At the beginning of 2023, it became the farewell season for Chinese Super League stalwart Beijing Guoan. Many players have left the team in the past month or so due to the club's complete renewal of its first team.
Recently, Beijing Sports Channel produced a special program called Farewell Season, which introduced six local players who recently left Guoan, but also paid tribute to them. The six players were Yu Yang, Jin Pengxiang, Jin Taiyan, Liu Huan, Liu Guobo and naturalized player Hou Yongyong.
From this six-man list, Guoan club will be the first to make major adjustments in the new season is the back line. Yu Yang, Jin Pengxiang, Jin Taiyan, Liu Huan are defenders, these four players can make up a whole back line.
The four players are also veterans in the truest sense of the word, with Yu Yang, Kim Tae-Yeon, and Liu Huan all 89 years old and will turn 34 this year. Jin Pengxiang is only a year younger than them, having celebrated his 33rd birthday in January this year.
Compared to the four veterans mentioned above, Liu Guobo's departure surprised many Beijing fans. He was born in 1999 and is now less than 24 years old. As one of the few Beijing players at the moment, Liu Guobo was favored by many fans when he moved from Shanghai to Guoan in the 2018 season.
Unfortunately, since joining Guoan, Liu Guobo has not been able to prove himself. In the five seasons he has played for Guoan, Liu Guobo has only represented the team in 22 Chinese Super League matches. Last season was the season in which he made the most appearances for Guoan. He played nine games, but apart from one assist, he didn't show any more spectacular performance.
As the best performer at the Shanghai National Games that year, Liu Guobo never found his place back in Beijing. Standing at 1.9 meters tall, but too skinny to play as a center forward. Excellent dribbling ability, but no absolute speed and lack of defensive ability prevented him from becoming Guoan's main winger.
As a result, Liu Guobo also became one of the first players to leave the team this year when his contract with Guoan expired. Next, Liu Guobo's whereabouts have become a topic of concern for many fans. Perhaps Liu Guobo's return to Shanghai SIPG is a good choice.
Compared to Liu Guobo, Yu Yang's departure is most regrettable for Beijing fans. Although he is not a Beijinger, Yu Yang has been playing for Guoan's ladder team since he was a child. He was one of the few players from Guoan's own youth training system.
Although he briefly left Guoan in the 2015-16 season, he played for Guangzhou R&F for two seasons. However, his love for Beijing and Guoan brought him back for the 2017 season until the end of last season.
In fact, Yu Yang's departure this year was long foreshadowed. At the beginning of last year, he almost failed to renew his contract with Guoan, and eventually he only renewed his contract with the club for one year. Last season, Yu Yang has faded out of the main lineup of Guoan, the number of appearances is not even more than the known as "big leak" Park Yang.
Therefore, Yu Yang's departure is inevitable after his contract with Guoan expires. From the current situation, falling back to Tianjin and joining Tianjin Jinmen Tigers will be the only option for Yu Yang.
Due to well-known reasons, this year's Chinese Super League winter transfer window hasn't officially opened yet, but Guoan has already had 8 players officially leave the team. In addition to the six local players mentioned above, Memisevic and Dabbro officially left the team last month, proving once again that Guoan's rebuilding efforts for the new season are fully open.
