A huge amount of investment has been poured into China's football clubs in recent years, but top European clubs are still the peak that the country's young players strive for.

The latest major signing to a European club came last month when French Ligue 1 champion AS Saint-Etienne singed the national under-19 center-forward Xiang Baixu.

Yet Lu Yang, deputy editor of Sina Sports, points out that in recent years most talented young players, who came back from overseas, did not stand out among other local players, and that this might present a challenge to Xiang and Wang Shangyuan.

However, Ke Han, a football commentator, disagrees. "Playing for secondary league clubs as springboards for bigger targets is a sound choice for our young footballers. But they need to understand that contracts are just a beginning."