This week, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee issued a "fine" to Shanghai Shenhua Club, ordering it to pay former manager Flores the outstanding salary and liquidated damages within a month, totaling about 1 billion yuan. When it comes to Flores' departure, Shenhua's official caliber is "personal reasons", and it seems that this matter will surely become the focus of Shenhua's argument with FIFA. This 1 billion RMB alone has shaken the Chinese Super League inside and outside the circle, knowing that in today's Super League environment, most clubs are focusing on reducing investment and cutting expenses. This huge sum of money, for any club is a large sum of money, how to rationalize the season budget, test the wisdom of the club managers.
Looking back to three seasons ago, one-third of the clubs in the Chinese Super League were still able to spend a lot of money, bringing in foreign aid at high prices, and one or two high-priced reinforcements could consume half or more of the entire season's budget. But today, the situation is very different.
"This player is a free agent ......" has become a common phrase used by domestic soccer agents, who use it as an opening statement when recommending foreign aid to clubs. In other words, in the current league environment, if you want to successfully bring in foreign aid, the only way to negotiate is to dig out "zero value" free agents. Otherwise, no matter how good the player is, the recommendation to the club, often sinks into oblivion. As of April 12, when the winter transfer window for this season closed, about 10 of the 16 Chinese Super League clubs had realized "zero investment" in reinforcements. Even such as Shenzhen, the traditional big money to attract aid clubs, this season in the attraction of aid expenditure is only a few tens of millions of yuan. A large number of high-priced foreign aid loss, the new foreign aid level is generally not high, resulting in the first five rounds of the Super League, public opinion is generally worried about the game's gold and ornamental greatly reduced, but this is precisely the reality of the Super League professional league.
With the league's summer transfer window expected to open soon, a number of clubs, including Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, are planning to bring in new foreign aiders. These foreign aiders will all be joining the team as free agents on the one hand, and on the other hand, the clubs are showing extreme concern and insistence on many self-protection clauses, including the duration of the contract, when discussing contract details with them. In short, in order to avoid the economic loss of early termination brought about by players signing long-term contracts, clubs have become more and more cautious in handing out job offers, and signing a contract that is more favorable to them has become a prerequisite for foreign aiders to come to work in China. Of course, at this particular time, no matter where the foreign aiders are, it is quite difficult to make them arrive in China smoothly.
In fact, most clubs have formed a consensus on saving money, which is not only reflected in the flow of foreign aid, the flow of domestic players is also the same. During the off-season, some clubs with "excess personnel reserves" take the initiative to contact other clubs to export their players in order to reduce their burden, and once an agreement is reached, the so-called "loan fee" is usually only symbolic. The most basic demand is that the player can play, and the "next family" will bear the player's salary. For some highly paid players who are unable to enter the main lineup during the contract period, individual clubs are even willing to share their salaries with their "next home" in order to reduce the burden and expenses.
Just last week, the State General Administration of Sport issued a guideline on the construction of national soccer key cities, which provides a detailed plan for the future development of soccer in China. Change in stability has become an inevitable trend, as the Chinese Super League and the leader of China's professional soccer league, the Chinese Super League and the clubs, first to ensure that in the period of turbulence in the smooth "survival", and then how to meet the "spring" in the change.
