STARS IN ASIA - CONGO DR - CLUB - Cedric Bakambu moves to china

CEDRIC BAKAMBU BEIJING GUOANEmbed from Getty Images

The DR Congo international is set to become the most expensive African footballer of all time after the Spanish club confirmed his departure.

The total fee will be around £65m because of taxation rules that have recently been introduced in China.

That will eclipse the £34m Liverpool have paid for Mo Salah and Saido Mane, and their £48m deal for Naby Keita.

Villarreal confirmed that Beijing Guoan have agreed to meet the club’s €40m release clause for Cedric Bakambu.

Bakambu, 26, has had a medical with Beijing Guoan who, like all Chinese Super League clubs, are now subject to a transfer tax for any fee over 5m euros.

The laws were introduced in a bid to encourage clubs to buy China-based players and keep more money inside the country.

The Yellow Submarine disclosed that the 26-year-old who was the club’s topscorer with 14 goals across all competitions this campaign has left the club due to the release clause activation.

The Estadio de la Ceramica outfit appreciated the Congolese forward who arrived from Bursaspor in August 2015 with some clips of his goals and the Spanish top-flight Twitter account also also paid tribute to the forward who won the La Liga Player of the Month for October in 2017.