China's richest man Wang Jianlin had recently warned Chinese investors that the country's current worldwide "football splurge" could cause economic ruin for a financier and owning a football club is more about "influence" than making money.

Strait Times reported that the 61-year-old Wang's counsel is the "highest profile warning yet on a $4 billion splurge since 2015 that has stunned European football".

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Chinese investors had recently invaded European football clubs, buying stakes, taking over, or being linked to potential buyouts of big-name teams such as Manchester City, Liverpool, Hull City, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, and Wolverhampton Wanderers in England, Inter Milan and AC Milan in Italy, and Spain's Atletico Madrid, where Wang himself has a 20 percent stake.

The chairman of the Dalian Wanda Group, China's biggest real estate conglomerate, said that "owning a team is about influence - not profit", which Wang believes could be "easier to achieve through right deals or owning competitions".

Aside from his company, other big conglomerates to buy a team in Europe are the Suning Commerce Group (Inter Milan) and Fosun International (Wolverhampton Wanderers), while the other owners are smaller companies that are simply fanatics of the sport.

For them, Wang warned that they may end up not achieving what they set out for in the first place.

"It can give you influence, but it won't make you money. Every year you're burning through cash - that is certain," said Wang with regards to owning or having a stake in a popular football team. "It's eye-catching, it attracts interest, but it's hard to make money."

Shanghai Daily indicated that "part of the lure is mammoth TV deals as global viewers pay up to watch live sport: the English Premier League - the world's richest - will see $10.5 billion coming in over three years".

The report also quoted an unknown Chinese senior sports adviser as saying that "at the prices they are buying it makes no sense to me. They are even buying minority stakes, where they have no control... Many of these teams are cash flow negative".

TagsChina Football, wang jianlin, China Football News, Atletico Madrid, China football 2016