Soccer fans have long been accustomed to the phenomenon of naturalization of overseas players to help the rise of national teams, whether in Europe, South America or North America, such cases are commonplace. These players, jokingly referred to by fans as "naturalized national footballers", have become the key to improving the strength of national soccer.
In Asia, especially East Asia, Japan and South Korea are soccer leaders. However, South Korean men's soccer has always been more conservative in its approach to bringing in overseas players, and it's not hard to understand why - after all, South Koreans identify very strongly with their local culture.
In contrast, Japanese soccer has invested heavily in local youth training and is open to bringing in overseas players despite the fact that the talent explosion has not yet arrived. Former Japanese internationals such as Ramos, Lupisu, Santoshi, and Tanaka Togasa epitomize this strategy.
In recent years, the national soccer team is in the predicament of not being able to make ends meet, and in order to cope with the pressure of performance, it has been constantly importing overseas players to strengthen its strength. From blood-related Chinese players to bloodless pure foreigners, many players who grew up overseas or were born abroad have now joined the national soccer family.
However, due to poor strength, changes in mentality or other reasons, most of the naturalized players in the national football team did not achieve the expected results after the success of naturalization, and even some of the players gradually faded out of the fans' field of vision. In this article, we will take stock of five gradually forgotten national football naturalized players for your reference.
V. Hou Yongyong
Hou Yongyong, 23 years old, formerly known as Ioan Hou Sait, has a Norwegian father and a mother from Henan Province, China, with 1/2 Chinese blood. As a youth trainee of Rosenborg, a local Norwegian soccer team, Hou Yongyong has made a name for himself in the Norwegian soccer world, and was once regarded as one of the "Norwegian 98 Trio".
At the beginning of 2019, Hou Yongyong naturalized in our country and then joined Beijing Guoan. However, as a midfielder, he did not show the Norwegian trio after coming to play in China, and his growth rate was much lower than expected, so naturally he was not called up by the national soccer team.
IV. Delgado
In 2018, Shandong Luneng brought in 21-year-old midfielder Delgado from Portuguese Premier League powerhouse Sporting Lisbon's b. In June 2019, Delgado was officially naturalized as a player in China.
Delgado was expected to provide midfield depth for the National Football League, given his age and potential at the time. However, in the course of the operation, it was clear that the preparation of the relevant staff at the time of the material inquiry was not sufficient. Delgado had represented Portugal in the 2017 U-20 World Cup, and according to the current FIFA rules, he could not represent our national team later, which amounted to a wasted effort.
III. Xiao Tao Tao
Xiaotao Tao Tao, 24 years old, plays as a striker and winger and currently plays for Kunshan FC in the Central League.
Xiao Tao Tao's grandfather, a native of Zhongshan, Guangdong, traveled to Peru in South America last century and started a family there. A soccer player of Chinese descent, Xiao Tao Tao was a starter for the Peruvian national youth team and early on played for Peru's first division powerhouse, Universidad del Deportivo de Peru.
In 2019, Xiao Tao-tao entered the vision of the Football Association, and in the face of the dividends of Chinese football, he gladly accepted the invitation to become a naturalized Chinese soccer carrier and joined Guangzhou Evergrande. However, the strength he showed after his arrival in China was not convincing and is now mixed up in the Central League.
II. Gallagher
In January 2015, Guangzhou Evergrande became the first Chinese Super League (CSL) player to pay a transfer fee of more than 100 million yuan when it brought in 24-year-old leading scorer Golat from Barclays Premier League (BPL) side Cruzeiro for 15 million euros.
As a foreigner, Gallart has performed amazingly well in his years in the Chinese Super League, and the Brazilian with his strength and understanding of Chinese soccer has naturally become a target for the national soccer team to bring in.
At the end of 2019, Golat was successfully naturalized. However, due to FIFA's new rules about naturalized players needing to reside in their new country for a certain consecutive period of time in order to represent that country's national team in FIFA tournaments, Golat will not be able to represent the national football team for the time being.
Halfway through 2019, Evergrande had loaned Golat to play for Palmeiras in the Brazilian A-League, leading to a recalculation of his continuous residency in our country, and he will not be able to play on behalf of the national football team until at least 2023, when Golat will be 32 years old. More ironically, after becoming a player in our country, Golat's performance in the Chinese Super League has declined significantly, and it is not yet known whether he can once again become the strength of the national soccer team's thighs.
I. Lok Kok Fu
Luo Guofu, formerly known as Aloysio, nicknamed "Bison", plays as a striker.In 2014, Shandong Luneng brought in Aloysio, who had previously performed well at São Paulo in the Barclays Premier League.
In his first three years in the Chinese Super League, Luo Guofu played quite well for Shandong Luneng and Hebei Huaxia Happiness, averaging over 0.5 goals per game and with a highly regarded professional attitude. As he got older, Luo Guofu, who sells himself as an impact player, gradually declined.
In 2019, the 31-year-old Luo Guofu has been hanging out at Meixian Tiehan FC in the Central League, and his athleticism has long since fallen away from the Iron Bull that crisscrossed the Chinese Super League. However, he has still become a key scouting target and has been given a valuable opportunity to become a naturalized player.
After becoming a player in our country, Luo Guofu moved to Evergrande in the Chinese Super League. At the level of the national team, Luo Guofu was only symbolically selected in the training list, and did not get the opportunity to play in the national football team. In retrospect, the operation related to the introduction of Luo Guofu by the national soccer team is really puzzling.
