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There is no doubt that the most talented leagues in the world are located in Europe. From Spain's La Liga to England's Premier League, the top players in world soccer usually spend their prime years in those leagues, alongside Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga and more recently, France's Ligue 1. But when it comes to the next powerful league outside of Europe, which is it? Many in the U.S. want it to be Major League Soccer, but that's not where I'm putting my money on if I had to guess.

Sorry MLS, but the heavy-spending Chinese Super League is on the rise at the moment.  

What's been going on?

Lately, and in case you haven't noticed or been paying attention, the Chinese league has been spending absurd amounts of money on talented soccer players. Whereas MLS has brought over big names well past their prime -- most notably David Beckham, and most recently Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Andrea Pirlo and others -- China has somehow splashed the cash to earn the league instant respect. To wit, no league spent more money during the recent winter transfer window than the Chinese league. Not the Premier League, not La Liga, nor any of Europe's forefront leagues.

In MLS, you have guys like Orlando City's Kaka, Los Angeles Galaxy's Gerrard, Montreal Impact's Didier Drogba and NYCFC's trio of David Villa, Lampard and Pirlo. All players who, in their prime, were world class. The problem is, this isn't 2008 anymore.

All of them are at least 33 years old, with Pirlo turning 37 this May. Drogba turns 38 next March and has been hinting at retirement for some time now. He nearly left Montreal for an assistant coaching job at Chelsea after Jose Mourinho was fired. At those ages, there is no doubt that their best play is way in the past. Their big names help MLS with global exposure and marketing, but in the end, attracting and developing long-term interest in MLS among both soccer fans and even currently non-soccer fans is all about the product on the field.

Is this normal?

What China has done is almost as shocking as what Leicester City has done in the Premier League this season and like nothing we have ever seen. An upstart force has seemingly arisen from out of nowhere to put themselves at the forefront of the global soccer discussion. 

Think about this -- the most expensive transfer in MLS history was when American Michael Bradley returned to North America from Italian giants Roma to Toronto FC for about $8.2 million in 2014.

Now, the U.S. has been able to acquire formidable talent like Toronto's Sebastian Giovinco and Los Angeles' Gio dos Santos, opposite of what it has done with the aging talent, but most would agree that the talent that has been going to China is much better. The addition of Nigel de Jong to Los Angeles is solid as well, as he is only 31. But those players are still on a level below those heading to China. 

The rule in China is that the teams just need to field one Chinese player, while in MLS a team can have eight international players on their roster, with the rest filled with domestic players.

As a result of the rule and crazy resources, China spent some serious bank during this recent transfer window, buying seven players, all of which were more expensive than Bradley and most of which are better players and bigger names in world soccer. Those seven players' average transfer fee was $21 million, almost triple what Bradley cost. 

Per The Daily Mail, Xi Jinping, China's president, has encouraged clubs to spend more money in the attempt to transform the league into one of the best in the world, with the money likely coming from wealthy businessmen who invest in the clubs.

During the winter transfer window, England spent over $190 million, more than Germany, Italy, Spain and France combined. China alone has spent $430 million. 

Just check out these transfer fees.

Guangzhou Evergrande

Atletico Madrid forward Jackson Martinez for $35 million 

Shanghai Shenhua

Besiktas striker Demba Ba for $10 million

Inter Milan midfielder Freddy Guarin for $10 million

Jiangsu Suning

Shakhtar's Donetsk midfielder Alex Teixeira (a Liverpool target) for $40 million

Chelsea midfielder Ramires for $23 million

Hebei China Fortune

Roma winger Gervinho $15 million

Each player went for more than any transfer to a Major League Soccer club. How is this happening? The Chinese Super League is 12 years old, but in a matter of months has earned instant respect, leaving fans all over the world wondering where they can watch the games. 

On Wednesday, PSG's Ezequiel Lavezzi, a 30-year-old attacker, transferred to China as well and will be the fifth highest-paid player in the world. A guy who wasn't even one of the top players at his club at PSG, is doing that well. It goes to show that the Chinese clubs are willing to overpay in order to land big-name stars. It's simply unbelievable.

What does this mean for world soccer?

Simply, it's a crazy soccer reality that we live in at the moment, but China is taking that crazy world by storm. The league is getting a load of European talent and scooping up promising players from Brazil -- players that have featured in Brazil's World Cup Qualifying rosters. Now, it isn't yet anywhere near the quality of the top European leagues, but if the teams continue to have these resources and buy more players, it could rival the top leagues in, say 5-10 years, depending on the amount of big-time transfers. 

However, this isn't really that bad for Europe or South American teams. Heck, why would a team ever pass up on the chance of selling a player like Ramires for an inflated offer of $23 million? He's a good player, but at this point, $15 million would seem more like fair value for him. As for Jackson Martinez, a star at Porto that flopped at Atletico Madrid, I think most clubs would have been happy to get $20 million for him, but instead he went to Guangzhou Evergrande for a whopping $35 million. This could be a resource for clubs to offload big-name stars who have under performed, like Martinez, and possibly even cash in on their misfortunes to make a profit.

In short, we are not yet at a point where the global soccer powers should be worried about the Chinese league.  

Can anyone match this?

It's hard to see any other league in the world, outside of oil-rich Middle East nations, being able to rival China's outrageous spending. Guys who could be at top clubs fighting for major European silverware, are off to China to play soccer. For those hoping Major League Soccer could do the same, keep dreaming for now. It's money that the league doesn't have nor would it likely be willing to spend at this time. One of MLS' top goal scorers Obafemi Martins is off to China as well. Portland Timbers star Diego Valeri said he has noticed the moves to China but that it isn't a topic of conversation within MLS.

"The majority of the players are happy here and aren't thinking about it," he said. 

It's going to take time for MLS to grow in popularity and create the resources needed to buy top talent, especially with Adidas designing every jersey and sponsorship deals obviously not near the heights of European ones. There is no doubting that the league in on the way up, just not nearly at the same pace as China. But could this end up hurting MLS in the long run as it tries to attract top talent? Many young players are coming from a minimal lifestyle and are willing to cash in, hence someone like Teixeira going to China instead of a place like Liverpool at 26. Liverpool saw a deal for the talented Brazilian fall apart late before his new team came through with a big offer. That big offer shows how serious the Chinese teams are, and it potentially means that they would be willing to engage in a bidding war for top talent. How can you not blame him for cashing in? Would MLS, if it had the money, be willing to do the same? Will moves like this scare off world powers from getting into bidding wars over players who already have inflated prices?

While the United States is probably the more attractive place to live, it's the money that separates them in the end. Kaka's salary last season was $7.17 million. Lavezzi is making almost double that in China at the age of 30. It's likely his last big payday as a soccer player.

MLS' system, with the allocation process that is used to determine which MLS club has first priority on certain players, and the designated player rule, which allows clubs to acquire up to three players whose salaries exceed the max budget rate, make it difficult to foresee clubs going out and getting good players in their prime, especially if they already have enough designated players. Combine that with the fact that the league is more worried about its youth development product (which is not a bad thing), in the end it may just hold it back. 

MLS commissioner Don Garber told VICE that the league's focus on youth development is what will carry the league moving forward.

"We're spending more on youth development today than we were spending on our overall player budget for years ago," Garber said.

"We're going to continue to invest deeply in developing the best possible young players in our country with laser focus, and doing it both because I think it will help the growth of the sport in our country."

You usually have to build from the ground up. So MLS' investment in youth academies is commendable. But China is doing the opposite and has surpassed MLS in the process. For MLS to compete, wholesale changes would need to be made to the acquisition process.

Each day we see more and more going to China to make a quick buck (well, lots of them), such as Robinho, who returned to Brazil after a one year stint there. It's a different lifestyle, but one that is paying crazy amounts of money for even guys who aren't well known. Is this a short-term trend, or is Chinese soccer the future?

For now, the Chinese Super League is the next power in world soccer, whether you like it or not. 

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Martins
Martins made the move. (USATSI/Twitter)