One of the earliest teams in the Chinese Super League, Beijing Guoan boarded a flight to Haikou at noon today, where they will begin their first winter training in a month. Compared to last season, Guoan departed with a team missing a few familiar faces. Yu Yang, Jin Pengxiang, Jin Taiyan, Liu Huan, Liu Guobo, Hou Yongyong, and foreigner Memisevic have all become former Guoan players, and the underperforming Daburo has stayed in Europe, with Guoan looking at the possibility of a loan. Zhang Yuning, Zhang Chengdong and Kang Xiangyou also did not follow the brigade for their own reasons. Of course, there is another familiar figure in the Guoan team, that is Yang Fan. As a matter of fact, when the photos of the Guoan team's medical checkup came out yesterday, Tianjin fans spotted him standing in the front row at a glance. So, a big question mark emerged: will Yang Fan still be able to play for the Tianjin Tigers in the new season?
Photo credit:@dailysports
The story of "Orange in Huainan, Orange in Huibei" has a clear reflection of reality in Yang Fan. After returning to Jinmen Tigers last season, he immediately found his groove at Beijing Guoan after a mediocre performance. The combination of him and Andujar also became an important guarantee of the team's eighth place and a significant reduction in goals conceded. Throughout the season, he made 22 appearances, accomplished seven shutouts, and contributed 0.7 interceptions, 1.5 steals, and three clearances per game, with the number of steals ranking 10th among all center backs and the number of clearances ranking 20th. Under Andujar's direction, Yang Fan's physical play and intense mugging traits were fully utilized, averaging 3.3 successful physical tackles. Even when staring down a giant striker like Malcolm, Yang Fan didn't suffer significantly in the confrontation. More commendably, he has repeatedly fouled and even been carded for being nonchalant. Last season, he only received a red card for a clash with Sun Jie, and only averaged 0.5 fouls per game! Of course, without that nonchalant shot, Yang Fan's performance last season would have been even more perfect.
The obvious improvement in his form, the happy expression he couldn't hide, and the high rental fee paid by Jinmen Tigers during the loan process, all made Tianjin fans realize that Yang Fan would definitely be "rented to buy" like Barton and officially become a member of Jinmen Tigers. However, unlike Barton's lease and contract, Yang Fan's contract with Beijing Guoan won't expire until the end of this year, which means that at least so far, he's still a member of Beijing Guoan. Whether or not he can continue to play for the Jinmen Tigers in the new season depends on the outcome of the negotiations between the two clubs. Now that Yang Fan has appeared in Beijing Guoan's winter training team, does it mean that the result has been finalized?
Of course not. Although this off-season, Beijing Guoan defense line "blood loss" serious - Memishevich to join the Dubai win; Jin Pengxiang and Yu Yang's contract expired and left the team; Ruan Qilong and Liang Shaowen and the Olympic team, the Asian Games team to train for a long time; Yang Bo's performance has been unsatisfactory, and the defense line should be strengthened. There is indeed a need to strengthen the defense. But previous performances have proven that the rush-loving Yang Fan is no match for the increasingly slow Yu Dabao. More often than not, Yang Fan is the right center back or simply the right back of the three center backs. In this case, "recycling" Yang Fan will not improve the quality of Guoan's defense. More importantly, Stanley, a youth coach, is a coach who likes to use young players. With the number of U21 players increasing to 5 in the new season, the promotion of new players has become a "rigid demand". The introduction of foreign aid center back + promotion ladder of young people is likely to become the first choice of Guoan to solve the problem of defense. It is reported that in this winter training, Guoan first team will train with the U21 team to facilitate the Stanley selection. Because of this, the Beijing media has been cautious about this matter, clearly indicated with the team winter training does not mean that Yang Fan will stay in the team, the final result "by the coaching team and the club to decide".
With Andujar's contract extension, Zimtigers' foreign aid framework from last season has been retained, reflecting the fact that the team's signing policy will remain stable this season.
From the perspective of the Zimmerman Tigers, leaving Yang Fan has been the club's first choice. The club has been working towards that this offseason. With Andujar's successful contract extension, the combination of leaving Yang Fan and the center backs who performed so well last season has been key to stabilizing the team's defense. It is worth noting that during the loan discussions last season, he also trained with the Jinmen Tigers in Shanghai for a period of time, and then returned to Beijing Guoan's winter training team, moving with the team to Haikou, but this "episode" has no impact on his eventual joining.
Henan Songshan Dragons, who had not collected news before, decided today to gather on February 15 at Zhongmou Jianye Football Training Base in Zhengzhou. Domestic players will be the first to take a vacation and foreign aid will return to the team before 28th. In addition, there are rumors that Henan will bid farewell to the Navigation Stadium in the new season and move their home field to Zhengzhou Olympic Sports Center.
It is understood that after the Chinese Football Association yesterday introduced many new policies for the 2023 season, the key work of the Jinmen Tigers is now to "benchmark" the new requirements for the 2023 season, and prepare and submit league access materials. At the same time, the music department will also focus on the "u23 policy canceled, u21 policy" and the first team to apply for a reduced number of new changes, before the official assembly on February 19, to further adjust the team plan for the new season, which will certainly involve the retired veterans, some of the expired players will not be renewed, and so on the specifics of the contract.
