China intends to limit the amount clubs are spending on overseas players after the repeated breaking of the Asian transfer record.

A government spokesman said clubs have been “burning money” on importing talent. Shanghai SIPG spent £52m on the Brazil midfielder Oscar and Carlos Tévez joined Shanghai Shenhua to reportedly become the world’s best-paid player.

A spokesman of the general administration of sport told state media in an interview the government would “regulate and restrain high-priced signings, and make reasonable restrictions on players’ high incomes”.

Chinese clubs broke the Asian transfer record four times last year after China’s president, Xi Jinping, said he wanted to transform the country into a “football superpower”. The spokesman said the government would “set the upper limit” for transfer fees and income, and control “irrational investment”. “We must take building 100-year clubs as the goal,” he said, adding that clubs’ financial supervision would be strengthened, and their spending on players would be controlled. “We will remove the seriously insolvent clubs from the professional league.”

The Chinese FA is to reduce the number of overseas players allowed in a team from five to four.