The chances of Gareth Bale’s stalled move to China being revived look over after Jiangsu Suning announced they have signed Croatian striker Ivan Santini.
Bale was reported to be close to moving to the Chinese Super League club, but the deal collapsed over the weekend.
Some reports in Spain claimed Real Madrid could not agree a fee with the Chinese club, while others suggested Bale himself rejected the supposed £1 million-a-week contract for family reasons.
Now, the chances of any new agreement being reached between the clubs before the country’s transfer deadline on Wednesday look over as Jiangsu Suning have signed Santini from Anderlecht.
Alongside the recruitment of Brazilian defender Miranda from Inter Milan last week, it means the club now have five foreign players on their books.
CSL rules allows clubs to have four overseas-born players included in their official squads at any one time and, with Italian defender Gabriel Paletta expected to depart soon, Jiangsu have filled their quota by signing Santini.
The latest recruit means Jiangsu would have to move out either Alex Teixeira or Eder Martins to accommodate Bale but, with both integral members of coach Cosmin Olaroiu’s side, that looks unlikely.
It leaves Bale’s future still uncertain as the Wales star remains out of favour with Real manager Zinedine Zidane and no other leading European clubs have so far appeared willing to pay both a transfer fee and the player’s high wages.
