Antic highlights Pellegrini's arrival in China

Serbian coach Radomir Antic confirmed on Sunday that the arrival of his Chilean colleague Manuel Pellegrini to Chinese soccer is not a step backwards, highlighting the ascending level of soccer in the Asian country.

"I think that I had a good experience at Hebei Fortune. Chinese soccer is not at a bad level. However, it isn't the differences that make (the coaches) money but those (coaches) who do a better job. I don't believe that for Pellegrini or any other high-level coach that coming here would be a step backwards," Antic told Chilean daily El Mercurio.

Pellegrini will coach Heibei Fortune, a team that was recently promoted to the First Division in the Chinese Super League and includes players such as Argentina's Ezequiel Lavezzi and Gervinho from Cote d'Ivoire.

In an opinion piece, Antic added that the former Real Madrid coach will be arriving at a "relatively new club. And the Chinese are unafraid of copying what they think looks good. In the case of this club, they imitate what Guangzhou did before. They have foreigners with a very high level but, the leaders will not lose their cool when it comes to deciding changes if they see that the team's needs are different. That happened to me and my successor (China's Li Tie) and it could happen to Manuel."

Hebei Fortune is currently in fifth position in the Chinese Super League and it has one of the most star-studded line-ups this year with figureheads such as Lavezzi, from Paris Saint-Germain, Gervinho, from Roma, Cameroonian Mbia, from Turkish side Trabzonspor and France's Kakuta, direct from Sevilla.

"When I arrived in 2015, the team was in the second division and I came from having a good season with Shandong Luneng. They (Henei Fortune) put together a good team and rented their current stadium, which was an alternative location in the 2008 Olympic Games. The owners, some very particular guys, are in real estate and built a city out of nothing which now has a million inhabitants. In Hebei Fortune everything is done on a large-scale," said Antic who has also coached Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Pellegrini, who comes directly from coaching Manchester City, is one of the most successful coaches in the history of Chilean soccer with titles also in Argentina and England. Endit