With a strong performance in the second half, Shanghai Shenhua, a strong player in the Chinese Super League, completed relegation ahead of schedule. If you try to squeeze into the champions group of this season's Chinese Super League in the first half, perhaps the results will not disappoint the fans. After completing the relegation, Shanghai Shenhua may need to seriously consider the problem of the retention of many veterans in the team, because the time is more urgent.
According to the data of the official website of The German Transfer, the Shanghai Shenhua first team currently registers 14 local players over the age of 30. If you count the exact age of 30, the number is close to 20. Among the players over 30 years old, goalkeeper Li Shuai, born in 1982, is the benchmark, while Feng Xiaoting, 36, and Qin Sheng, 35, are close behind. There are too many older players, resulting in the average age of the Shenhua first team remaining high.
A considerable number of veterans of the Shenhua team have had brilliant personal resumes. For example, Feng Xiaoting, Qin Sheng, Zeng Cheng, Yu Hanchao, etc., are not only the indispensable main force of the former national football team, but also won more than one Chinese Super League championship and even the AFC Champions League championship trophy. A few years ago, these players were all hot figures in the Chinese Super League, and the transfer fee and annual salary were staggering. However, the years are not spared, when they come to Shanghai Shenhua with increasing age, both their ability and status have declined significantly, and some of them have even been unable to continue to be competent as the main force. So Shenhua is faced with a dilemma: reuse them, the development space of young players is squeezed; do not reuse them, the annual salary is adrift.
However, now Shanghai Shenhua has finally ushered in a good opportunity to get rid of the embarrassing situation. It is reported that a considerable number of contracts of the current veterans will expire at the end of next year, and next season is their contract year. Veterans who are about to enter the contract year include 39-year-old Li Shuai, 36-year-old Feng Xiaoting, 35-year-old Qin Sheng, as well as Zhang Lu, Zhao Mingjian, Wu Xi, Zhu Baojie, Cao Yunding, Li Yunqiu, Eddie and dozens of others. Some players have become few and far between, and are largely deprecated. For players who are not needed or are not in the planning, Shenhua management can take advantage of the contract year not to renew their contracts, so as to complete the cleaning and promotion of the lineup.
Shanghai Shenhua does not lack young players, in addition to its own youth training, there are also 99/00 echelons bought from Xu Genbao's coaching. This echelon gathered many high-quality young players, which were favored by teams such as Guangzhou and Shanghai Harbor, and later gave Shenhua after coordination from all parties. Not many of the 99/00 echelons have entered the Shenhua first team at present, and only a few can play a stable main force. After cleaning up some of the veterans, you can free up more space for young players. Shenhua fans should be looking forward to cultivating the next Zhu Chenjie.
It is estimated that most veterans will leave Shenhua next season, but there is a high probability that people such as Wu Xi and Eddie, who can still play an important role, will still be left behind. A team can neither be too "veteran" nor completely "youth storm". Combining the old with the old and taking the old with the new is the most conducive to long-term development. I don't know which old ones will be left behind by Shanghai Shenhua.