English club Southampton's striker Graziano Pellè is set to join China's Shandong Luneng team for $16.8 million, according to reports.

Rumors have surfaced that the center-forward is heading to China, and the transfer would reportedly be completed next week, Eurosport reported.

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According to MirrorFootball, the Chinese Super League side is offering the 30-year-old marksman around $7.78 million per year or around $162,000 weekly.

If the deal is pushed, Southampton could make a profit of around $6.48 million from the striker, whom they paid $10.36 million to swap from Feyenoord in 2014.

After Pellè's impressive Euro 2016 games where he scored against Belgium and Spain, he had been linked with a move to join outgoing Italy manager Antonio Conte at Chelsea, The Guardian reported. However, he has a year left on his contract with Southampton, but an extension is unlikely to happen.

Since January, Pellè has reportedly been eyeing a move to China. He allegedly expressed his desire to leave Southampton that month, but his request was rejected. However, Southampton recently signed Charlie Austin from Queens Park Rangers.

After Pellè's transfer is complete, Austin will be contesting with Jay Rodriguez and Shane Long for the club's attacking positions.

Meanwhile, MirrorFootball revealed that the Chinese Super League would continue to plunder the Premier League.

"In terms of the Premier League there are no limits. Chinese clubs will pay players to or three times more than [players are being paid] at present. The players would make more money at Chinese clubs," Eric Gao, CEO of iRENA, CSL's business partner, said.

TagsGraziano Pelle, Southampton, Shandong Luneng, china, Football, Antonio Conte, Chelsea, Charlie Austin