In a letter sent on Wednesday to clubs in the Chinese Super League and China League One, the country's second division, the CFA requested feedback on the issue "in order to limit clubs chasing short term results and over-spending on new players."

Clubs who are already in debt could face a "player-transfer leverage fee" if they spend RMB 45 million (€5.9m) or more on each foreign player and a similar sanction for local players priced over RMB 20m (€2.6m). Restrictions have also been suggested for players who join Chinese clubs on loan.

The proposal, if adopted, would see clubs forced to pay a fee equivalent to the transfer fee into the China Football Development Fund or with further funds being redirected into each club's own youth system.

Clubs' financial positions will be determined based on the accounts as submitted to the CFA for 2016, with those records due to be made available for public scrutiny.

The CFA has requested responses from all 32 clubs across the top two divisions by Sunday as they seek to cool a transfer market that has seen Shanghai SIPG and Guangzhou Evergrande break the Asian transfer record on numerous occasions over the last 18 months.