The purchase of Spanish BBVA Primera Liga club RCD Espanyol by the Chinese company ‘Rastar Group’ was completed on Tuesday.
The deal means that for the first time in its 115 year history the Barcelona based club will have a foreign owner in Rastar Group President Chen Yansheng after his company bought 56 percent of the shares in the club.
Chen will hold a press conference on Wednesday to explain his purchase, but one of his first actions will be to reduce Espanyol’s debts, especially with the Spanish Treasury.
The club is also expected to make some moves in the winter transfer window as they look to climb from 14th position in the table where they have 21 points from 20 league matches this season.
Rastar Group is a company dedicated to technology, which also manufactures toys and videogames and has a stock market value estimated at around 3 billion dollars.
The company will take over a club which is currently in the middle of the BBVA Primera Liga, and the move shows the increased interest Chinese companies are taking in Spanish football with Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad both sponsored by the Chinese company Q-Bao and Wang Jianlin, the president of the Wanda Group owning 20 percent of 2014 league champions, Atletico Madrid.
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中国老板入主西甲西班牙人队
新浪体育讯 中国的星辉互动娱乐股份有限公司完成对西甲西班牙人俱乐部的股权收购，以54%的股份成为该俱乐部最大股东，公司董事长陈雁升正式接手西班牙人俱乐部的董事会，在巴萨身边（同城），出现了一支由中国人真正掌控的西甲俱乐部。
在展望西班牙人队的未来前景时，陈雁升充满了雄心。“我希望球队表现出色，在三年内打进欧冠，但我不想给主教练压力。不过，有我们的参与，俱乐部不必再被迫出售球员，工资也会有保障。”
西班牙人和巴萨是同城死敌，巴萨的地位、声望和人气显然更高，但陈雁升表示，有信心将西班牙人打造成城市里的另一支强队：“在这座城市里，可以容下两支强队。”
谈到西班牙人队的阵容，陈雁升说：“我们有最好的球员，最职业的选手，我已经和他们见过面了。”谈到球迷，他说：“他们是俱乐部的灵魂。”
陈雁升还声称自己是西班牙人队的死忠。“我关注这家俱乐部已经20年了，虽然我只是在电视上看他们比赛。西班牙人对我来说，既是投资，也是激情所在。”至于未来的管理，他说：我会经常性的在西班牙和中国来回。