Ven, the boos of Camp Nou
With the relegation of Guangzhou last season, the former majestic and proud king of Chinese Super League football is unrecognizable, can you imagine what a tragic image it is for a grand Chinese Super League eight-time champion, and now a chicken feather, over time, this club that has twice topped the top of Asian football, seems to have become a joke in football, the eight-time champion has become a joke king, people seem to have forgotten those times in the AFC Champions League, if not for the story of Gaulart and Xiao Taotao, people have forgotten the existence of this club.
94 kilometers from São Paulo, São José dos Campos, is where Gaulart was born, his childhood love of football, laid a good foundation for Gaulart's Chinese money-making journey, 8 years ago, Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao for 15 million euros, signed Gaulart, because of the comprehensive skills, Gaulart, known as the stadium assassin, soon conquered the hearts of fans, and people quickly remembered the name Goulart. At that time, Guangzhou Evergrande was at its peak, and looking back you will find that it was the best era of Guangzhou Evergrande.
At that time, not only Gaulart was at the peak of his career, but also for Exxon, Huang Bowen, Kim Young-kwon and others, which happened to be their most shining stage, as evidenced by the fact that six Evergrande players, including Gaulart, were selected for the AFC Champions League best team, which is unique in the history of the AFC Champions League.
2015 is worth remembering for every Guangzhou Evergrande fan, that year, Guangzhou Evergrande won all over Asia, and stood on the top of Asia for the second time in three years, Guangzhou did not win enough! When the Evergrande soldiers held the AFC Champions League trophy high, the blood of the Evergrande fans was boiling, and the shouts of the Evergrande fans were magnificent.
Now, when the long-disappeared Gaulart re-enters the public eye, the former eight-time champion has long changed its appearance, without Paulinho, without Elkeson, the cry that Guangzhou has not won enough is gone, unlike the blood boiling eight years ago, eight years later, the hearts of Guangzhou fans are dead, throughout the season, the former champion of the Chinese Super League has only won three games, they have scored 23 goals, but the number of goals conceded is as high as 63, when this club has twice reached the pinnacle of Asian football, Embarrassed to be relegated in the penultimate finish, no one knows where the way is.
When the Chinese gold dollar football bubble dissipated, when Guangzhou Evergrande was a chicken feather, Gaulart said faintly: "I want to change back to my nationality", the Brazilian media laughed, this is simple, only 250 yuan. How ironic, in 2019, the Evergrande Club in order to operate the naturalization of Gaulart, can be described as painstaking, not to mention anything else, Gaulart's annual salary alone has doubled compared to before, plus various signing fees, settlement fees are messed up, some media estimates, Guangzhou Evergrande smashed into as much as 800 million.
The most ironic thing is that after a fierce operation, Guangzhou Evergrande found that it did not really understand the rules, and they simply spent 800 million to hit their own feet, because Gaulart did not qualify to represent the national football team in the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup.
What is more speechless is that the funny story of Guangzhou Evergrande is not only Gaulart, a player named Xiao Taotao made Evergrande a laughing stock again, and Gaulart's appeal, Xiao Taotao also asked to change back to his nationality, roughly around 2018, after the leadership of the Chinese Football Association released a signal to introduce naturalization, Guangzhou Evergrande was moved, and Peruvian player Xiao Taotao entered their sight.
At the beginning, Xiao Taotao's annual salary in Peru was equivalent to only 80,000 yuan, but Guangzhou Evergrande promised to give him 12 million yuan, imagine how Xiao Taotao could resist such a temptation, he chose to accept the olive branch thrown by Evergrande without hesitation.
Ironically, Xiao Taotao did not play for Guangzhou Evergrande after coming to China, and his naturalization process was not completed, and he could only be counted as foreign aid, and the strong Guangzhou Evergrande foreign aid quota had long exceeded the standard, so Xiao Taotao began his Chinese Super League loan journey, and was firmly pressed on the bench after Shen Xin started five consecutive games, and he made 10 appearances and scored 1 goal that season. At Kunshan FC, Xiao Taotao made 30 appearances in two seasons and scored 3 goals. Then there was no then, and in 2022, Xiao Taotao left China.
In 4 years (4 years of contract, 1 year of unemployment), Xiao Taotao earned himself 36 million with four goals, after which he successfully regained his Peruvian nationality.