SHIJIAZHUANG, China, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Zhang Chengdong, a former defender of Beijing Guoan, has retured home and joined in the Hebei-based China Fortune Football Club, the Chinese Super League (CSL) club said here on Friday.
Zhang, 27, who can play either midfielder or defender, is the first Chinese to show up in the world's top leagues, such as in Portugal and Spain. He also represented Team China to compete in the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia.
His transfer fee was about 80 million yuan (around 12 million U.S. dollars), a China Fortune source told Xinhua. Earlier, rumors went around that Zhang would become the most expensive Chinese footballer as his transfer fee could reach 150 million yuan (22 million dollars).
Apart from Zhang, the 31-year-old Lang Zheng, a center back of Beijing Guoan, also became a member of the China Fortune. Both are natives of Baoding City, north China's Hebei Province, and the two signings were completed after friendly negotiations with Beijing Guoan, said the Heibei club.
The China Fortune hopes that the two players, who "have returned home", could make great contribution to the club and strive for the success of the football sport in the province.
The announcement came a day after the club's top executives rejected rumors of their purportedly splashy bids for foreign big names, which have linked the CSL side with Lionel Messi, James Rodriguez, and Pepe.
They said that it's a censensus within the club that players are mainly to be scouted and signed for their abilities to fit into the teamwork of the club.
Being coached by former manager of Real Madrid and Manchester City, Manuel Pelligrini, the China Fortune has also signed former Roma winger Gervinho, Chelsea midfielder Gael Kakuta and Argentina international Ezequiel Lavezzi, but merely finished seventh in the last CSL season.