takes a look at all the big Chinese sports news stories so you don’t have to. Things are very transfer heavy today, so have fun with it. Yours truly will be travelling to the US of A over the weekend and while Chinese football news doesn’t rest, I’ll surely be imbibing in the holiday spirit(s), so perhaps these updates won’t be so regular, but I’ll try. If you haven’t competed our (short!!!) 9 question survey yet, please do so! We are very greatful to all who have helped out and will take all the feedback we get to heart. Merry Christmas to all that celebrate and happy holidays to all others.
–The CFA has announced there will be no special treatment of ACL clubs like last season. In 2013, all clubs will be limited to four foreigners + one Asian player on their roster.
–Liaoning Whowin has signed long serving Shide import James Chamanga. There was talk they were also hoping to keep Park Dong-Hyuk in Liaoning province, but that quickly seems to be falling apart.
–The Yu Hanchao transfer saga continues. Yu didn’t travel to Guangdong for the team’s winter training and it still appears that Aerbin and Liaoning are very close on a deal, though Shandong and Evergrande are trying to get the youngster’s signature. Further complicating things is Aerbin’s situation with Shide. Having already signed four Shide players, will Yu be the last transfer they are allowed? The team is also in talks with Shide international Lu Peng as well as Teda’s Chen Tao.
–Speaking of Dalian Shide, the most recent talk is that each club will be allowed an additional one or two transfer spots to sign former Shide players. This will be a welcome change and a real incentive for clubs to buy Shide players, though it has yet to be completely worked out.
–Today may or may not be the end of the world, but things are looking bleak in Shanghai no matter what. After selling their captain Yu Tao to intercity rivals Shenxin, it appears that Wuhan is bidding on Qiu Tianyi and Zhang Kaimu, things could be getting worse in Shanghai before they get better.
–After having fired Gao Hongbo, Guizhou is looking at two former Guoan managers to fill the position. The club says that their short list contains Jaime Pacheco and Lee Jangsoo among two other names.
–Speaking of bleak in Shenhua, Wednesday’s mention that they were in for Xavier Chen was accurate, but rumors are that Guizhou beat them to the Belgian’s signature. It’s said to be almost a done deal and the transfer fee is in the neighborhood of a million euros.
–Ma Lin has signed a contract extension with Liaoning, but his winter camp is looking a bit light. While we’ve talked about Yu already, squad regulars Yang Xu, Zhao Junzhe, Wu Gaojun, and Zhang Lu have all failed to turn up in Guangdong. Before reading too much into it, there are different reasons for their failure to appear, mostly medical, but don’t be surprised if Yang ends up on a different team in the next week or two.
