Australia international Tim Cahill has said that the ever-expanding Chinese Super League could end up spending £50 million (AUS$100m) on one star name, but questioned whether the current wave of investment was good for the players.
China's domestic competition is the talk of the football world after luring a series of elite players from other major leagues with eye-watering transfer fees and wages.
Brazilian playmaker Alex Teixeira's £38.5m transfer to Jiangsu Suning leads more than £122m worth of league-wide investment in new players for the season ahead.
Cahill joined powerhouse club Shanghai Shenhua last year and, in 2016, he'll be joined in China by four other current and past Socceroos; James Troisi and Michael Thwaite (Liaoning Whowin), Trent Sainsbury (Jiangsu Suning) and Ryan McGowan (Henan Jianye).
However the Australian veteran warned them to expect a major culture shock, with no guarantees they'd improve as footballers.
In a revealing and blunt interview with Fox Sports' football panel show Shootout, Cahill suggested greed was driving the league's growth.
"Choices now players are making, it's not about football like it was in my day, it's purely about personal gains," he said. "Is [going to China] going to help players? No. Is it going to be big for the country? Yes."
He also predicted a tricky adaptation period for Troisi and Thwaite in Liaoning, a northern province which borders North Korea.
"You won't see me going to Liaoning," he said. "You see Troisi and players like that, I don't think they really look at what they're doing before they sign.
"I didn't go there blind. I live in Shanghai, it's a big city, some of the other areas it's a bit tough and we'll see how long they last."
The Socceroos' all-time leading scorer said the current investment was only the start and predicted some more major deals in the future.
"It's crazy to see but this is only going to get worse," he said. "This is going to be massive. Soon they'll break the $100m bracket very easily. I don't know whether it's going to help the league, but they're investing. They're doing great things. They've got the power.
"When they want something they get it, and when they don't want something they get rid of it. It's like a revolving clock, you'll see a lot of players coming in, a lot of people going."
Cahill also said that the influx of players would hurt the Chinese national team. The world's most populous nation is currently ranked No. 93 by FIFA and stands to be eliminated from contention for the 2018 World Cup by Qatar and minnows Hong Kong.
Most of the big-money buys are attackers and Cahill said it could lead to lower standards in the Chinese national team.
"This sort of investment in players is a Catch 22," he said. "Does it help the Chinese? To a certain extent no. When you sign players like this, everything in the final third is up to us, if we don't deliver, it doesn't happen."