February 2016 saw one of football’s biggest-ever spending sprees as the Chinese Super League stamped its mark with a series of mega-deals.
Amongst those was Hebei China Fortune’s capture of Paris Saint-Germain’s Ezequiel Lavezzi, with the CSL club reportedly handing the then 30-year-old an eye-watering two-year deal worth £23.5million.
At the time of his signing Hebei social media account described Lavezzi as ‘the next Maradona’ but a year on from his signing his numbers have proved that statement an embarrassing blunder.
For that price, Lavezzi has played just 10 times, and scored no goals and provided three assists
Further details of the Argentine’s contract, revealed by Football Leaks in December, showed that in fact Lavezzi earns £493,000-a-week, as well as the club providing two furnished houses, two cars, a cook and a driver.
For that investment, Lavezzi has played just 10 times for Hebei, starting nine of those, scoring no goals and providing three assists.
The Argentine has not played for his club side since May after breaking his arm in the Copa America semi-final, with the injury requiring an operation.
He missed a significant chunk of the Chinese Super League season with a broken arm
Lavezzi’s last on-field action came in his country’s 3-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Brazil back in November.
His appearance then also came shrouded in controversy. Lionel Messi led a media boycott after the national team took a stand in backing Lavezzi following accusations of drug use.
The stance followed claims by an Argentine radio journalist, published on Twitter, that suggested Lavezzi had been caught smoking cannabis ahead of the side’s win over Colombia.
Back in November the Argentina team went on a media strike over claims from a radio journalist that Levezzi had been caught smoking cannabis while on national team duty
