Shenhua and Guoan, the two soccer powerhouses have always had a beam between them, but in the last two seasons, Shenhua has dominated with their better performance and shrewd reinforcement strategy. This is not only reflected in their record, but also in the players they have signed. At the start of last season, Gao Tianyi, whose contract with Guoan expired, opted for free agency to Shanghai Shenhua, where he delivered 30 games, 3 goals and 5 assists. This year, naturalized player Li Ke, whose contract has also expired, has arrived in Shanghai and donned the Shenhua uniform. According to media personality Yang Yi, Li Ke will appear in Shenhua's medical examination team, and everything seems to be in order.
Li Ke's destination has been made clear, he is expected to join Shanghai Shenhua, and Guoan side more or less lost. For two consecutive seasons, he sent two backs to the opponents, both players chose to leave in free agency, undoubtedly enhanced the strength of the old rivals. During his time at Guoan, Li Ke spent most of his time recovering from injuries, and last season he only made 24 appearances on behalf of Guoan, contributing 1 goal and 2 assists. In contrast, Shenhua were not aggressive in their signings, with only Brazilian strikers such as Minero, Amadou, Manafa, Teixeira and Luiz staying.
In terms of internal competition, Guoan and Shenhua are comparable, neither of them have gone head-to-head with the other teams, and both are competing for the title among the local teams. However, they also face the dilemma of an unstable training squad of international players. Shenhua arranged four warm-up matches in Haikou to test the results of their winter training. There are general reservations about the signing of Minero, who is seen as an injury risk and with a hefty transfer fee of 9 million, it would be better to keep Malalele. The overall decline in the level of foreign aid in the Chinese Super League is obvious. Minero's performance on the field has also been revisited. In the post-golden dollar soccer era, it is natural for the Chinese Super League not to be too demanding.
