On May 3, with FIFA's punishment of Shanghai Shenhua, news spread that Shenhua will not be able to register new recruits for the new season. Renowned media personality Song Chengliang analyzed this in depth on social media.
Below is the full text of Song Seung-ryong's personal social media post:
Although the start date of the new Chinese Super League season is still uncertain, the league discussion is heating up with the establishment of the relegation rule and the closure of the transfer window. Today, I was puzzled by a media report that Shenhua is at risk of relegation due to a transfer ban. Below, I'll give you a detailed rundown of Shenhua's transfer ban and personnel utilization strategy this year-
1. In the first media open day after the Winter Olympics, Shenhua announced that they will use a full Chinese squad for the new season, with no foreign aid, which is the first time I've heard of Shenhua's full Chinese squad.
2. I expressed my dismay at this on Twitter, as this is not usually the case with regular club build-ups. Despite the economic crisis from time to time, only Guangzhou and Hebei are without foreign aid this year, and even if Greenland is in trouble, they should try to put together a normal squad.
3. My guess is that the reason may be that this year's budget is so limited that it can only pay the salaries of local players and cannot afford the salaries of foreign aiders.
4. We need to know that the decision on the three direct drop places in this year's Chinese Super League has been known to the clubs for a long time, and it was only recently announced by the National Football Association (NFA), so Shenhua's decision was made in the context of the three direct drop places being known.
5. At the time of announcing the full Chinese class, Shenhua probably did not anticipate that the FIFA penalty would be so swift, otherwise they would not have terminated the contract of the big black man with at least one year of contract left; but in fact, Shenhua also left a backhanded approach, for example, Bassogo was not terminated, so after the FIFA ban was introduced, Shenhua quickly recalled him.
6. Along these lines, we can conclude that Shenhua plans to use a full Chinese class in the first phase, and as for the second half of the year, it is not too late to invest in foreign aid if the situation is not ideal, and Greenland has often invested money in the summer window over the years, such as Deng Baba in 2015 and Xarawi and Kim Shin-wook in 2019.
7. Even without foreigners or with only one Basogo, Shenhua is not dangerous this year. At least in terms of group strength, Greenland is better than Evergrande and Huaxia Happiness. In terms of team strength, Shenhua is also better than Guangzhou and Hebei, and don't forget Chongqing. I don't believe Shenhua can't match these three teams.
8. There are other teams with similar strength to Shenhua, such as Guangzhou City, Zhejiang, and Jinmen Tigers, etc. Shenhua has at least 10-12th place on paper, so there is no need to worry too much. Manager Wu Jingui is also quite experienced in relegation and his performance with the team won't be too bad.
9. Of course, I still want to emphasize the views I expressed on the microblogging, do not think Shenhua this year's goal is only relegation. An old club with heritage should still be pursued. For example, Guoan, even if there are delinquencies from 2020 onwards, but people still put together enough foreign aid this year, which is an attitude!
10. Going back to point 2, I am still not in favor of no foreign aid this year. Shenhua's strategy this year should be to focus on five or six young players, with three or four foreigners and three veterans, so that the team can still go to the league rankings deserve, Greenland came for so many years, the league results are average, or should be pursued.
11. Ideals are rich, reality is hard. Well, let's get back to reality, even in this situation, I still think there are a good portion of the team's veterans that are unavailable, at least 3 or 4, I can't name them so as not to get myself in trouble. Even if they are given a paycheck, they have to be determined not to sign up. Wu Ma used to talk about temperature, but now that we can't afford to use foreign aid, what the hell temperature, you can stay if you want, but kicking the ball is even better, and you should even be thrown directly into the reserve team, although there is no such thing as reserve league anymore either.
12. After Shenhua fell into the relegation bracket last year, the comment section of every official tweet became a massive cartwheeling scene. You have to do something, right? At least make the fans who support you happy, and then continue to use some veterans who do not contribute to the team, then how do you win back everyone's heart?
13. Back to the FIFA lawsuit itself, we don't have to dwell on whether we can still use foreign aid in the summer window, but the lawsuit and the money owed have to be dealt with, or else FIFA may impose further penalties, including deduction of points and disqualification from registration, with Guizhou being a precedent. Therefore, Shenhua needs to solve this problem in a proper way within a certain period of time.
