In the 2018 season, TEDA managed to succeed at key moments despite the
relegate
, but ended up only 14th in the league, not even close to 13th in 2017. However, Dong Wensheng, who is the decision-maker, still favored a contract extension for the veteran manager, seemingly oblivious to the team's woes.
In 2019, on the recommendation of Strikers, TEDA spent €5 million to sign center forward Wagner, who signed a two-year contract with an annual salary of up to €7.5 million. But after more than a year in office, Strikers gradually lost control of the locker room, the use of several foreign aid, he is more in favor of their own imported players, and even let Achimpen in the winter training stage at the beginning of the 2018 season was reduced to a marginal figure.
During these years, TEDA was deeply involved as a manager in the renewal and retention of foreign aid and foreign coaches, which became the main reason for his investigation.
TEDA reportedly signed Mikel to a three-year deal in 2017, with a weekly salary of up to £140,000 and an annual salary of around 63.3 million yuan, making him the most highly paid player in TEDA's history. However, the
Chelsea
The marquee player was mediocre at TEDA and even competed fiercely with Goodyear, who joined at the same time, in the same position.In 2019, Mikel terminated his contract with TEDA early before it expired and moved to Middlesbrough as a free agent.
Almost all of these high-priced foreign aiders have become passers-by for Tianjin Teda. Wagner offered to terminate his contract and retire in place during the contract period, and the club's management was surprisingly powerless to do anything about it, and still had to pay his remaining salary. These abnormal operations have cost TEDA money.
Apart from Achimpen, few foreign players have left a perfect impression in the hearts of TEDA fans. This is not simply a matter of spending money, the key is to invest huge sums of money but fail to bring substantial improvement to the team. Whether there is any transfer of benefits in this will perhaps be the focus of an audit as TEDA withdraws from the club's management, and will be a breakthrough in the investigation of Dong Wensheng.
