Shandong Taishan are aiming to win the Chinese Super League and AFC Cup in the coming year. Looking ahead to this summer, the Shanghai duo will undoubtedly be Taishan's main challengers. Looking back at past seasons, these two teams defeated Taishan to win the double title, leaving Taishan as the runner-up in the domestic competition. The Taishan players have their own feelings about this loss. As a result, they quickly strike in the transfer market, has locked two core foreign aid. But recently, the pace of Taishan's attraction slowed down, the two key foreign aid transfer matters are pending, the financial problem is also no definite news.
Once upon a time, the Luneng era brought countless glory to Shandong soccer. Taishan's major shareholder was the State Grid, which ensured that they never had any financial troubles. During the Luneng era, Taishan brought in many top foreign players. However, with the share restructuring, the State Grid transferred 40% of its shares to Jinan Ventures. Currently, Jinan WENGYU has not made any capital injection, which has put financial pressure on the Taishan team.
The Taishan team has not been as generous with their spending on reinforcements as they used to be. Last season, due to financial constraints, they could only sign players whose contracts were about to expire. With rumors of a new owner on the horizon, everyone is looking forward to a quick resolution of this issue. If the problem remains unresolved, Taishan will face a shortage of funds to bring in new blood. Whether Shaneng Group takes over or Luneng Group returns, both have become the focus of hot discussion.
Another reason for the delay in finalizing Taishan's third foreign aid is that the team has not yet clarified the retention of two foreign aiders. One of them is Leonardo, who has been performing well but failed to gain Choi Kang-hee's trust despite his strength. The West Asian team was interested in bringing him in, and the offer was quite high, but Leonardo lost control of his emotions in the AFC Champions League and was suspended for several matches, making his transfer to the next season's AFC Champions League a worrying prospect. As for Pato, despite his impressive performance in the Indonesian league, the fierce competition in the Chinese Super League has caused him frequent injuries, and his ability seems to be difficult to meet the requirements of the Taishan team. However, he himself is not willing to give up easily. On the one hand, he wants to prove himself, and on the other hand, the salary offered by Taishan is far more than that of the Indonesian league, so as long as he fulfills his contract, there is no excuse.
If these two foreign aiders stay in the team, together with the two confirmed new recruits, plus Cressan and Jadson, Taishan team has six foreign aiders. The foreign aid quota is full and the team is in dire need of strong reinforcements for the back position. Despite Choi Kang-hee's target, the issue of two foreign aiders is still pending, and no progress has been made in attracting new players. I hope Taishan can speed up the pace and complete the team's upgrade as soon as possible.
