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Last week started with speculation on the future of Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez. This all began because Sanchez hasn’t yet signed a new contract and according to the British SUN several Chinese clubs are interested and prepared to offer huge wages to bring him here.

On Tuesday the China Daily reported that Sporting Lisbon’s 31 year old Brazilian striker, Elias, was wanted by Tianjin Teda. That same day it was confirmed that Uruguayan Gus Poyet was to be the new manager of Shanghai Shenhua.

On Wednesday there was talk of Ivorian striker Wilfried Bony coming to China to an unnamed CSL club and this was reported in a local Stoke UK newspaper. Bony is on loan at Stoke from Manchester city and it has been a frustrating season for him so far. It was also reported in the London Evening Standard that Chelsea’s John Terry was to join his old colleague Gus Poyet at Shanghai Shenhua. 

Thursday again saw rumours of Alexis Sanchez to China and this time it came from calciomercato.com. Sanchez was supposedly wanted by Hebei China Fortune, managed by the Chilean’s fellow countryman and great admirer, Manuel Pellegrini. 

According to goal.com there were now three Chinese clubs chasing John Terry’s signature and they were named as Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai SIPG and Guangzhou Evergrande. Vital football was reporting that Messi could be lured to Milan by the new Chinese owners there although details were scant.

Yesterday Sunday it was the Vice-President of Suning making the news on calciomercato.com as he was questioned on ambitions for the two clubs owned by the company, Inter Milan and Jiangsu Suning. " Inter & Jiangsu? We will buy exceptional players."

Now the latest news is that ex-England boss Sven Goran Eriksson is to be appointed manager of Shenzhen FC just a few weeks after being fired by Shanghai SIPG.

Meanwhile there has been much speculation about takeovers and prospective takeovers. The Reading Chronicle has been reporting on the imminent takeover of Reading FC by a Chinese brother and sister team. There have also been reports in Sports Mole and Vital Football. They all agree that the deal is going smoothly and will be confirmed  soon. The sooner the better for Reading as the speculation would appear to have unsettled the team, losing 5-0 away to Fulham at the weekend.

AC Milan’s takeover by another Chinese consortium doesn’t appear to be straightforward. One deadline for completion has come and gone and another now looks likely to be missed. Silvio Berlusconi, the Milan President, says he is confident the deal will go through and over the last few days there are reports of Milan board meetings and meetings between Milan and the Chinese investors. Both sides are saying progress has been made. Latest indications are that the Chinese will have to pay a hefty deposit in order to buy more time in which to get the balance transferred to Italy.