With the 2023 season about to start, many clubs have entered the sprint stage of preparation, and coaches have made their initial decisions on the list of players they would like to see. Compared to the 2022 season, the Chinese Super League has seen a major change: the number of participating teams has been reduced to 16. Two teams, Guangzhou City and Kunshan, opted out, and despite their best efforts in the past season, looking for a breakthrough, they failed to cross the finish line and retired before the sweetness of victory came. Even more sobering is the fact that a number of players who were ready to join the Chinese Super League had to find another way to make a living, or even risk losing their jobs - after all, the closing of the transfer window is just around the corner.
The soul of the Kunshan team, 35-year-old Zhao Mingjian, who was supposed to move to Kunshan in the summer of 2022 and contributed 4 goals and 5 assists in 15 games over half a season, thought that he could use this to return to the Chinese Super League, but it didn't work out that way. Time was running out for Zhao, who failed to meet a new Chinese Super League owner and ended up back in the Premier League, which is a promotion and relegation that is hard to describe. To make matters worse, his salary was not even as good as it used to be. After joining Shijiazhuang, Zhao Mingjian revealed in his interactions on social media platforms that his monthly salary was just over 10,000 yuan.
The annual salary is only about $200,000, which was a fantasy in the past. Zhao Mingjian is a former international player who played in the top 12 of the 2018 World Qualifiers, and has the ability to be a "jack of all trades", able to play in a variety of positions in the center and backfield, ranging from center back to wing back to wing forward. He has a rich professional experience, and has left his footprints in six Chinese Super League teams, including Shide, Taishan, Yatai, Huaxia Happiness, Side and Shenhua.
It's worth noting that Shijiazhuang might have been able to get more additions and promotions if the Chinese Super League had continued to maintain its 18-team size, but unfortunately that wish did not come true. Zhao Mingjian's annual salary has also shrunk significantly after four months of promotion, relegation and hopeless waiting on the bench. Even so, he himself said that the players would not choose to retire, as their love for the sport made them choose to remain on the field.
However, such a situation might not last long. After all, he is already 36 years old, and if he can help Shijiazhuang Yongchang Football Team successfully get promoted in the 2023 season, Zhao Mingjian still has a chance to return to the Chinese Super League. Otherwise, his career may be coming to an end, and the day of retirement will inevitably come.
