Shandong Taishan has suffered back-to-back defeats in the Gift Cup and the Super Cup, but has not wavered. Not long ago, the club held the annual Taishan Mountaineering Ceremony on the eve of the start of the Chinese Super League season.
Compared to previous seasons, this year's Taishan Mountaineering Event has attracted a lot of attention because the team has gone through a huge change this season, with many of last season's key players missing the mountaineering due to reasons. In addition, during the winter transfer window, Taishan introduced a lot of new blood, all of which made their debut in the mountaineering activity to show the fans their style.
At the end of the Mountaineering Ceremony, Taishan officially announced the signing of seven new players: Tong Lei, Sun Guowen, Liu Shibo, Huang Zhengyu, Hu Jinghang, Li Yuanyi and naturalized player Fernando.
All seven recruits have now completed their registration with the Chinese Super League, and they are looking forward to being reused by head coach Hao Wei in the 2023 season to be among the mainstays of the Taishan team.
Among the new recruits, Tong Lei and Fernando have attracted a lot of attention. Tong Lei, as the first local player told to join, because of the entanglement with the original club Dalian people, the transfer was once in doubt. Until the end of the transfer window of the Chinese Super League, Taishan officially welcomed back Tong Lei.
Taishan invested great efforts with Tong Lei and Dalian People's Club, and finally exchanged Tong Lei's free agency with payment of training fees. The naturalized player Fernando, because of his naturalized status and nearly two years have not participated in official training and games, the state of doubt, but still regarded as Taishan left winger preferred.
Tong Lei and Sun Guowen are both capable of playing in the starting positions, and as active international players, their strength is unquestionable, just waiting to gel with their new teammates. The addition of Li Yuanyi, Huang Zhengyu, Hu Jinghang and Liu Shibo enhances the depth of Taishan's squad and provides the team with more options.
Compared with the Chinese Super League's new hegemon Wuhan Sanzhen and veteran powerhouse Beijing Guoan, Taishan's reinforcements this season have not been outstanding, and the players' strengths and popularity are slightly inferior.
However, under the pressure of money, it is not easy for Taishan to successfully bring in a number of players with instant fighting power. If Hao Wei can make good use of these new recruits to fill the main vacancies, Taishan is still a strong contender for the Super League title this season...
