Southampton striker Graziano Pellè seemed set to continue his career in the Premier League, reuniting either with his former club manager Ronald Koeman at Everton, or with his former boss at the Italian national team in Antonio Conte at Chelsea. But Pellè chose the Eastern option - and paycheck - instead.
#SaintsFC can confirm @GPelle19 has joined Chinese club Shandong Luneng for an undisclosed fee. Read more: https://t.co/nj7xT6QHtz
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) 11 July 2016
Reports indicate that Shandong Luneng offered Southampton a transfer fee of £13 million. The 30-year-old had one year left on his deal with Southampton, and is rumoured to have signed a £6 million-per-year contract.
The rumours linking Pellè to a Chelsea move claimed that the Blues would be offering a one-year contract with an option of renewal for a further year, remaining in line with their policy of offering year-long contracts to players aged 30 and over. It's likely that these terms weren't enough to convince Pellè to choose moving to Stamford Bridge in favour of heading to China to earn huge amounts of money.
If Graziano Pelle takes the payday in China (£125k per week), he'll likely earn more this year than in first 8 years of his career COMBINED.
— Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) 8 July 2016
Best of luck to Pellè, even though his choice might trigger Chelsea to make a stronger push towards the €75 million-rated Álvaro Morata...