Shandong Taishan team is ushering in an unprecedented lineup renewal. The team is expected to say goodbye to the aging crisis if it operates properly.In 2023, Taishan successfully introduced two international players, Sun Guowen and Tong Lei. Sun Guowen has been promoted to international footballer, while Tong Lei frequently represents the national team. They have been the focus of Taishan's investment for a long time.
After Sun Guowen and Tong Lei, Taishan welcomed the return of naturalized player Delgado, who joined the team for training to prepare for the new Chinese Super League season. If the coach is satisfied with his performance, Delgado is expected to appear in the new season's matches instead of remaining on loan. Delgado, 25, will be eligible to play for the national team in 2024 according to the plan, and Taishan urgently needs to activate him early.
As of the end of March 2023, Taishan's new recruits have been impressive. Sun Guowen's performance in the national team was highly regarded. In the match against New Zealand, he came on as a substitute and helped Barton complete the goal to avoid the embarrassment of a shutout. In domestic training, Sun Guowen scored a solo goal to help the national team beat Shijiazhuang by a score of 4-0.
Meanwhile, Taishan's naturalized player Delgado was also in hot form and scored in the warm-up matches. It is worth mentioning that Taishan has gathered two popular naturalized players. In addition to the 25-year-old Delgado, a young naturalized player, Fernando, has joined the Taishan team. It is reported that the players have arrived in Jinan and will work side by side with Delgado and train together. Fernando joined the preparation as a trial player.
As long as the two return to their best form, Taishan's lineup for the new season will become ideal. Media personality Xu Jiang believes that Fernando only needs to regain 70% of his strength to be able to play on the Chinese side. After all, he is one of the youngest naturalized international players at the age of 30. In comparison, Allan and Ekerson are both 33 years old, and Luo Guofu is 34 years old. It is crucial for Taishan to effectively utilize these two popular naturalized players. However, the coaching staff seems to be a bit conservative and Hao Wei lacks the courage to hire newcomers. Like most local coaches, he is conservative and does not trust the newcomers enough, making it difficult for the two naturalized players to maximize their value in his hands.
According to the latest report of famous media "Football Daily" reporter Chen Yong on March 26, Taishan's newly signed player Huang Zhengyu has arrived at the team and will join the training. Chen Yong said that Huang Zhengyu's situation is similar to that of Fernando, who needs to win the trust of the team's ability through his form, and only after passing the evaluation will he have a chance to get a contract. Given that the player has arrived at the team and his own ability is not in jeopardy, it is likely that they will sign with Taishan as soon as they return to normal.
In this way, Taishan team has successfully signed three international players - Huang Zhengyu and Tong Lei, who have also been selected for the national team many times. According to such lineup adjustment, Taishan team will have stronger competitiveness in the new season, but the prospect of winning the championship is still not optimistic. On the one hand, the team has many problems and the management is too loose; on the other hand, the coaching staff is too conservative and the pre-season preparation is insufficient.
