Tianjin Jinmen Tigers' winter training has been going on for more than a month, and there is still a month before the start of the new season of the Chinese Super League.
Fans have been waiting for a long time about the foreign aid center of the Tianjin Tigers, and the current news is more certain that Aziz, a foreign aid who played for Wuhan Three Towns last season, is indeed the main direction of attack for the foreign aid striker candidates of the Tianjin Tigers.
The Jinmen Tigers have had several rounds of communication with Aziz's club Rio Ave in the Portuguese Super League.
If Aziz signs with the Tigers, he will become only the second foreign player from Ghana in the team's history after Achimpeng, and it is a coincidence that both names start with "A", both from Ghana.
However, the matter of "surname A" is actually a misreading, because Aziz's full name is Abdul-Aziz Yakub, according to the Chinese convention of foreign name translation, perhaps we should call him Yakubu more accurately, but the player himself wants to be called "Aziz".
From Frank Achimpen to Abdul Aziz Yakubu, it can also reflect the religious situation in the West African country of Ghana.
Achimpen's name is Frank, which is undoubtedly a Christian name, while Abdul Aziz is clearly a Muslim.
According to the Ghana government, 71% of the country's population is Christian and 20% is Islamic.
In fact, the greater commonality between Achimpong and Aziz is that they relied on football to get out of Africa and change their lives.
Achimpen started his football career at King Faisal FC and moved to Buriram in Thailand at the age of 18 thanks to his agent Koenig (a man to be mentioned later) before landing in Europe from Anderlecht, Belgium.
Ah Qi's biggest luck in his career is to catch up with the era of China's "Golden Yuan Football", and the cumulative income of his career is not inferior to that of Ghanaian players who play in Europe's top five leagues.
Aziz was scouted in his hometown of Tamari before joining the charity star club in Accra, Ghana.
Taller and more talented than Achimpong, Aziz has taken a more direct path through football's life-changing path, having been spotted by Portuguese club Vizela at the age of 18 and has been moving from club to club until last year in China.
Football has become an important way for young Africans to change their lives, especially in Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon and other football powers.
Being able to attract the attention of scouts, agents, and then being recommended to European clubs can change everything in life.
From another point of view, for European clubs, the young African players recommended by scouts and agents are indeed "raw mines", although there are also "gambling stones" in it, but even if the success rate can reach 10%, they will only make money.
Because a real "raw ore" can become a "gem" or even a "diamond" after being polished by youth training and competitions.
According to a 2021 statistic, there are currently more than 500 players from Africa playing in all levels of European leagues.
However, huge profits also breed wrongdoing. Under the guise of football agents, many unscrupulous businessmen traffick teenagers who aspire to leave Africa to North Africa, and the so-called football gold rush has evolved into human trafficking.
In some cases, football traffickers took young players from West Africa to Tunisia and Morocco in North Africa after charging them a commission of 1,000 to 1,500 euros, where the young players were promised better and more systematic training in North Africa as a springboard across the Mediterranean to Europe.
But the reality is that with the expiration of short-term visas, these young people have become "illegal immigrants", unable to pay the detention fines of the Moroccan or Tunisian governments, nor can they afford to return home, and the only option is to go dark.
As for the young African footballers who can come to Europe, the future is not bright. They are likely to be in a situation where they are going to scrape the money enough to pay the 5,000 euro commission to the broker, and then be taken to Portugal or Italy, but there is no receiving club, the agent cannot be contacted, and the only option is to go dark.
With this in mind, Ivorian star Didier Drogba has partnered with FIFA and the International Labour Organization (ILO) through his foundation to combat human trafficking in football.
From this point of view, Achimpen and Aziz are undoubtedly lucky because they met the right people and did the right things.
Achimpen's agent is the German Oliver Koenig, and with Koenig's help, Achimpen's life is like a carp jumping into the dragon. Now, Achimpen is nearing the end of his career, but his partnership with Koenig has entered a new phase.
In May 2023, the Accra Lions Club of Ghana welcomed a new investor, Mateus and Achimpen, and the two were linked by the president of the Accra Lions Club, Koenig.
Of course, the purpose of investment is to make money, in an interview with the German media, Mateus said: Running a football club in Africa is business, Ghana has so many potential new stars who have the potential to enter the national team, we want to bring them to Europe, but these young players must also go through rigorous training, which is why the Accra Lions focus on investment in football infrastructure.
If you open the German transfer market website, you will be surprised to find that the oldest player at Accra Lions is only 23 years old, and the average age of the team is only 19.1 years old, while the team has the highest assessed value in the top flight of Ghana.
In fact, the low average age is also a common phenomenon in the Ghana league, and while the average age of the Accra Lions at 19.1 years is slightly extreme, the average age of the Ghana top league is also only 23.8 years.
A few years ago, when the Chinese Football Association was still implementing the U23 policy, players over the age of 23 could mean fewer opportunities to play, but in Ghana, at 23, you either have to go out of Africa with your skills, or you simply give up your football career.
Because the club's philosophy of selling players dictates that the team's position can only belong to younger competitors, each with only three to four years to prove himself.
Perhaps because of the difficulty of Ghanaian players getting out of Africa, or from the perspective of making money and transformation, Achimpeng took a stake in the Accra Lions helmed by agent Koenig.
What Ah Qi did was to use his connections and popularity in China to introduce young players from the Accra Lions to Chinese clubs.
For the 2023 season, Shanghai Jiading Huilong Club of the Chinese League has brought in three Ghanaian players, all from the Accra Lions Club.
Evans Eti, one of the three, also played for a season and a half in Heilongjiang before playing for Jiading Huilong. In two and a half years, he has scored 14 goals in a total of 62 appearances in the Chinese league, which may not be excellent, but at least it has not been returned halfway through, and it has not disgraced the owner Achimpeng.
Achimpeng and the Accra players he recommended to Shanghai Jiading Huilong Credit: DY@ Guli Sports Super Brother
Of course, the Accra Lions' operational mechanism of polishing the "raw mine" is also at risk of being "prostituted", and last year, they had three players signed by Bosnia-Herzegovina and Greek league teams after their contracts expired. Although they did not receive a transfer fee or loan fee, for the Accra Lions, they can at least hope for income from the youth compensation mechanism.
Therefore, from the perspective of making a living, I wish Achimpong, who is about to retire, success, and Aziz, who may join the Jinmen Tigers, success. Again, such wishes are also given to all the footballers who have gone out of Africa and who aspire to do so......