Exactly ...hit the nail on the head. Compete hypocrisy

"Half a world a way" from where? If you're suggesting that we need to pay more because we're so remote, you'd have to ask yourself how Brighton, Bournemouth and Southampton manage

Bexley Dave

Can you hear the Brighton sing? I can't hear a ******* thing!

"The most arrogant, obnoxious bunch of deluded little sun tanned, loafer wearing mummy's boys I've ever had the misfortune of having to listen to" (Burnley forum)

Hypocrisy or good business?

I go with the latter.

Maybe I should have been a little clearer

Attracting someone to move to a newly promoted team in China from Belgium would not have been easy.

Dalian is North-East China, and isn't even the main city in Liaoning Province. Actually not a bad place to live but a long way away and hardly at the centre of things.

To prise him away from Madrid I can only imagine how much of an increase in pay that took.

So now he seems to have decided it's time to get back to the mainstream having earned his pot of gold.

Of course he'll take a drop in earnings to ply his trade in the best league in the world and be back in a cool city in Europe. And of course Dalian needs to pay some of his wages if he's on loan, the reason for the high wages is not relevant to the loaning club. It's due to the contractual situation between the player and Dalian driven by the above.

And don't forget China feels like a dangerous place to be right now, that will inevitably put urgency into this deal. SARS had a massive effect and everyone is proper spooked this time around.

As we fiddle and phaf around missing targets,seems Newcastle have seen his potential and will no doubt secure his services ahead of ourselves.

Can you see the owners of Newcastle coughing up? ... it's not what they are have a reputation for. If the guy is too expensive for us then he's probably out of the reach of most PL teams. Sorry Yannick ... the streets of Selhurst are paved with dog $hit not gold.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt