'FIFPro' has revealed the plight of midfielder Mate Males, who is now unable to play for Dalian Yifang this season due to the signings of Yannick Carrasco, Nicolas Gaitan and Jose Fonte.
Not everything is rosy in Chinese football. The country's desire to improve its domestic football league and economic power to bring in big-name stars to make that happen has left a trail of victims in its wake.
Dalian Yifang are among the sides to have overstretched themselves, with the club having not expected to sign both Carrasco and Gaitan during their winter transfer window, meaning that they ended up surpassing the limit on foreign players.
The duo moved to the CSL in a joint deal from Atletico Madrid and were joined at their new club by defender Jose Fonte and midfielder Mate Males, who was the real loser in all of this.
Males will not be able to feature for his new club this season, having been left out of the squad in order to create space for the other three new arrrivals but to make matters worse, the 29-year-old will not even be able to train with his new side.
With Males in limbo, 'FIFPro' have opted to bring his situation to light in the hope of finding a solution. Dalian Yifang, meanwhile, insist that the former Rijeka man did not undergo a medical and is thus not their player.