If André Villas-Boas leaving Shanghai to go and participate in the Dakar Rally was a surprising exit, that of Carlos Tévez was less so. After a season of diminishing returns on the pitch and a growing bank balance off it, it was almost inevitable that the Argentinian would add insult to the injuries, weight problems and homesickness that had defined his spell in China.

“It’s fine because I was on holiday for seven months,” the forward reportedly joked in an interview with Argentinian television on Monday. But when you take the money (£615,000 a week went the reports in December 2016 though Shanghai officials claim the figures were exaggerated) and don’t run so much then it’s best to keep quiet.

By the time Shanghai Shenhua salvaged a disappointing season by winning the Chinese Cup in November, Tévez, who started less than half of Shanghai’s league games, was already heading home. Talking to some of the most loyal fans in China at the final, few were sorry to see him go. Tévez cannot be blamed for accepting the money or not being the kind of leader on and off the pitch the blue half of Shanghai was looking for but the feeling is that he could have done a good deal more than he did.

If the affair has been held up in some quarters as a striking example of what a waste of time the Chinese Super League is, the example of Tévez provides lessons for the Chinese too.

Even before Xi Jinping became president in 2012, the message spreading throughout the country from Beijing was that it was time for the world’s most populous country to become better at its most popular game. Big business started to pour money in and big names such as Hulk, Oscar, Paulinho. Marcello Lippi and Luiz Felipe Scolari followed. Rarely has so much money been sent to so few foreign players, clubs and agents in so short a space of time. So great was the spending that the government, never big on currency flowing out of the country, grew concerned.

Regulations followed. Just before the start of the 2017 season, the Chinese Football Association reduced the number of foreign players allowed in a matchday squad from five to three. In June, it was announced that any club that was in debt and signed a foreign player for more than £5m would have to pay a “transfer tax”. This amount, equivalent to the transfer fee, would go into a football development fund.

The Tevez situation provides a colourful example to help sell the rules a little more easily. It looks to be effective. In the 2017 winter transfer window, the Chinese Super League topped the global spending charts, splashing out around £70m more than the Premier League. This window has, so far, been quiet in comparison (although Cédric Bakambu has just joined Beijing Guoan for £35.3m plus the same in taxes).

Throw in Neymar’s mega-move to Paris and the lack of activity becomes even more understandable. It is not that Chinese teams would not be interested in the Brazilian, that kind of elite signing would get a few checking bank balances and checking connections to see if there was a way around the tax (there has been talk of getting players to buy out their own contracts to become free agents though the CFA has warned that it is watching closely) but the inflationary effects of the deal that make things more difficult.

The European transfer scene has gone crazy. Chinese teams were paying over the odds as it was and are going to think plenty of times before entering a market where £150m would be needed to sign the likes of Virgil van Dijk. Strange to think, given the goings-on in Europe, that it was the Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, who called the Chinese money a “danger” in December 2016 after losing Oscar to Shanghai SIPG for £50m.

It is not just about the money. China, with just their sole 2002 World Cup appearance, wants to become one of the best in Asia by 2030 and globally two decades later. More efforts are being focused on producing talents with clubs now forced to give playing opportunities. In 2017, every league coach had to select at least one under-23 player in the starting lineup, leading some to sub off their youngsters before the break. In 2018, the number of U23 players on the pitch can never be fewer than the number of foreigners. The first-round exit this week from Asia’s U23 Championship, held on home soil, reminded all what was already known: there is still some way to go.

The domestic market, already growing, is set for a busy few years then. The big foreign stars will still come, just in smaller numbers. Guangzhou Evergrande, champions for the past seven seasons and the club that started the spending, were recently linked with a move for Pierre Emerick Aubameyang but this month have reaffirmed their commitment to field an all-Chinese team by 2020.

So as Tévez counts the money he can at least take some non-financial satisfaction from his time in the Far East. If China do end up winning the World Cup helped by players given plenty of time and opportunities in the Chinese Super League then he can tell Argentinian television that he played a small part.