Mystery surrounds Lok Kwok Fu's future
On December 19, heavy news came out of Guangzhou as 33-year-old naturalized player Luo Guofu confirmed that he will not be joining the second phase of the Chinese Super League after failing to reach an agreement with Guangzhou Football Club. The future of Luo Guofu is in doubt, although he has decided to return to Brazil for the time being. The decision means that only one naturalized player, Jiang Guangtai, remains in the Chinese Super League at this point in time, which is a major blow to the national football team and its new manager Li Xiaopeng, who are hoping to qualify for the Round of 12.
In the 16th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL) on the evening of December 16th, Guangzhou drew 1-1 with Hebei. In addition to the result of the match and Zheng Zhi's first yellow card as Guangzhou's manager, naturalized player Jiang Guangtai's return to Guangzhou and his debut drew much attention.
In fact, since the national football team returned to the country on November 18, the question about the future destination of several naturalized players has attracted widespread attention. The answer is becoming clearer with the return of Aixon to Brazil and Jiang Guangtai's entry into the Chinese Super League (CSL) Guangzhou. So, where will Luo Guofu, who has repeatedly expressed his willingness to play for the national soccer team, go in the future?
From the news coming from Guangzhou on the 19th, Luo Guofu has given up to participate in the second phase of the Chinese Super League with the Guangzhou team. There is even news that he will leave Guangzhou at the earliest on the evening of the 19th to return home. From this, it is not difficult to determine two points: First, Luo Guofu returned to Guangzhou after officially lifting the quarantine with the national football team on the 9th of this month, mainly to negotiate with the club to extend the contract. The fact that Luo Guofu has given up his participation in the Chinese Super League means that his exchanges with the club have not yielded satisfactory results.
On the other hand, the "stay and go" of Jiang Guangtai and Luo Guofu proves that there may be differences in their future in the Chinese Super League. Sources have revealed that there are already Chinese Super League clubs showing interest in bringing in Jiang Guangtai and Alan.
However, it seems that no similar willingness has been shown to the domestic clubs for Luo Guofu and Ackerson. This is because Guangzhou Football Club has recently suffered a serious financial crisis, making it difficult to pay high salaries to first team players, including naturalized players. In this case, if Luo Guofu stays in the country, it means that he needs to spend a lot of money continuously to cope with renting rooms and training. In addition, sources say that there is now no full-time Portuguese interpreter within Guangzhou Football Club to handle personal business for Luo Guofu. In this case, leaving Guangzhou and returning to Brazil might be the right choice.
The National Football Association (NFA) and the new coach of the national football team, Li Xiaopeng, are also very concerned about the movements of several naturalized players. It is reported that the use of the weekend time, Li Xiaopeng and the relevant parties on the national football team and preparation for a new round of exchanges. Although the detailed content of the exchange is not known, but from the recent injury of a number of international players in the league and a number of naturalized players to leave the reality of China, Li Xiaopeng in the future selection of international players on the issue of the problem is indeed facing certain difficulties. In particular, the national football team is now in the 12 strong match in the overall passive, but still retains the hope of the line. In this case, Li Xiaopeng and the national football team under his command has no reason to give up the efforts to fight for the line, that is to say. The next two rounds of away challenges to Japan, Vietnam, the national football team still need to do their best. From this perspective, Li Xiaopeng's team is still very much in need of the help of several naturalized players.
Slightly reassuring is that, no matter Ickerson, Luo Guofu, have previously publicly expressed willingness to do their best for the national football team. However, it is certain that, affected by the epidemic, the relevant epidemic prevention policy and the reality of the conditions, several naturalized players if the recent departure from China, then the probability is that they will not have the opportunity to be in the next year on January 10 or so when the national football team re-centralized in a timely manner to the team. Even if they continue to play for the national soccer team, they can only directly rush to Japan to meet the team. The national soccer team will also be tasked with keeping real-time communication with them.
