Recently, Shanghai Shenhua's local striker Zhu Jianrong revealed the team's recent situation in an exclusive interview with Oriental Sports Daily.
Talking about the team's performance in the second stage, Zhu Jianrong was overwhelmed with emotion: "It was a pleasant surprise, not just a breakthrough in performance. Compared to the first stage, the challenges we faced were even more severe, with frequent injuries and illnesses, which at one time hindered the execution of tactics. But in the end to achieve such results, it is really surprising, this is the crystallization of the joint efforts of all Shenhua people."
Speaking about the share reform, Zhu Jianrong said, "We were also delighted when we learned at the beginning of the year that the club was going to implement the share reform. Despite the slow progress, we were not in a hurry because the club leadership and coaching team gave us firm commitments and guarantees, which gave us confidence in the future. With the care and support of the city leaders, our team's performance has been stable and our results have improved. We promise to continue to work hard and reward all those who care about Shenhua with the best results. We expect the share reform to progress steadily and the team is now confident about the future."
Zhu Jianrong also mentioned that the team's achievements could not be separated from the hard work of the club's management. He praised Mr. Wu and Mr. Zhou for bearing great pressure, always standing at the forefront when the team's results were poor, and bearing the blame and criticism from the outside world. This year, under such difficult circumstances, the club was able to achieve such results, and he felt that the leadership should be allowed to hear more praise.
In the face of skepticism, Zhu Jianrong confessed, "When I first joined the team in 2017, the outside world was constantly questioning us. Li Peng, Wang Wei and I were under tremendous pressure as new recruits, and the two leaders who brought us in were under even more pressure. But now, all three of us have established ourselves in the Chinese Super League team and proved our strength. It's a proof that we are not all successful at the same time with Shenhua, but we have made a mark in different teams."
