While fans around the world were busy eating melons from the "Suspension of Operations of Hebei Team", Henan fans were a little worried about themselves, because since last night, a disturbing news spread rapidly - Zhou Dingyang, who had just returned to the team, suddenly left the team. Although there is no news from the club, fans know that this departure is not easy, after all, it was only five days ago that he ended the quarantine to meet the team. In order to be able to pick up him and Dorado at the first time, the Henan team even deliberately ran to Shanghai for two days before leaving for Dalian to participate in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.
Soon, the reporter with the team gave the answer: Zhou Dingyang left because his wife gave birth, and he wanted to return to The United Kingdom to accompany him. Since his contract with Henan Songshan Longmen will expire at the end of the year, his departure not only means that he will miss the rest of the season, but also basically means that his relationship with Henan has come to an end. Although the reporter said that henan team now has a new midfield reinforcement target, in the eyes of Henan fans, Zhou Dingyang's barrier role in the midfield is almost irreplaceable, and losing him may even lead to the collapse of Henan's entire defensive system.
Since joining the 2019 season, Zhou Dingyang has quickly become a midfield barrier for Henan Songshan Longmen, making 56 appearances in two and a half seasons, accumulating 4887 minutes, and playing almost every minute as long as he plays. He can contribute an average of 2.1 steals, 1.3 interceptions, 1.3 clearances, 0.3 blocks on goal, 1.3 passes per game, and a number of defensive statistics have been at the forefront of the Chinese Super League for many years. In the first stage of the season, he made 13 appearances, running distance of up to 139036 meters, ranking fourth in the Chinese Super League, and in the 2019 season, he made 25 appearances in the Chinese Super League, second only to Hamsik's second runner, with a running distance of 253541.8 meters. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the "Gattuso" of the Chinese Super League.
Unlike Gattuso's fierce and vicious appearance, Zhou Dingyang, who has been doing dirty work on the court, has always maintained his own unique British gentlemanly style: handsome, polite, responsible, and actively promoting the young people in the team, and he has just received his first-class bachelor's degree during this interval. What Henan fans love even more is that from the first day of joining, he has shown his love for the Chinese Super League and Henan, and he has frequent interaction with fans, and he has said more than once that he really likes the atmosphere of the sailing home and Henan fans.
When Zhengzhou suffered a flood a while ago, he did not forget to cheer for Henan on various occasions. Because of this, Henan fans have been calling on the club to renew their contracts since last season, and Zhou Dingyang has also publicly expressed his willingness to continue to stay here. For such a player with a good reputation both inside and outside the field, Henan Songshan Longmen is naturally regarded as a treasure, before the start of the 2020 season, Dalian people have offered sky-high transfer fees to buy, which was rejected by the club.
It is reasonable to say that in this atmosphere of your love and my wishes, the renewal of the contract between Zhou Dingyang and Henan is almost a matter of course, but what is surprising is that the renewal negotiations that have been launched at the beginning of this season have been delayed and have not been fruitful, and even have been at a standstill for a long time. On the one hand, in the depressed environment of the Chinese Super League, although Henan Songshan Longmen took the lead in completing the mixed ownership reform, the effect was only to minimize the impact of the economic crisis encountered by Jianye Group, and the team would not be as uncertain as guangzhou and Hebei, and the days still needed to be carefully calculated. Zhou Dingyang's salary requirements may still be considered cost-effective in the 2019 season, but it still seems that "few can afford it" now.
On the other hand, the two consecutive seasons of the tournament system and closed competitions also made Zhou Dingyang hesitate. He hasn't seen fans in two seasons, and he once said he was a bit overwhelmed by empty games, and even his performance on the field had slipped to a certain extent. More importantly, the pain of long-term separation from his family has been afflicting him, and the birth of a child has forced him to redo his plans for the future.
According to @Jallo_Tang, a well-known blogger who has long followed Chinese players, when Zhou Dingyang, who had just ended his quarantine, met with him in early October, he asked the same question more than once: "Do you think the Chinese Super League will get better?" How long will it take? However, even so, the renewal should always be Zhou Dingyang's first choice, otherwise he would not have left his wife who was about to be in the basin, returned from the Uk in advance, and after 21 days of isolation, he went to Dalian with the team for the first time. However, judging from the current results, the negotiations on the renewal of the contract should not have achieved the desired result.
Zhou Dingyang is known to have a special identity – although he was born in England, his grandfather was from Ningbo, Zhejiang. Zhou Dingyang once said that after the death of his grandfather, the family lost the inheritance of traditional Chinese culture, and someone must return to China to pick it all up again, which is one of the important reasons that prompted him to come to China to play football. A few years ago, Zhou Dingyang publicly expressed his hope that he would one day be able to play for the Chinese men's football team. But unfortunately, the Chinese Football Association, which had not yet started the naturalization process at that time, was always indifferent to such public overtures, and in the end, Zhou Dingyang chose to play for other teams. To this day, many fans still regret that after all, Zhou Dingyang, who was born in 1994, is not yet 28 years old, and his level is far above the domestic midfield. Unfortunately, after regretting missing the national football team, Zhou Dingyang may now say goodbye to the Chinese Super League.