A few days ago, Shanghai Shenhua's Super League list for the new season was announced, and fans did not see Zeng Cheng's name in this list. Zeng Cheng's lack of Shenhua's new season league list should be related to two reasons. The first reason is that Zeng Cheng publicly asked Shenhua for salary on social platforms some time ago and expressed his dissatisfaction. According to some media disclosures, Zeng Cheng was dissatisfied with the salary reduction plan proposed by Shenhua New Gold Master Jiushi.
The salary reduction plan that Jiushi offered to Shenhua players was to let them accept a salary cut in half. As long as the salary of Shenhua players is halved, Jiushi can give money to the players. Most of the Shenhua players can accept Jiushi's plan, only Zeng Cheng is unwilling. Zeng Cheng refused to sign the Shenhua salary bonus form, so that the team almost missed the admission to the Chinese Super League. Therefore, some Shenhua fans are very dissatisfied with Zeng Cheng.
In the eyes of this part of Shenhua fans, Zeng Cheng has been mediocre since Evergrande joined Shenhua. The most important thing is that Zeng Cheng's attendance rate is not high, basically every season to recuperate, and the guarantee has to rest for half a season. Therefore, Zeng Cheng is not qualified to refuse the salary cut. Later, Shenhua and Zeng Cheng finally reached an agreement on resolving the salary issue. However, the gap between the two sides cannot be bridged.
If Zeng Cheng hadn't had a one-year contract with Shenhua, Shenhua would have purged him out of the team long ago. Therefore, from this point of view, Shenhua did not give Zeng Cheng the qualification to play in the Chinese Super League, which is a reasonable thing. The second reason is that Shenhua wants to complete the goal of alternating old and new in the new season, and has introduced Bao Yaxiong in the goalkeeper position.
Bao Yaxiong played overtime for Hebei last season and has performed remarkably. Therefore, Shenhua coach Wu Jingui finalized the joining of Bao Yaxiong after comprehensive consideration. The joining of Bao Yaxiong made Zeng Cheng unable to sign up for the Chinese Super League in the new season, and Zeng Cheng will most likely choose to leave the team directly after his contract with Shenhua expires in the future. Without a suitable new owner, Zeng Cheng will face retirement.