Chinese Super League club Hebei China Fortune FC has sent French winger Gael Kakuta on loan to La Liga outfit Deportivo La Coruna after the Chinese Football Association's new ruling on the number of foreign players per squad in the China top-flight was announced.

On Monday, the CFA advised CSL teams about the new limit of acquiring non-Asian imports for the upcoming 2017 season in March, as per the Evening Standard. The maximum went down from four non-Asian and one Asian import to only three non-Asian and one Asian foreigner for the coming season.

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The Samba Kings were the first to react to the said ruling, loaning the 25-year-old Frenchman back to Spain as the club preferred Ezequiel Lavezzi, Gervinho, and Stéphane M'Bia as their three non-Asian foreign players for this year with Ersan Gulum, an Australian citizen, as the non-Asian one.

Hebei China Fortune is currently managed by former Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini.

CSL clubs were suddenly held back by the country's football governing body as some of the teams have been deemed overspending in the ongoing winter transfer market in an attempt to lure top-class European players.

Shanghai SIPG pulled off a $73 million acquisition of former Chelsea midfielder Oscar last month while Shanghai Shenhua made Carlos Tevez the highest-paid footballer in the world when they signed him also in December.

There are rumors that club superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Wayne Rooney were also offered mind-boggling deals by China clubs, but they remain as speculations at the moment.

Meanwhile, current SIPG head coach and former Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas were reportedly frustrated by the new ruling, saying that the rule amendment should have been done "after the season or with a certain buffer", Metro reported.

"This decision should have been made after the season, or with a certain buffer. Such a huge change shouldn't be announced about a month before the new season," said Villas-Boas. "Most of the clubs' team-building plans have been in accordance with the previous rules. That's when everyone gets caught off guard."

TagsChinese Super League, Chinese Super League news, Chinese Super League News 2017, Hebei China Fortune FC, gael kakuta