This season, Guangzhou's "closed" development strategy has ushered in a key lineup change - the return of two naturalized players, Golat and Allan. Last year, amidst much criticism, Guangzhou loaned Golat to Hebei Huaxia Happiness and Alan to Beijing Guoan. This year, the two returned to the Guangzhou team hand in hand.
In fact, in the case of Paulinho and Talisca have not yet returned, the Guangzhou team already has Aixon, Golat, Alan, Jiang Guangtai, Fernando, Luo Guofu 6 naturalized players, the club realized the year's "all Chinese class" dream.
However, in a recent interview, Kasper said bluntly, "Even though we have six naturalized players, it doesn't mean we have six foreigners."
Speaking about the loans of Gallart and Allan last year, Kasper said, "For the record, I have no bias with any of the Brazilian players."
Talking about Golat, Kasai confessed, "If last year's Golat was the 2015 him, which coach would send him away? Indeed, when I raised the decision to loan him out with Golat last year, he was also surprised and even a little upset."
"But I made the right decision. At that time, Gaolat hadn't played for almost two years, and I let him go on loan to Hebei last year, where he played almost all the games. If he had stayed in Guangzhou at that time, he certainly could not have played so many games. At that time, there were even many voices from outside saying that not only could Golat not return to his best form, but it was even questionable whether he could play normally. But now it has been proved that Golat has been able to return to his former form through his own efforts." Kasai explained.
The manager even revealed the positive changes in Golat over the past year: "I have no problem with Golat, I think he is one of the most professional of our foreigners (of yesteryear).In 2015 when I brought him here, he only had one abdominal muscle. But now you can see that he's keeping his body in good shape and he's controlling his diet very well. I hope that this year we can all see that once-familiar Golat is back, and of course, I hope that the impact of his old knee injury on him can be minimized."
Talking about Alan, Kasai said, "When I came to Guangzhou in 2015, Alan also came. But it was not my decision for Alan to go to Guoan last year. There is also no gap between me and Alan, there is no personal grudge. Allan had a knee injury after being in our country and encountered the same situation with the national team. It's normal for footballers to have injuries, it's not that our club's arrangement is bad if he can't go to the national team due to an injury, and we can't say that a player who comes back from the national team with an injury has to criticize the national team. Sports rehabilitation is a science. Of course, Alan's current injury is still a risk and we will take better care of him."
Talking about Fernando and some of the other injured players, Kasai said: "The team Fernando played for before and the team he came to Guangzhou are two different ways, the intensity of the training and the games, the number and frequency of the round trips are much higher, plus the climatic environment is different. Therefore, he has encountered some difficulties in his recovery and now needs to be well conditioned as well as carefully taken care of. Including Luo Guofu, who played at a different pace before than he did in Guangzhou. Li Xuepeng, who has been injured for more than a year, also needs to recover slowly. Including Jiang Guangtai, his previous injury wasn't too serious, but he also needs to be taken care of. I have a lot of things to deal with every day."
Kasai especially praised the old captain Zheng Zhi: "Zheng Zhi is our core, soul player, he is now full of thoughts about how to play their maximum effect to help the team. Of course, there is also Huang Bowen. My attitude is very clear, as long as Zheng Zhi is still willing to play, I will give them the opportunity. Once they want to retire, we will open the door of the coaching staff to them!"
