Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Guangzhou: ACL Group H side Guangzhou Evergrande has made a marquee signing of Lucas Barrios for a four-year contract worth Chinese Super League record breaking 8.5 million Euros from Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund.
“Barrios will arrive in Guangzhou in June, Xinhua quoted a club official.
Guangzhou is yet book a place in the last sixteen of the ACL and if managed Barrios will be eligible to play in the knockout stages of the ACL.
Barrios, who fell behind Polish Robert Lewandoski in pecking order after bouts of injury this season, has scored 39 goals in 82 Budesliga matches for the German giants. The Paraguay international was supposed to leave the club to get regular football after chances were hard to come by at the Signal Iduna Park.
Earlier, BVB sporting director Michael Zorc had conceded the possibility of Barrios’ move away from the Ruhr country. "He can´t be too happy with the current situation. We will sit down with him and look to find a sensible way forward for everyone," Zorc said off Barrios who was the top scorer for BVB previous two seasons. The German club have not confirmed the deal yet.
Xinhua also quoted the spokesman of Evergrande Group on the arrival of Barrios to China. "For the first time, a world-class player joined the Chinese league at his peak period. We believe that Barrios will bring a lot to the Chinese league, and it will boost the interest for Chinese firms to invest in football," said the Evergrande spokesman.
After having a dream debut in continental football with a thumping 5-1 away win over last year’s loosing finalists Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Guangzhou suffered a humiliating 2-1 home defeat against Thai champions Buriram United. They could have cemented a place for the last 16 with a match to spare but succumbed to yet another home defeat on Tuesday making their trip to Japan on the last group stages matches on May 15 as a make or break trip.