The Chinese Football Association (CFA) came to the news that the restrictions on foreign aid in the Chinese Super League may be relaxed next season, with the intention of using it to incentivize foreign aid to help international players grow.
However, the headache lies in the fact that solving the problem of insufficient "foreign aid" simply by increasing the "number" of foreign aid is the same as the mistake made in the last arms race, and it is simply not possible to achieve targeted reinforcement and capacity enhancement. Therefore, it is clear that such a response strategy will not work.
The Indian Super League and the Saudi Arabian League are two typical counter-examples. The Indian Super League was as hot as the Chinese Super League at that time, and the level and number of foreign aiders purchased were quite a lot. However, what was the result? Their standard did not improve, their results remained poor and their reforms did not bear fruit; the same goes for the Saudi Arabian league. Despite nominal restrictions, the buying frenzy was enough. stars such as Crow and Benzema don't count, and can the arrival of Milinkovic, Neves and others really make a difference to Saudi Arabia's achievements?
Therefore, even if the Chinese Super League relaxes the restrictions on foreign aid and opens up purchases, the impact on performance may not be significant. Let's shift our mindset. Even if there is an opportunity to buy, who dares to really go for it? Who can really buy the players of their choice? This ever-changing situation is chilling. Investing real money without seeing results, and when it fails, the blame falls on the head. No one is willing to take the risk.
Relying on foreign aid to compress the living space of international players is a viable strategy. After all, previous over-introduction has led to some players such as the Guangzhou players, who are expensive but their actual performance is not in line with their contribution, especially at the national team level, which is obviously against the rule. Therefore, we should really look for the law instead of going to the other extreme.
When it comes to bringing in foreign aid, we don't need to aim for the level of top players such as Crow, Messi and Benzema. We can't afford and can't handle such players. What China needs are players who have solid fundamentals and really know how to play soccer, such as players from Eastern Europe's Jet Croatia and Norway, as well as Japan and South Korea. If they can come to our local league, they will force our international players to improve their basic values such as precise passing, ball control, dribbling and shooting from a fundamental and technical and tactical level, and these basic lessons will contribute to a significant improvement in performance. If you don't say much, a return to the second-tier level of the Asian zone would certainly be no problem. Even better than Japan, South Korea and Iran, you're certainly not afraid of rivals like Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
In that case, 8.5 foreign aid slots would be enough, and you're still worried about not getting into the World Cup?
Therefore, it is possible to liberalize the restrictions on foreign aid, but do not go to extremes; in terms of purchases, we should choose professional players who can really make a difference; as for the policy, it should be consistent and should not be changed easily. It is only when we operate in this way that we will have a chance.
