Alex Teixeira stunned plenty of Liverpool fans by joining Chinese Super League club Jiangsu Suning on a big-money deal.
After the Brazilian was named in Shakhtar Donetsk’s Europa League squad, many Reds fans expected the player to stay in Ukraine and move to Anfield in the summer.
But just hours later he was off to China after a £38m fee was agreed.
And now Teixeira, who previously expressed a strong desire to join up with his friend Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool, has explained his decision.
Official: Alex Teixeira joined Suning on a 4y contract, transfer fee €50m. Alex is coming to Nanjing soon. pic.twitter.com/DpvVYWiKSy
— FC JIANGSU Forever (@FCJiangsu) February 5, 2016
“Unfortunately, all the proposals that came from them, were somewhat windy and did not contain anything concrete,” the 26-year-old is quoted as saying in the Daily Express.
“Let’s put it like this: everyone always knew that I wanted to stay in Europe and move to [the Premier League].”
Teixeira was also linked to Chelsea during the transfer window, but nothing materialised there either.
While his hopes of an international call-up may be hit by the decision to move east, playing alongside compatriot Ramires could keep him on the radar of Seleção boss Dunga.
