The weekend marked the end of the Chinese Super League’s summer transfer window and while there were no real “big name” arrivals (beyond Vagner Love), a number of teams worked to strengthen their side.
Let’s get Vagner Love out of the way first. The former Brazilian international is joining Shandong too late to make a serious run at Guangzhou Evergrande, but should be enough to secure the club’s Asian Champions League position and may be a major asset for them next season. Not only is Love a dream for headline writers, he’s also an unbelievably consistent goal scorer pretty much everywhere he’s been.
The other club currently sitting in an Asian Champions League position, Beijing Guoan, arguably did the most to strengthen themselves during the window, most recently adding Chinese international Zhang Chengdong, who is returning from a stint in Portugal and Germany. It’s one less Chinese player abroad, but it will be good to see the attacker getting regular playing time. This on top of previous addition Peter Utaka and Guoan should have the fire power to return to Asia.
At the bottom of the table, both Changchun and Tianjin brought in a lot of talent during the window. Changchun added domestic defender Zhao Mingjian, Jeonbuk’s standout Brazilian Eninho, and Czech international Jan Rezek. The club dumped struggling Aussie Matt McKay and team talisman Wang Dong (who joined a Yi League club). Tianjin used the window to add former Chinese international Zhou Haibin and Brazilian Andrezinho. Did either of these clubs do enough to keep themselves up?
It wouldn’t be a transfer window without talking about Guangzhou Evergrande, who added Qingdao standout Zheng Long. The midfielder joins the Cantonese side on a loan deal, but word is an agreement to buy him at the end of the season for RMB23 million is already in place. Will he be an impact player, the club’s future after Zheng Zhi retires, or is it just a preventative move that will see Zheng wallow on the bench like Feng Renliang and Zhao Peng?
Which move do you think will have the biggest impact for the remaining 10+ matches of the 2013 season?
by bcheng
