Arsenal target Yannick Carrasco is desperate to leave Chinese Super League for a return to Europe, but the Belgian is facing multiple obstacles.
From public pleas to deliberate suspensions, Carrasco has done his best to establish his exit from Chinese football but has landed himself in bit of mist with his current employers Dalian Yifang.
With big money contracts luring increasing number of talented players to China, once rated as next big thing in football with Atletico Madrid followed a similar path when he moved to Dalian Yifang in 2018, penning a four-year contract with he Liaoning based side.
Carrasco, par for the course, dominated his first campaign in China with Dalian scoring seven goals and notching nine assists in twenty-five appearances.
His strong form for Dalian meant he found a way into Belgium’s squad travelling to Russia for the World Cup last year, though his return hasn’t gone smoothly with him expressing his desires for a return to Europe on multiple occasions being eager to play in a top league once again.
In the eleven league appearance this season, Carrasco has already scored eight goals and laid further couple of assists signifying he is possibly much of a big fish in small Chinese pond.
With summer transfer window open, the 25-year-old has been linked with European clubs most notably in Arsenal and Bayern Munich, with the former bring his most likely destination as a cheap option for Wilfried Zaha. But any move has failed to materialize with his employers standing firm on their unwillingness to part with their star player irrespective of his desires.
“The whole world knows that I want to return to Europe,” Carrasco told The Mirror in June.
“Now, it depends on the president and I hope he finds a solution.
“I can’t speak about [Arsenal]. Now I am not the one who chooses, but my president. He decides if he lets me go or not, but I hope I can come back.”
Now, Dalian Yifang is owned by Wang Jianlin – one of the richest men in China with an estimated net worth of $21 billion which clearly makes them not short of funds, having just appointed Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez as their new manager on an estimated salary of £12 million and Wang won’t be keeled with any potential lucrative offers coming their way.
Carrasco, who is stuck in China at arguably the peak of his career, allegedly attempted to take things in his own hands recently picking up a suspension and going AWOL while on international duty.
“The game against Shenhua, we told him to be careful, do not be cautioned by the ref. But he still deliberately delayed the restart of the game to apply for a yellow card, which led to the suspension of the next game,” Dalian’s former manager Choi Kang-hee said.
“After the suspension, he wanted to return to Europe earlier. We didn’t want to let him go, but for the sake of the player, we agreed.
“He also promised us to come back to play the next three games. However, after the international break, he was late and even disappeared. He was also very negative in the training after his return.
“When a player has a contract with the team and he still wants to force the club to let him leave – in my opinion, this is very unprofessional.”
In the aftermath, Carrasco was not only fined but also suspended from training by Dalian but the Belgian did return with a bang against Beijing Renhe on June 29, scoring a penalty in a 3-1 win after having reportedly apologising to his team-mates earlier in the week.
After missing a connecting flight Carrasco did issue a Twitter-based apology to fans, but that was not good enough for his club.
“The attitude of some of the club’s leaders and team-mates towards me is incomprehensible given my commitment and performance with the team so far. This problem needs to be solved,” Carrasco sniped on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Belgian has let his on-field abilities do he talking though he faces a mountain to climb to secure a return to Europe and Carrasco’s agent Christophe Henrotay publicly spoke about concrete stance of Dalian despite the likes of Arsenal and other teams knocking on their doors.
“There are clubs that would like to sign him,” Henrotay was quoted by HLN.
“One club submitted a formal offer. Other clubs, such as Arsenal, also wanted to do that, but Dalian said he was not for sale.”
There has been no doubts about Carrasco’s talents and capabilities to fill-in across the attacking front and would certainly be a valuable addition for any of Europe’s bigger sides.
But despite Yannick’s preferences, it looks like he is trapped of a way out as of now.
