Shenhua waiting to decide on 4 foreign players to register for Asian Champions League
Shanghai Greenland Shenhua has less than a week to register its foreign players for the 2018 AFC Champions League.
The deadline for registration is January 15. With captain Giovanni Moreno and Senegal international Demba Ba back in the squad, the club faces the difficult choice of naming four foreign players out of six in the side for the Asian league matches.
Besides Moreno and Ba, Shenhua has Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins, Colombian midfielder Fredy Guarin, Paraguayan midfielder Oscar Romero and South Korean striker Kim Kee-hee in the squad.
Guarin is likely to stay with Shenhua in the coming season. Before the club can decide on its final four picks, it is waiting for Moreno to decide if he was staying in Shanghai or moving back home to boost his World Cup chances.
Colombian Moreno, who held talks with Atletico Nacional officials, has yet to decide on his immediate future. The Shenhua captain reportedly has to compromise on both salary and playing time if he decides to go back to Colombia on loan for six months.
Shenhua had said earlier that it was up to Moreno to decide on the issue, and even recalled Oscar Romero, who was sent out on loan.
Moreno and Ba joined their teammates in Spain’s Marbella where Shenhua is holding its one-month winter training. Ba arrived on Sunday afternoon and headed straight to the training ground one hour after checking into the hotel.
A health checkup on January 2 in France showed that Ba was ready to undergo normal training and even compete. After a nine-month absence from football following a horrific leg break in a Shanghai derby match in July 2016, the former Chelsea striker returned to action with a goal in May last year for Turkish side Besiktas, where he was on loan with the intention to regain full fitness.
Ba did not play a game for Wu Jingui’s side in the entire 2017 Chinese Super League season.
Also, last Saturday, Shenhua made an official announcement about ending its contract with Argentine striker Carlos Tevez. The “break” was considered peaceful. Shenhua did not insist on the US$6 million compensation fee for an early termination of the two-year contract, while saving itself from paying his huge salary.
Tevez could only manage four goals for Shenhua last year. He is now back with Boca Juniors.