Time back to 2019, in order to improve the strength of the national team and strive to return to the World Cup as soon as possible, the national football team, which knows the status of the youth training echelon and reserve talent construction in the future long cycle, has relaxed the restrictions on naturalized naturalized players, hoping to supplement the relatively excellent combat strength from overseas Chinese or from the dedicated foreign aid that has been working in China for a long time in this way.
However, one thing at a time has always been the tradition of national football. After the Chinese Super League gold dollar bubble was worn, in the project of introducing foreign talents, the enthusiasm and energy of the national football team seemed to have stopped in recent years, and the Chinese Super League foreign aid who was still in the naturalization procedures may be only one Kaldek in Shenzhen.
In the past two years, a total of 11 players have been successfully naturalized (those with Chinese ancestry: Hou Yongyong, Qian Jiezhi, Li Ke, Jiang Guangtai, Xiao Taotao; those without Chinese ancestry: Delgado, Axon, Luo Guofu, Alain, Gaulat, Fernando).
Among these 11 players, the level of poor and poor development is almost impossible in Chinese football. As for the players who have excellent strength and have the ability to be selected for the national football team or have been selected for the national football team, they are as follows: Li Ke, Jiang Guangtai, Axon, Alain, Luo Guofu and Gaulat.
Their performance after coming to China is relatively unfamiliar to everyone, and the performance they have achieved in their homeland may be relatively unfamiliar. Before coming to China to develop, what level did the naturalized internationals achieve? I believe that this is a question that will be of great interest to both new and old fans, and in this article, the author will sort it out a little and review it one by one.
Li Ke, formerly known as Nico Yennaris, is 28 years old, mainly plays at the back, but also plays in the center of the defender, the father is from Cypriots, the mother is from China, originally from the United Kingdom. Back in 2001, the then 8-year-old Lee passed the selection of the Arsenal Football Academy and entered the Arsenal youth team.
Eleven years later, in January 2012, Lee made his debut in the FA Cup and then on as a substitute in the league, the only two games of his Gunners career before embarking on a long loan before being bought out by Championship side Brentford. As a young midfielder, Lee is Arsenal's super-marginal man and only has the opportunity to perform himself at Brentford.
In the 16/17 season, Li Ke scored 6 goals and 5 assists in the Single Season of the Championship; in the 17/18 season, Li Ke scored 4 goals and 4 assists in the Single Season of the Championship; these two years were the peak of Li Ke, positioned as the thigh back of the mid-level team of the Championship, and then declined due to injury, and then came to China to develop, and never found the shadow of the peak. From the perspective of age, Li Ke can use the 2026 World Cup preparation cycle, hoping that he can return to the peak.
Jiang Guangtai, a 27-year-old center-back, formerly known as Taias Browning, was born in Liverpool, England, and his maternal grandfather was from Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, named Jiang Yingrong. Jiang Guangtai is the third generation of Hua, and when he was successfully naturalized in 2019, he took this Chinese name according to the family tree. Jiang Guangtai is a typical British defender, with strong physical confrontation ability and tough style. As a player produced by Everton Academy, Jiang Guangtai's peak is the 17/18 season, and he played 18 games in Sunderland in the Championship.
In terms of strength and style of play, Jiang Guangtai is a very good naturalized candidate, and now the same type of center-back in China can rarely reach his level of confrontation, plus it is also a year of play, and it can be used for several years in the future. Another point is that Jiang Guangtai has Chinese ancestry on his body, and since he was a child, he has been fascinated by the homeland of China on the patrilineal side, and everyone's acceptance of Jiang Guangtai has always been very high.
Axon, a striker who can guest play as a forward and winger, is 32 years old, formerly known as Elkeson, originally from Brazil. Axon is a debut player, back in 2009, Elkeson in the debut season in the Bajia Victoria famous, the second season reached 6 goals and 8 assists, shining Brazil's demon level.
In 2011, Axon moved to The Baliga star Botafogo, playing 8 goals and 10 assists of the season, the strategy, body, attack are good, began to attract the attention of European clubs. In 2012, Axon scored 11 goals and 4 assists in the season, and his performance was still good. By this time, there were already a number of European teams offering Ekson to Botafogo, including Serie A Juventus.
In terms of strength, Axon was still very good among the young people in samba football at that time, and had the ability to develop a dash in the top five leagues. However, he chose to come to the higher-paid Chinese Super League and joined Guangzhou Evergrande in 2013. In the blink of an eye, the former Cubs have been in China for 8 years, becoming the most reliable meat shield center in our squad, sacrificing a lot for Li Tie's system, and the attitude and performance of individuals as an international footballer have always been recognized.
Alain, a striker who can guest play as a winger, is 32 years old, formerly known as Alain Carvalho, and is originally from Brazil. Looking back on Alain's career, you will find that he is really a tough guy who deserves a lot of admiration. During 2011 & 2015, Alain suffered a severe injury to a torn cruciate ligament.
Before that injury in 2011, Alain had already made a name for himself in Brazil's traditional giants Fluminense and played 10 goals and three assists in a single season for Red Bull Salzburg in Austria. It can be said that the first occurrence of cruciate ligament tearing has already dragged down the ceiling of Alain's development and reduced the speed attribute.
Despite this, after recovering, Alain was able to deliver extremely strong performances. 13 to 15 years, is the heyday of Alain. In the 13/14 season, Alain scored 26 goals and 8 assists in 29 games in the Austrian Super League; in the 14/15 season, Alain scored 8 goals in the Europa League, becoming the Europa League Golden Boot, which is also Alain's most well-known honor and the highest height he has ever reached.
After winning the Europa League Golden Boot, Alain came to China to develop, joining Evergrande for a transfer fee of 11.1 million euros. Judging by his strength at the time, it was not a big problem for the midstream teams of the five major leagues to have a place. If he had, he might have been taken to RB Leipzig, another Red Bull team in the Bundesliga.
However, Alain was really unlucky, and two months after coming to China, Alain suffered a serious injury in pre-match training and was diagnosed with a torn cruciate ligament in his left leg after the game, which was the second time in his career that he had faced such a devastating injury. As a result, after the comeback, Alain still has a good performance. Even today, the 32-year-old Alain has exploded as well as the vast majority of the domestically famous fronts in terms of professional attitude and strength.
Lo Guofu, who plays as a striker, can guest play winger, forward, back and other positions, now 33 years old, formerly known as Aloisio dos Santos Gonsalves, originally from Brazil, nicknamed "Bison". Lo Guofu is a player from the youth training of the top team Gremio, and in addition to playing in the First Division, he also stopped briefly in the Swiss Second Division.
The Bison peaked in the 2011-2013 seasons. In the 11/12 season, Lo Guofu scored 14 goals in a single season in the weak team Figue Érés, the third in the top scorers of the BaJia league; in the 12/13 season, Luo Guofu turned to the famous goalkeeper Sao Paulo, scoring 11 goals in a single season, the team's top scorer. Compared with Axon, Alain and Gaulat, Luo Guofu's performance before coming to China to develop was a little worse.
In 2014, Luo Guofu began to develop in China, successively playing for Shandong Luneng, Hebei Huaxia, Meixian Tiehan and Guangzhou Evergrande. Because of his age and weight gain, Luo Guofu was over the low tide period, and he was playing in the middle division at the lowest tide in China, which is why the outside world sang him down in the first place.
However, after regaining his state and controlling his body, Luo Guofu's state has also returned, whether it is league or national team performance, after naturalization, he is the leader of Chinese players. Probably a little look at Luo Guofu's game and performance, people who understand the ball will not say that he is not worthy of entering the current stage of the national football team.
Gaulat, a front-back, can guest striker, 30 years old, formerly known as Ricardo Gaurat Pereira, originally from Brazil. Gaulat debuted in Sant'Andre in the Second Division and played well in Brazilian teams such as International, Goiás and Cruzeiro.
In terms of performance when playing in Brazil, Gaulat is the fiercest of the Brazilian football players. In 2014, the 23-year-old Gaulat scored 15 goals and assisted 5 times in 26 games for Cruzeiro, the best player of the season in the Ba jia and the silver boot of the ba jia. In the same year, in the Copa Libertadores, Gaulat scored 4 goals and 2 assists in 9 games.
In 2014, Gaulat was basically the first person active in the South American Professional League, and there were many five major league teams that came to buy. In the end, Guangzhou Evergrande used its banknote ability to impress Gaulat and his parent team with a transfer fee of 15 million euros plus a sky-high salary. In the history of the Chinese Football League, Gaulat was also the first foreign aid player to break the transfer fee of 100 million. After coming to China, Gaulat's performance also maintained well.
In December 2019, Gaulat has actually become our compatriot. Helplessly, the relevant personnel responsible for the operation are too piggy, in 2019, let Gaulat return to Palmeiras, Brazil to play on loan, resulting in Gaulat's continuous residence time in China to be recalculated, FIFA has this requirement for naturalized players to represent the new country in FIFA tournaments.
Under such circumstances, Gaulat needs to officially play for the national football team until 2023, which is a huge waste of talent and resources. It can only be considered in this way, assessing Gaulat's age and level, even in the 2026 World Cup preparation cycle, he should be able to help the national football team. If the operation is done properly, Gaulat has already been in the ongoing 2022 World Cup Asian Qualifier Round of 12, becoming the real owner of the No. 10 jersey of the national football team, and the combat effectiveness of the national football team will be greatly improved. Hopefully, Gaulat will remain in a state of 34 to 35 years old.