Giovinco turned down China move ´for now´ – agent

Toronto FC forward Sebastian Giovinco has turned down a move to the Chinese Super League “for now”, according to his agent.

Giovinco has been in sparkling form in MLS since moving to Toronto in 2015, scoring an incredible 39 goals in 61 regular season games for the Eastern Conference side, with his performances attracting attention in China.

While Andrea D’Amico, the player’s representative, has confirmed that Giovinco rejected a transfer, but added that the former Juventus striker could come back to the offer.

“For now, he said no. Everything in the transfer market is ‘for now’,” D’Amico told Sky Sport Italia. “The financial offer doesn’t suit Giovinco, nor does it suit [Toronto] – so we’ll see.

“There are many intermediaries [when dealing with Chinese clubs]. They came and they made their bids, both Beijing [Guoan] and other teams.

“Then there’s an escalation: there is a first offer, he says no, then it gets increased. I think, at this time, finances are the least of the problems for China.

“They had some problems with the operation for [Carlos] Tevez because the people got upset and we know what China thinks about the mood of the population. They also invested in football as an important social stabilising factor.”

Giovinco had previously spoken of snubbing the advances of Barcelona, claiming he would only be “a ball boy” when battling Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez for starts. 

The 30-year-old, who won the MLS Golden Boot and MVP award in his first season in Canada, remains set to start the new campaign with Toronto against Real Salt Lake on March 4.