WHILE the likes of Ryan Bertrand and Fraser Forster were still enjoying their (delayed) summer holidays, Graziano Pelle’s post-Euro 2016 break was not a long one.

Just a fortnight after Italy’s Euro dream was shattered in a penalty shoot-out loss to Germany - Pelle among those who missed for the Azzurri - he was back in competitive action.

Fresh from a £13m move to Shandong Luneng, the 31-year-old made his Chinese Super League debut in a 1-1 draw at Liaoning.

That was enough to move his new club two points above the relegation area.

Pelle had watched the previous game, a 4-0 home win over Shijiazhuang, from the stands.

But recently appointed boss Felix Magath brought him into the starting line-up at the expense of Brazilian international Diego Tardelli, who had scored twice against Shijiazhuang.

Tardelli wasn’t overly happy, which was understandable.

But when your employers are paying a new signing a reported £260,000 A WEEK, then it’s no surprise Pelle was brought in.

You don’t pay someone that much, and then don’t use them.

Pelle failed to celebrate his debut with a goal, but did pick up a second half booking.

He didn’t have to wait too long for his first goal, though - netting a header in Wednesday’s 4-1 home victory over Hangzhou Greentown.

If reports are to be believed, Pelle is banking a truly staggering wage that makes him the joint fifth highest paid footballer.

He is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) £346,000 per week, Lionel Messi (Barcelona) £327,000 per week, Hulk (Shanghai SIPG) £327,000 per week and Neymar (Barcelona) £312,000 per week.

Pelle, who never scored more than 12 league goals in a Premier League season at St Mary’s, is supposedly trousering the same weekly wage as new Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swedish star’s career record, though, is rather more impressive than Pelle’s.

Remember, the latter had never played senior international football prior to his £8m move to Saints in the summer of 2014.

Now he is being mobbed at airports.

Pelle was given a rapturous reception from his new fans upon his arrival in China just a few days after Italy’s Euro 2016 exit.

He was mobbed by a jubilant fanbase as he made his way through the airport in Jinan - the capital of Shandong province in Eastern China.

Some fans even turned up with picture signs of Pelle in action as well as a photo of him and his girlfriend.

A bit different to his arrival in Southampton, then.

In terms of points won, Shandong are the most successful Chinese Super League club of all time since the league was rebranded from the former J League in 2004.

They have won the title three times - in 2006, 2008 and 2010 - and were runners-up in 2004 and 2013. In addition, they were third in 2006, 2007 and 2015.

Overall, that’s eight top three finishes in just 12 seasons.

Which is why Shandong fans are stunned at this year’s form, which until the 4-0 win Pelle watched from the stands had left them entrenched in the two-club relegation zone.

Though most of the Chinese Super League clubs are primarily made up of home-grown players, they are allowed to sign five overseas stars - of which only four can play at any one time.

Walter Montillo is Shandong’s current top league scorer with eight goals.

The Argentine, who has won six senior caps for his country, cost around £5.5m when he was recruited from Brazilians Santos two years ago.

Pelle will link up with another former Premier League striker as Shandong also recently signed Senegalese international Papiss Cisse from Newcastle for around £2.5m.

Cisse and Pelle actually scored in the same league game at Newcastle on the opening day of the 2015/16 season.

Cissie was an instant hit on Tyneside after Alan Pardew had paid £9.3m to sign him from German club Frieburg in January 2012.

He struck 13 times in half a season, including a strike at Chelsea that won the Goal of the Season award, as the Toon finished a stunning fifth.

Like many Chinese Super League clubs, there is also a strong Brazilian contingent with centre half Gil and midfielders Júnior Urso and Jucilei. The latter acquired Palestine citizenship during a spell playing in the Middle East, and is counted as an Asian player - thus avoiding the foreign quota.

Some Saints fans might have had a few raised eyebrows at the size of Pelle’s transfer fee, as well as his weekly wage.

But money is seemingly no object to Chinese clubs.

During the January 2016 transfer window, Super League clubs actually out-spent their Premier League counterparts.

In January of this year, Chelsea’s Ramires joined Chinese side Jiangsu Suning - who were managed at the time by ex-Blues and Saints defender Dan Petrescu - for around £25m. Petrescu has since left the club to take up a new job in Russia.

A few days later, former Arsenal striker Gervinho - who scored twice for the Gunners in a 6-1 slaying of Nigel Adkins’ Saints at the Emirates in September 2012 - left Roma to join newly promoted Hebei China Fortune for around £13m.

The following month, Atletico Madrid striker Jackson Martínez transferred to Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao for around £32m - a record for an Asian club.

That record was broken two days later, though. when Alex Teixeira signed for Jiangsu Suning from Shakhtar Donetsk for £38.4m.

And that fee was shattered this summer when Shanghai SIPG splashed out around £44m to sign Brazilian international striker Hulk.

Despite an average goalscoring record for his country - 12 goals in 48 appearances - the player has commanded some huge transfer fees. In addition to his latest fee, in 2012 Russian club Zenit paid around £40m to land the forward from Porto.

Hulk’s arrival at SIPG could mean the end for former Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan, who only joined the club last year in a deal believed to be earning him £227,000 a week.

While Shandong try to move away from the drop zone, meanwhile, Guangzhou Evergrande are top of the table and chasing a fifth successive title.

Brazilian Ricardo Goulart is currently their top scorer with 11 goals, while Alan Carvalho - another Brazilian - has nine.

Broken leg Carvalho played alongside Sadio Mane at Red Bull Salzburg and was joint top scorer in the 2014/15 Europa League (alongside Everton’s Romelu Lukaku) with eight goals. He cost around £9m in January 2015.

Guangzhou, managed by former Brazil and Chelsea boss Felipe Luis Scholari, has overseen the departure of his main goalscorer to still top the table with 14 wins and only one loss from 18 matches.

Elkeson, another Brazilian, scored 24 and 28 goals for Guangzhou in 2014 and 2015, but left to join Shanghai SIPG - who have been managed since 2014 by former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson - for around £14m prior to the start of the current season.

It was a former Premier League marksman, though, who was proving to be the main goal threat in Shanghai - prior to a severe injury last weekend.

Demba Ba had belted 14 goals in 18 games for Shanghai Shenhua, but he is now out after suffering a career-threatening broken leg.

Signed from Besiktas in summer of 2015, Ba scored six times in 11 games in his debut season and helped Shenhua reached the Chinese FA Cup final.

The Senegal international - who scored twice against Saints on his Chelsea debut in an FA Cup tie in January 2013 - had scored two hat-tricks this season prior to his bad injury.

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