China is reportedly considering a change in the quota of its imported foreign football players for Super League clubs. Chinese outfits made headlines with a number of prodigious international signings in the winter.

China's defending champion Guangzhou Evergrande signed former Atletico Madrid forward Jackson Martinez of Columbia for a whopping £31 million (USD42.40 million), while big-time spending Jiangsu Suning splashed out an astonishing £38.4 million (USD 52.52 million) on Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Alex Teixeira and £25 million (USD 34.19 million) to acquire Brazil's Ramires from Chelsea.

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However, Chinese football authorities are looking to take action to curb the stream of high value, high profile stars to the country. Presently China has a 4 + 1 rule that allows a team to have four foreign players plus another player from an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member association in its lineup.

In the course of a game, a side can only make use of three of its imported players on the field at any one time. "The fourth foreign player can be substituted into the match for one of the other foreign players." Inside World Football states.

The prevailing rule, which has been in place since 2009, looks likely to change to a 3 + 1 rule.

"Clubs will be given a season to adjust their squads, with the new ruling likely to come into effect for the start of the 2018 season," the report continued.

The Chinese outfits have regularly fiddled with their foreign player rules. In 2012, clubs that were participating in the AFC Champions League were allowed to increase the number of foreign players on their roster to seven, although this rule was dropped for the 2013 season.

Compared to other sports leagues in China, professional football players receive a fairly high salary. Due to higher wages and the improved standard of the Chinese Super League, the country has become an increasingly alluring destination for a number of international footballers, particularly from East European and South American countries.

TagsChinese Super League, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC, Jackson Martinez, Alex Teixeira, Jiangsu Suning FC