Although the former 8-time Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou were unlucky to be relegated to the Central League last season, it doesn't mean Guangzhou can't play in the Chinese Super League in the 2023 season.
Recently, a number of media reports in Guangdong said that Xu Jiayin, chairman of Evergrande Group, has not given up the plan of Guangzhou team. As a gold standard, the importance of the Guangzhou team to Evergrande Group is self-evident. Even if they participate in the First Division, the honor of Guangzhou team in the past 10 years cannot be completely erased.
As things stand, Evergrande will continue to run the Guangzhou team, but the investment in the club is much smaller than in the past. In the new season, the Guangzhou team will play in the league with young players from Evergrande's soccer academy, plus a few experienced veterans.
Meritorious coach Zheng Zhi has also returned to Guangzhou in the near future and he will continue to coach the team in the new season. When Zheng Zhi returns, a group of veterans who have played with him in Guangzhou for many years will also follow him back to Guangzhou.
Last season, Huang Bowen, Mei Fang, Zhang Chenglin and Rong Hao followed Zheng Zhi to join Guangzhou for the second time. In addition, Taishan's decorated veteran Hao Junmin also made a free transfer to Guangzhou in the second half of the league. I believe more Evergrande veterans will return to Guangzhou this season. It is reported that the first player to return to Guangzhou in the new season will be Zheng Zhi's good brother, former national soccer star striker Gao Lin.
Gao Lin, 37, made his debut with Shanghai Shenhua, a terminally ill company that began abandoning players from its squad in 2009. 23-year-old Gao Lin left Shenhua at the end of the season for Guangzhou Evergrande, which was still in the Central League.
In the following 2010 season, Gao Lin scored 23 league goals for Evergrande, helping the team to overtake as Central League champions. After that, Gao Lin began the Evergrande saga.
In his 11 seasons with Evergrande, Gao Lin scored 95 goals and 94 assists. In addition to the 2010 season's Central League title, he helped Evergrande win six Chinese Super League titles, two FA Cups, two AFC Champions League titles and two Super Cups.
In the 2020 season, at the age of 34, Gao Lin left Evergrande and joined Shenzhen, the most rustic club in the Chinese Super League at the time. Although Gao Lin was "old", he was still in good shape. In various matches, Gao Lin scored 14 goals and 4 assists for Shenzhen.
After the gold dollar soccer bubble completely burst, the Shenzhen team took the lead in the crisis, the club in recent years the accumulated debt up to 3.5 billion. From the current situation, the dissolution of the Shenzhen team is basically a foregone conclusion, which makes Gao Lin's return to the Guangzhou team more logical.
Another Evergrande decorated veteran Feng Xiaoting is also expected to return to the team in the new season. His contract with Shenhua expired at the end of last year and he recently officially left Shanghai. Although Feng Xiaoting is about to turn 38 years old, there is no doubt about his strength as a former national soccer team captain and starting center back.
Even though he won't be able to play as a starter when he returns to Guangzhou, Feng can still pass on his wealth of experience in the game to Guangzhou's young players through his words and actions.
I believe that with the return of a new batch of veterans, Guangzhou's strength and game experience can be further improved. Even if they can't make up for their return to the Chinese Super League, they still hope to do well in the 2023 season and return to the Chinese Super League through their own efforts!
