Bakambu now a Beijing Guoan player

It’s official—Villarreal have sold Cedric Bakambu to Beijing Guoan for €40m.

Bakambu leaves having scored 32 times for Villarreal in the league (12, 11, and 9 in half a season) as well as 4 goals in the Copa del Rey and 12 in the Europa League, including nine during our 2015-16 run.

Cedric will be fondly remembered, for sure, but even given his goalscoring success, it was impossible to turn down €40m for him. (We paid €7.4m for him from Bursaspor). Just as it was impossible for Cedric to turn down becoming (at least for now) the eighth-best paid player in the world, at €18m per year.

We wish him well.