Former Blackburn flop Nikola Kalinic wanted by Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian in staggering £43million move
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THE Chinese Super League has a LOT of money attached to it - but one team has surely gone too far by offering over £40million for former Blackburn Rovers flop Nikola Kalinic.
Newly-promoted Tianjin Quanjian, who won the China League One title last season, have reportedly bid a staggering £43m for the Fiorentina striker.
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But he has a that whopping release clause in his contract, according to and the Chinese side could pay the money to take him to Asia as Kalinic only recently signed a new deal.
English giants Aston Villa and West Ham have also been linked, but would be blown out of the water by the money Quanjian, own by a pharmaceutical company, are willing to pay.
They have a largely-Chinese squad currently, but are scrambling to fill their foreign quota of four players before the season starts in February to compete with the big boys of the mega-rich league.
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Already at the club is former Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Jadson, as well as, er, Cameroon-born Hong Kong defender Jean-Jacques Kilama. No, us neither.
Former Real Madrid defender Fabio Cannavaro, who was captain of the victorious 2006 World Cup winning Italy team, took over in June 2016 and led them to promotion.
Croatian striker Kalinic joined Rovers for £6m and scored seven league games in 44 league games between 2009 and 2011 at Ewood Park before leaving to join Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
After five years in Ukrain Kalinic moved to Fiorentina for whom he’s been fairly consistent during the last two seasons.
Last season he scored 12 league goals in 36 games and this season he’s netted eight in 17 for Paulo Sousa’s side, as well as a further four league games during the Europa League group stages.