Richairo Zivkovic makes the switch to Guangzhou R&F, so knows Football International to report. The 24-year-old striker trained with FC Groningen lately, but the Pride of the North was unable to pay a transfer fee for his one-and-a-half year ongoing contract with Changchun Yatai. The Guangzhou R&F of trainer Giovanni van Bronckhorst can now do this.

At Guangzhou R&F Zivkovic should become the successor of Eran Zahavi. The 33-year-old Israeli striker is about to make the switch to PSV, so Van Bronckhorst is looking for a new attack leader. With Zivkovic, the Dutch training master now seems to be able to fill this vacancy. According to Football International The striker will sign a contract until the end of the season with Guangzhou R&F.

It means that Zivkovic will remain active in China for the time being. After his recent training with FC Groningen, his employer Changchun Yatai asked him last week to return to the Far East. Because of the corona crisis, the second division in China came to a standstill, which gave Zivkovic permission to keep his condition at FC Groningen. Technical director Mark-Jan Fledderus immediately announced that a return of the striker was not a foregone conclusion and last week there was a definite end to a new collaboration between Zivkovic and FC Groningen.

Zivkovic started his career at FC Groningen and with 16 years and 88 days he is still the youngest debutant in club history. In 2014 Ajax hijacked him for more than two million euros from the Pride of the Northbut his stay in Amsterdam was not a resounding success. Eventually, Zivkovic played only ten matches in the main force of Ajax and after renting with FC Utrecht and Willem II, he was allowed to leave for the Belgian KV Ostend for 1.2 million euros.

Changchun Yatai took him away from Belgium in February 2019 for 2.5 million euros and Zivkovic signed a contract in China that runs until December 2021. In January, he made the surprising move to Sheffield United, but in the end he only played five games (without goals or assists) in the Premier League.