In the spring of 2023, the transfer door of the Chinese Super League was closed, and Shenzhen player Dai Weijun's transfer road was concluded with a "final blow".
Neither Dai Weijun himself nor the Chinese Super League (CSL) team that hoped to bring him in has been able to wait for a turnaround. According to Shenzhen media, "at the critical moment, investors voted against it".
On the same day, Shenzhen announced the first half of the 2023 Chinese Super League (CSL) schedule, and Dai Weijun, who has not trained with the team, is still listed in the team's lineup. This implies that Dai Weijun will participate in the Chinese Super League as a Shenzhen player for at least the first half of this year's season.
Although Dai Weijun has been included in the list, from the statements of the player and his agent, "solving the problem of unpaid wages" is the only condition for him to return to the team.
If the two sides can not reach an agreement on this issue, is regarded as the future of the national football team "midfield leader" Dai Weijun may face at least half a year without football situation.
However, behind the seemingly dusty result, Dai Weijun left many questions after the failed transfer.
Chinese soccer, to whom to fight for "free agency"?
When Dai Weijun first joined the Shenzhen team, his salary was not generous, even only 10% of the team's highest homegrown player's salary. But with the passage of time, his salary increases year by year, approaching the top of the contract.
The original contract expired at the end of 2023, but due to long-term salary arrears, Dai Weijun proposed to the club to give up 10 months of salary in exchange for free agency. In fact, during the three years in Shenzhen team, Dai Weijun devoted a whole year for nothing.
However, the Shenzhen team demanded to pay 20 million yuan in transfer fees before releasing the player, and there were rumors that the actual amount was 10 million yuan, which could be used to settle Dai Weijun's salary arrears and the transfer fees owed by the Shenzhen team when they brought in the player.
Shanghai Shenhua sports director Sun Xiaotian suggested that the addition of Dai Weijun could offset Wang Yongpei's transfer fee, but the Shenzhen team disagreed with the proposal as they felt the two transfers were not comparable and were still owed a transfer fee to the Wolves.
After several rounds of negotiations, Shanghai Shenhua showed their sincerity and were willing to pay a transfer fee to bring in Dai Weijun. The Shenzhen club's senior management also intended to sell the player, but the idea was vehemently rejected by Guo Yingcheng, the owner of Shenzhen Caesar Group, and Dai Weijun's future is still up in the air.
It is worth noting that this incident did not start in 2023, as Dai Weijun filed for arbitration with the FA over unpaid wages back in 2022.
The Arbitration Committee of the Football Association believes that Dai Weijun owes wages for less than three months and the amount is not large, and that the Shenzhen team is not maliciously in arrears.
Dai Weijun had no choice but to raise the issue of salary arrears with FIFA, but was ultimately dismissed on the grounds that "the players and the team are under the management of the Chinese Football Association".
Subsequently, Dai Weijun filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen International Arbitration Court (SIAC) and eventually won the case. According to the award, Shenzhen was required to pay Dai Weijun the outstanding amount within 10 days.
Even though Dai Weijun's arbitration was legally upheld, it did not mean that he was immediately granted free agency.
However, Dai Weijun's free agency was not recognized by the Football Association (FA) until the day before the Chinese Super League (CSL) winter transfer window closed, when the FA refused to grant him free agency because it deemed his situation to be one of "disputed wages".
The FA's deeper logic may lie in the fact that if it agrees to restore Dai Weijun's freedom, 80% of the players in the Chinese Super League will become free agents and the entire league will be in debt.
Dai Weijun was thus defeated. The Shenzhen team said that the wages were owed for less than three months, some have been paid back, some will be paid wages or bonuses, in any case, it is not the agreed wages.
Admittedly, these are just excuses, a play on words or a maze of thoughts.
Since then, the struggling Shenzhen team was taken over by former international Chen Tao, who made it clear that he wanted Dai Weijun to return and help the team survive relegation. However, Dai Weijun insisted on his terms and started a pattern of watching football around.
After a six-game losing streak, Shenzhen resigned of their own accord and are currently at the bottom of the league standings.
Ding Yong, a Chinese Super League manager and former general manager of Shenzhen and Tianjin Tianhai clubs, was arrested in August 2023 by the procuratorial authorities.
As early as the end of 2010, Ding Yong in Anhui Jufang transferred to Tianjin Runyu Long, it claimed that the investor behind the world's top 500 companies, in fact, Runyu Long is a shell company.
Ding Yong kept defaulting on the team's transfer fees and player salaries, and six months later transferred the club to Shenyang Shenbei for a profit.
When Ding Yong was at Tianjin Quanjian, he signed Wei Zhen in advance for a high autograph fee, the transfer fee was not refunded, and he left a big hole to sign with Modeste and Paulo Sousa.
During Ding Yong's time at Shenzhen, he made a big push to bring in internal and external reinforcements in the transfer market, but many players left soon after joining, wasting a lot of transfer fees and liquidated damages.
It is estimated that Ding Yong wasted at least 500 million yuan of funds during his time in Shenzhen, in which there is a major suspicion of violation of the law.
In addition, there are many doubts about Shenzhen's access through this season's Chinese Super League.
In addition to Dai Weijun's free transfer, the Shenzhen team also released the news when the Dai Weijun fiasco subsided that "French B club Sochaux sent a trial invitation letter to Shenzhen". However, by the time this news was released, the European transfer window had basically closed.
In fact, FC Sochaux has a Chinese capital background behind it. The Chinese investor made a fake deal with the Shenzhen team by inviting Dai Weijun to France for a trial, then signing a contract to upgrade his social status, giving a transfer contract to the right hand on the left, and later reselling it to a big Chinese club in the summer transfer window.
It's nothing new that the Chinese have a well-established industry chain overseas.
Dai Weijun, half a year without football, until June 28, 2023, Shanghai Shenhua officially announced that he joined the team, this with him entangled for a long time to leave the team fiasco finally ended.
Looking back on this farce, the outside world was shocked and regretful when Dai Weijun was left without a ball for six months.
The age of 23 is the most dynamic and critical period of growth for soccer players. During this period, six months without systematic high-intensity matches will have an impact on the player.
In these past six months, Dai Weijun has become a popular international player without a ball to play, and both have lost. This is not a satire on the 20 years of Chinese soccer specialization, nor is it a sad story for Dai Weijun and Chinese soccer.
