Cedric Bakambu becomes Africa's most expensive footballer of all time

shakirudeen taiwo

January 12, 2018 6:04 PM

The DR Congo striker achieved this feat with his £65million transfer deal to Beijing Guoan in the Chinese Super League

The DR Congo and former Villarreal striker, Cedric Bakambu has become Africa’s most expensive player following a recording breaking deal with Beijing Guoan FC.

The £65million (€74million) transfer to the Chinese Super League club has made Bakambu toppled Mohammed Salah as Africa’s most expensive player of all time. Thus, taking Mohammed Salah ((€38.7million) as Africa’s most expensive football export.

To achieve this feat, the 26-year old snubbed an offer to move to the Premier League. English Premier League clubs - Tottenham, Newcastle, West Brom and West Ham, had shown interest in having him on their team but he opted for a long-term £307,000 a week with the Asian league side.

Many African players are currently being attracted to many Chinese clubs due to the huge monetary value of deals from the Asian league. Super Eagles’ captain, Mikel Obi also moved to one of the clubs in the league in December 2016.

Details of the deal

According to information on the deal, Bakambu will be earning £307,000 a week. The £65million (€74million) is the total of £35 million pay to Villarreal FC to meet the player’s release clause and £30 million to take care of taxes payable to the China's football association.

Considering the frequency of similar deals, the Chinese FA introduced a rule in May 2017 to stop the influx of foreign stars and promote their home-based talents. But this didn’t stop the club who came ninth in the last season to seek the signature of Bakambu.

Goals scoring ability of the DR striker was identified as the main reason the Chinese club was ready to pay such huge amount of money to get him to their side. Bakambu scored 21 goals in 2016/17 season with the Spanish side.

shakirudeen taiwo

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