Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande has reportedly cut Jackson Martinez from the squad's Asian Champions League roster this year.

The Colombia international, 30, was acquired by the Southern China Tigers in February of last year from La Liga giants Atletico Madrid for a then Asian transfer record of $45 million. Martinez has underperformed so far in his China stint, scoring only four goals in 16 appearances in all competitions for Evergrande.

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Martinez has struggled with various injuries in the past season, which is said to be one of the reasons why he missed a lot of first-team time under Guangzhou head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

According to The Sun, Scolari has dropped the 6-foot-1 goalscorer from his ACL lineup as the World Cup-winning manager prefers his trio of fellow Brazilians, namely Paulinho, Ricardo Goulart, and Alan Carvalho, as his imports this season.

The ACL only allows three non-nationals per club in their tournament and Martinez is the odd-man out for Scolari. Evergrande is included in the Group G of this year's competitions together with the Suwon Samsung Bluewings of South Korea, Kawasaki Frontale of Japan, and Eastern Sports Club of Hong Kong. The team is set to face Eastern on Feb. 22 as their opening match.

At this time last year, Scolari had preferred Martinez over Alan, but the "tables have turned" this time around with the Brazilian playing better last season, scoring 18 goals in 35 games in all competitions.

Martinez has not scored a goal for Scolari since last year's Sep. 18 6-2 win over Liaoning Whowin in the China top-flight. With that, there are also rumors that Martinez could be headed back to the Premier League this month as Scolari is keen on unloading the out-of-favor striker.

Calcio Mercato indicated that a deal with Leicester City is in the works although there are no exact figures mentioned yet.The report said that Leicester would "welcome him with open arms" as a CSL club is also targeting one of the Foxes' main goalscorers, Islam Slimani, in the ongoing winter transfer window.

Leicester coach Claudio Ranieri is said to be planning to replace Slimani with Martinez as Jamie Vardy's partner up front at the King Power Stadium.

TagsChinese Super League, Chinese Super League news, Chinese Super League News 2017, Jackson Martinez, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC, Leicester City FC