At the end of November, Beijing Guoan announced the completion of a contract release agreement with top scorer Bakambu, a star from Congo. The decision marks the departure of all of the talented foreigners who helped the team win the AFC Cup three years ago.
Guoan's official social media platforms have been carefully curated for Bakambu's farewell speech, with the comments section filled with praise and reluctance. A reporter broke the news that Bakambu gave up three months of his salary when he left the team, a move that eased the financial burden for Guoan, which is in the midst of a harsh winter.
Fans have said that Bakambu was always the earliest foreign aid to return to the team during his stint at Guoan. During the epidemic, it makes sense that foreign aiders would choose to leave the team in order to maintain their status and reunite with their families. This professional, self-disciplined player with excellent statistics and full of emotion has naturally become the flavor of the football world.
In fact, early last year, Bakambu established a strong connection with La Liga giants Barcelona. Bakambu had even traveled to Spain to discuss the details of his contract, but ultimately the partnership was terminated due to disagreements between Barcelona's top brass.
In the nearly two years since January 2020, the Premier League landscape has changed drastically, and Barcelona are no exception. However, their memories of Bakambu remain strong. Due to Aguero's heart problems, Barcelona once again see Bakambu as a "very promising option".
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal, Bakambu's old boss before he came to the Chinese Super League, as well as a number of teams in the J-League, have all shown interest in Bakambu. In terms of popularity, the "Happy Boy" will have the "right of first refusal" and may even join a prospective Chinese Super League team.
It is reported that a Chinese League One team expected to be promoted to next year's Chinese Super League is interested in bringing in Bakambu. Currently, Wuhan Sanzhen and Meizhou Hakka are in the top two of the Central League table and are expected to lock the qualification for the Super League early in the next round. Chengdu Rongcheng and Zhejiang are in the third and fourth places, and are also expected to succeed in the Super League through the play-offs.
Looking at the current points in the relegation group of the Chinese Super League, Dalian Ren and Qingdao are at greater risk. Approaching the restart of the league, Qingdao's problems with money have finally erupted. After learning of more than eight months of unpaid wages, it's easy to see where Qingdao are at the top of the table.
On the surface, the Qingdao team's problem is all the Chinese Super League teams are facing the problem of unpaid wages, but in fact it is like a seemingly delicate sapling, but the roots of the tree underground has long spread and grow, deeply rooted in this soil.
They are not like Chongqing, who are actively pushing for a share reform and have already announced their new team logo, and it is hard for them to believe that the dawn will come as firmly as the Hebei team. Qingdao's helplessness has to be hinted at by the fact that they are "out of the league" and "not going to the tournament".
Taking out the teams that are still viable, and counting the Premier League teams whose problems have gotten so bad that they don't see any hope of dealing with them, we can already focus our attention on the top five or so in the Central League standings. Nantong Zhiyun is in fifth place with one round less to play, and a win over Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic in the 30th round would set up a four-game winning streak, leaving them just four points behind third-place Chengdu and fourth-place Zhejiang!
If the existing problems in the Chinese Super League team can not be solved, we can not rule out the idea of "Central A team replacement" again. However, the team that is expected to be ranked in the top of the Central League can not fully count on the possibility of replacement, after all, the Zhejiang team's lessons are still fresh in our minds.
