Transfer news: Chinese Super League flexes muscles as Guangzhou Evergrande signs Atletico Madrid's Jackson Martinez

The Chinese Super League strikes another big move at the end of the transfer window deadline, with Jackson Martinez leaving Atletico Madrid to join Guangzhou Evergrande FC.

The winter transfer window may have officially closed, but Chinese clubs are not done flexing their muscles yet in signing international players to compete in the Chinese Super League.

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According to Madrid Media outlet AS, Martinez is the latest player to move to China after joining Guangzhou in a staggering €42 million (AU$65.3 million) deal. Martinez joins the likes Ramires, Fredy Guarin, and Gervinho, who all sacrificed their chances of playing in Europe for big-money deals in China.

The report also mentioned that Martinez did not attend practice sessions on Monday due to “personal reasons with permission of the club,” while the Colombian international’s agent Jorge Mendes negotiated deal with the Chinese club that day. The 29-year-old forward only scored two goals in 15 La Liga games and has struggled since joining the Red and Whites from Porto FC. But according to Marco D’Onofrio of Sports Illustrated’s Fansided, there is still an upside on Martinez’s exit from Vicente Calderon.

“Even if Martinez has just two goals in 15 league appearances for Atletico, they are still set to make a profit off the player,” D’Onofrio wrote. “They brought in Martinez to the Vicente Calderon in July for €35 million.”

Meanwhile, with the CSL’s transfer window still open until Feb. 26, many hefty cash spending are still expected from the Chinese clubs. Liverpool’s transfer target Alex Teixeira of Shakhtar Donetsk could be the next player to bring his talents to China, with the 26-year-old midfielder closing in on a £38 million (AU$77.9 million) deal to same club that signed Martinez, according to Calciomercato.

Liverpool failed to sign Teixeira during the winter transfer, and a move to China could be a huge blow for the Reds. However, the club’s manager Jurgen Klopp does not fret in missing out on the Brazilian scorer.

“We made offers, I won’t say too much about that, but they were realistic with the plusses of it being January, the Premier League, all the plusses you have when you make negotiations,” Klopp said, reports Team Talk. “But it was a case of: ‘If you don’t want it, OK, we can’t change the situation, both for now and the future.”