Soccer-Chinese clubs paid more per player than Europe elites - report

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Chinese clubs spent more per player than any other country in the January transfer window, according to data from FIFA's Transfer Matching System (TMS) seen by the Times. A flurry of high-profile transfers to China's Super League has also pushed the country up to third in the table of total spending behind traditional powerhouses England and Spain. China will overtake Spain and move into second place after 30 more transfers are processed by the TMS, including Jackson Martinez's 42 million euro ($47 million) switch to Guangzhou Evergrande from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. Excluding the Martinez deal, clubs in China's top-flight spent 33 million pounds on 10 players in the window, compared with 120 million pounds on 115 players by English clubs and 42 million pounds on 104 players by Spanish clubs. The transfer window in China does not close until Feb. 26, so the country's level of spending is likely to increase further. ($1 = 0.8995 euros) (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)