Brazilian Hulk signs for Shanghai SIPG

The deal could break the Asian transfer record of 50 million euros, paid by Jiangsu Suning for Shakhtar Donetsk's Alex Teixeira earlier this year in China's world-leading transfer splurge.

Hulk has signed for Shanghai SIPG and will be seen during the Chinese Super League this season.

Brazilian football star Hulk signed for Chinese side Shanghai SIPG on Thursday after passing a medical, the club said, as the cash-rich Chinese Super League embarks on a new round of spending. A press conference will be held Friday to announce "the Incredible Hulk" joining the team from Russian side Zenit St Petersburg, a SIPG spokeswoman said in a statement sent to journalists.

Russian media had said Zenit would be paid around 55 million euros ($61 million) for his services. But according to posts on China's Twitter-like Weibo, SIPG's general manager Sui Guoyang said the figure was "not that high". Website transfermarket, which tracks dealings in the sport, put the fee at 56 million euros Thursday.

The deal could break the Asian transfer record of 50 million euros, paid by Jiangsu Suning for Shakhtar Donetsk's Alex Teixeira earlier this year in China's world-leading transfer splurge. President Xi Jinping has ambitions to make the Asian giant a footballing power. During the winter transfer window in January and February, Chinese teams broke the Asian transfer record four times in an acquisition spree that outstripped even the mega-rich English Premier League.