Graziano Pelle is the next star to move to the Chinese Super League. Shandong Luneng and his former club Southampton today announced the transfer of the Italian international. A fee was not mentioned, however several reports suggest the Super League side will pay around €12M for Pelle.
Shandong Luneng have been very active in the current transfer window. Pelle is the second big signing that has been announced in the last few days - earlier this week Papiss Cisse put pen to paper in Shandong.
With the arrival of the two top strikers it is certain at least one of the current people up front has to go. Diego Tardelli has been strongly linked with a return to his former employer Atletico Mineiro, and Walter Montillo is a very likely victim aswell.
Graziano Pelle is coming off a more or less succesful European Championship campaign. The striker scored very important goals for Italy and impressed trough out the tournaments, but saw his team being eliminated in the quarter finals by Germany.
Before joining Southampton in 2014 the 30-year old striker played in the Dutch Eredivisie and the Italian local Serie A. In Southampton Pelle started off really strong and immediatly became on of the fan favorites. With 23 goals in 68 games his stay in the Premier League can be called a succesful one.
During the past week rumors started to emmerge more and more that Shandong Luneng made an offer for the tall striker. With reported wages of up to €25 million spread over a 2,5 year contract it is clear why negotiations did not take long.
His former Dutch employer Feyenoord Rotterdam will also be benefiting from the transfer. The Eredivisie side negotiated a share of any future transfer fee if Southampton where to sell the player - Feyenoord will now receive 1,5 million euro’s.
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