Guus Hiddink had Chinese Super League management offers
- Published
Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has revealed he was approached to manage in the lucrative Chinese Super League.
The 69-year-old Dutchman was installed as Chelsea caretaker boss in December after Jose Mourinho's departure, but says he had chances to manage in China.
"I had some possibilities to go there in the recent past," said Hiddink, who is so far unbeaten in his second spell as interim boss at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea sold Ramires to Jiangsu Suning last month for a reported £25m.
The Chinese team are managed by former Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu, while former England coach Sven Goran Eriksson and ex-Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari are also club bosses in China.
Colombia striker Jackson Martinez joined Guangzhou Evergrande from Atletico Madrid for £31m the following week.
And the Chinese transfer record was broken for the third time in 10 days when Brazil midfielder Alex Teixeira, who had been a target for Liverpool, opted to join Jiangsu Suning for £38.4m.
More money has been spent in China's transfer window than the £175m recorded in last month's Premier League window.
However, Hiddink says the English Premier League has a global appeal and will soon have even more significant financial power from the new broadcast coverage deal, which is worth £5bn domestically.
"When you travel around the world, the Premier League is so attractive, attracting a lot of people," he said.
"In the biggest cities to the smallest villages, wherever in the world there is a satellite showing Premier League. Clubs in England cannot complain about having no income in the near future."
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