The Chinese Super League, China's highest tier of professional association football league, is reportedly the biggest football spending body in this year's January transfer window, expending an estimated €136.25 million on new international players.

Goal reported that the said amount is around €20 million more than what the English Premier League, perhaps the most popular and richest football league in the world, has spent so far during this winter window.

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The report specifically noted that "as of 19:00CET on Wednesday, January 27, the nation's (China's) elite teams have splashed €136.25 million on new players, nearly €20m more than England's Premier League".

Three of the biggest China signings have occurred during the past week, namely Brazilian Ramires from Chelsea to Jiangsu Suning for €33 million, Ivorian Gervinho from Roma to Hebei China Fortune for €18 million, and Colombian Fredy Guarin from Inter Milan to Shanghai Shenhua for €12 million.

Meanwhile, China's second-tier football league, China League One, is fourth in the list of the top spenders this winter window with €43 million of expenses, €7 million greater than that of Germany's Bundesliga. The Italian Serie A is third at €57 million while Spain's La Liga is top seventh behind Mexico's Liga MX Clausura.

France's top-flight Ligue 1 is 13th in the list with only €6.43 million in expenditures, two places lower than that of England's second-tier, the Championship, who is at no. 11.

The report also noted that "four of the five biggest spending clubs this January are Chinese, with only Norwich City (fourth) of the Premier League bucking the trend".

This phenomenon did not happen out of the blue as Chinese clubs have been acquiring foreign players since 2012 when five-time CSL champions and two-time AFC Champions League winners Guangzhou Evergrande signed Brazilian Elkeson from Brazilian Serie A club Botafogo for a then fairly large fee of €5.7 million in Asian standards.

Another Brazilian, world-famous midfielder Paulinho, was also snagged by Guangzhou in June 2015 from EPL's Tottenham Hotspur for €14 million, which was considered a sign of things to come for China football.

Robinho, also a Brazilian and a former Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Manchester City standout, also moved to Guangzhou in July 2015, which led to the club winning their second AFC Champions League trophy in three years.

The club's head coach is World Cup-winning manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, also a Brazilian.

TagsChina Football, Chinese Super League, china league one, English Premier League, Italian Serie A