A few days ago, according to Shenhua's reporter Ji Yuyang, the team's fifth foreign aid candidate was basically finalized as La Liga ace Manafa. Manafa has come to Shanghai, and in the future, as long as he successfully passes the club's physical examination, he can join the Shenhua team. Born in 94, Manafa is in the prime of his career and has played for Champions League giants Porto for many years, playing as an absolute mainstay. Manafa came to Porto for 7 million euros.
From this transfer value, you can see how good Mafana's ability is, but unfortunately he suffered a serious injury at a critical moment. Since Mafana's injury, his form and performance have been on a downward trend across the board. Therefore, Mafana did not stay in Porto and moved to La Liga side Granada. In Granada's match against Real Madrid, Mafana started the game and played 64 minutes before being substituted.
Judging by Mafana's career resume, he is definitely a big-name foreign player. Mafana plays mainly on the right side of the pitch, and can play at right-back or as a right-sided midfielder. It just so happens that these two positions are in urgent need of reinforcement for Shenhua. In the right-back position, Shenhua originally wanted to rely on Chinese player Yan Xinli. After joining Shenhua last season, Yan Xinli did not put in a convincing performance at right-back.
In the eyes of many Shenhua fans, Yan Xinli's comprehensive ability is not as good as that of local players. Therefore, after Yan Xinli's contract with Shenhua expired, he did not get a new contract renewal from the team. In the right midfield position, Shenhua has relied on Basogo in the past few seasons. Basogo's overall performance in Shenhua was average, failing to meet the expectations of the outside world and fans. In addition, Basogo's annual salary is very high, so Shenhua gave him up.
So from this point of view, Shenhua's poaching of Mafana from La Liga is the right choice. After Mafana successfully passed the Shenhua physical examination, the next step is to train with the team and adapt to the skills and tactics of the new coach Slutsky as soon as possible. I hope that when Mafana represents Shenhua, he can show a convincing performance and help the team achieve good results in the Chinese Super League and the AFC Champions League.