Chinese International Fails to Cut Deal with Perugia

Ma Mingyu failed to become the first Chinese footballer to play in Italian Serie A after the talk between his club Sichuan Quanxing and Perugia fell through.

Xu Yong, a senior official with the Chinese first division club, said on Wednesday that the talks finally broke down because there were "unbridgeable gap in three major principles."

The Perugia official who came to China for the talk claimed that they just wanted to "loan" not "purchase" Ma, a far cry from the term "transfer" Perugia had used in their fax to Quanxing.

The Italian side also said that they would not cost money on such an ageing player as Ma although the 30-year-old Chinese international is the only player eligible to play in Serie A.

Quanxing club later raised another proposal that Perugia free loan a Serie A player to Quanxing in exchange for Ma, only to be rejected by the Italian side.

Perugia showed their interest in Ma after Quanxing launched their pre-season training camp in Italy. The Italian club sent a fax early in June to start the talk.



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