A few months ago, Oscar had publicly stated that he had a Chinese heart and was willing to naturalize and join the national soccer team to represent China in the world qualifiers. His condition for naturalization was to increase his annual salary of 700,000 euros at Cangzhou Lions FC to 2.1 million euros, or triple it.
This naturalization offer might not have been a huge amount five or six years ago. After all, Guangzhou Evergrande was at its peak at the time and paid naturalized players such as Iverson, Fernando and Allan far more than that amount to settle down.
However, time has passed, and now the Chinese Super League's gold dollar bubble has completely burst, with Guangzhou Evergrande having long since declined and been relegated to the Central League. Many clubs are also facing a shortage of funds, not only unable to bring in naturalized players, but also unable to pay the salaries of their own players and coaches.
As a result, no action has been taken on the part of the FA, despite the fact that the new FA president Song Kai has expressed a desire to restart the naturalization program for the national football team. Players who are eligible for naturalization are either lacking in ability, like Oscar, or do not have a strong desire to naturalize.
Although Oscar is currently young and promising at only 24 years old, naturalizing him may enhance the attacking ability of the national football team to a certain extent. However, he is mediocre in the area of dribbling, and his shooting skills and awareness are not enough to support him as the core attacking player of the national football team. Therefore, it is a wise decision for the FA not to choose to naturalize Oscar. Of course, if Oscar doesn't ask for a significant pay rise, there might be a glimmer of hope that he can join the national soccer team.
Oscar's lack of ability, Zhou Dingyang and Sergio were reluctant to be naturalized. In this case, the FA decided to stop the national football team's naturalization program completely. In the next 18-team Asian Zone World Qualifier, all naturalized players except Fernando may be discarded by the national team. Whether Fernando can be selected again will depend on his performance in his new owner Shanghai Shenhua.
Naturalized players are not a sustainable solution for the long-term development of the national soccer team, and discovering young domestic players with potential is the right direction, right?
