club IFK Goteborg. The Slovakian midfielder didn't last long in Scandinavia, though, as he made a move to Trabzonspor in Turkey. This is where he eventually wrapped up his playing career following a two-year stint.

12 Zhang Chengdong (£18.39m, Hebei Fortune, 2017)

The only Chinese player to feature in the 15-man list, Zhang - who can play as a winger or as a full-back - was snapped up by Hebei Fortune in 2017. He played 106 league games for the club in total, scoring eight goals and assisting an additional 10 in the competition. In 2022, made a switch to Beijing Guoan, where he still plays his football now.

11 Odion Ighalo (£20.97m, Changchun Yatai, 2017)

Ighalo was absolutely electric for Changchun Yatai. In his 55 appearances for the club, the Nigerian striker scored 36 goals, earning him a move to Shanghai Shenhua in 2019. The former Watford man then spent a year on loan at Manchester United starting from January 2020, before embarking on a goal-heavy spell in Saudi Arabia with Al Shabab and Al-Hilal. He recently made a move to Al-Wehda in the same division and started in blistering form with four goals in as many games.

10 Marko Arnautovic (£22.5m, Shanghai SIPG, 2019)

Arguably the last of the big-money signings made by Chinese Super League clubs. Arnautovic joined from West Ham and netted 20 goals in 39 games for Shanghai SIPG - an impressive return. The 2018 Austrian Footballer of the Year returned to Europe for the 2021/22 season, joining Serie A outfit Bologna where he became a key player at the club during his two seasons. The former Stoke City man is now on loan at last season's Champions League finalists, Inter Milan for the 2023/24 campaign.

9 Ramires (£25.2m, Jiangsu Suning, 2016)

Ramires spent three years in China after leaving Chelsea and then returned to his native Brazil in 2019 with Palmeiras. Despite signing a four-year contract, Ramires and the club parted ways by mutual consent in November 2020, and the energetic midfielder remained a free agent afterwards. With interest from potential employers seemingly on the low side, the former Brazil international officially announced his retirement in September 2022.

8 Anthony Modeste (£26.1m, Tianjin Quanjian, 2017)

Modeste left FC Koln for the Chinese Super League in 2017 and, like many on this list, he absolutely smashed it. In 29 games with Tianjin Quanjian, the French striker scored 16 goals and assisted a further nine. But in August 2018, Modeste went AWOL and returned to Germany with Koln, eventually signing a contract until 2023. The 33-year-old was on fire for the Bundesliga outfit in 2021/22, netting 20 goals in 32 in the competition to earn a move to Borussia Dortmund in 2022. An underwhelming single season with the German giants then saw a move to Egyptian side, Al Ahly, materialise.

7 Yannick Carrasco (£27m, Dalian Professional, 2018)

Like Witsel, Carrasco used the Chinese Super League as a springboard to get his career back on track. The Belgian winger joined Dalian Professional from Atletico Madrid at a fairly young age in 2018 and was simply magnificent. Twenty-four goals in 52 appearances in the Far East saw Atletico re-sign him on loan in 2020, and they made the move permanent that same year. As with others on this list, the wide midfielder has since made a big move to Saudi Arabia in the form of Al-Shabab at the age of 30.

6 Cedric Bakambu (£36m, Beijing Guoan, 2018)

In 2018, Bakambu was a wanted man, but instead of swapping Villarreal for a top European club, he chose to move to the Chinese capital. From a goalscoring perspective, it was a wise choice. Bakambu netted 58 times in total and finished as the Chinese Super League's top goalscorer in 2020. He completed a transfer to Marseille on the back of his impressive time in China. The striker is now a Galatasaray player after spending short spells at Olympiakos and Al-Nasr.

5 Jackson Martinez (£37.8m, Guangzhou Evergrande, 2016)

After failing to live up to the big expectations in his sole season at Atletico Madrid, Martinez joined Guangzhou Evergrande, where he struggled even more. Injuries restricted him to just 16 appearances for the club. Martinez then moved to Portuguese side Portimonense on a permanent basis in 2019, before surprisingly calling time on his career in 2020 in his early 30s. The 36-year-old is now a Christian hip-hop artist. Be honest: you weren't expecting to read that, was you?

4 Paulinho (£37.8m, Guangzhou Evergrande, 2018)

Paulinho actually had two separate stints at Guangzhou Evergrande either side of a spell with Barcelona, and he's without question of the Chinese outfit's greatest ever players. The marauding midfielder won three Chinese Super League titles with the club and scored a whopping 75 goals in 176 games, a record that a striker would be proud of. Paulinho returned to Brazil with Corinthians in 2022 after a short stay at Saudi Arabian team Al-Ahli.

3 Alex Teixeira (£45m, Jiangsu Suning, 2016)

Another player who was courted by Europe's elite, including Liverpool, but decided that the money in the Far East was simply too good to turn down. During his five years in the Chinese Super League, Teixeira scored 73 goals and assisted another 43 in 153 games, while he also won a league title in 2020. The 33-year-old signed for Besiktas back in the summer of 2021, although he did then move back to his home country to play for Vasco de Gama only 12 months later.

2 Hulk (£50.22m, Shanghai SIPG, 2016)

After scoring goals for fun at FC Porto and Zenit Saint Petersburg, Hulk decided to go and tear up the Chinese Super League for a few years. The muscular Brazilian forward contributed to 130 goals (76G, 54A) in 145 games out in Shanghai, a pretty ridiculous record. Hulk returned to his homeland with Atlético Mineiro in 2021, helping the team win a historic treble and finishing as country's top scorer for that year. He was always known for the incredible goals he has scored throughout his career, and that is still the case in Brazil as his left-foot is as clinical as ever to this day.

1 Oscar (£54m, Shanghai SIPG, 2017)

Oscar has been an incredible servant to the club since signing from Chelsea in 2017 as a 25-year-old. He has netted 43 goals and set up his teammates on 85 occasions in 140 league appearances and given the decline of the Chinese Super League of late, he surely needs to return to European football sooner rather than later, right? The Brazilian may be running out of time to make one last big move in his career at the age of 32.

Read More: What lessons can Saudi Arabia learn from the collapse of the Chinese Super League?