Shanghai (AFP) – The departure of goal machine Wu Lei puts extra pressure on the broad shoulders of Brazilian striker Hulk as Shanghai SIPG kick off their Chinese Super League title defence on Friday.
The champions lost the league’s top-scorer to Espanyol in Spain during the off-season and have failed to replace him, despite being linked with West Ham’s Marko Arnautovic.
SIPG will badly miss the Chinese international forward, who hit 27 goals in 29 games to fire them to their first major crown.
But the club’s Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira, who masterminded the end of Guangzhou Evergrande’s seven-year reign as champions, is keen to move on.
“I believe that with hard work, team spirit and humility, and if you work as a team… as a family, we can achieve our goals and win more titles,” Pereira said on Wednesday.
He will be desperate to keep former international forward Hulk, 32, fit and firing.
The skipper, who has 51 goals in 88 matches since arriving from Zenit St. Petersburg in 2016 for a reported $60 million, missed some of last year’s title run due to injury.
SIPG, who also have the $68 million Brazilian midfielder Oscar, open their new season with a tricky cross-town trip to rivals Shanghai Shenhua.
“The secret is to keep focused and together, and to help each other,” the 50-year-old Pereira said.
“We have a lot of big challenges, starting this week.”
– Fellaini and the 31 club –
The good news for Hulk and SIPG is that the dethroned Evergrande, their nearest challengers last season, also failed to significantly strengthen in the close season.
Coach Fabio Cannavaro will again rely on another pair of Brazilians, the midfielders Paulinho and Anderson Talisca, as Evergrande attempt to wrestle back the crown.
Shandong Luneng finished third and Beijing Guoan fourth in what was a four-way title tussle until the final weeks of the campaign, when SIPG and Evergrande pulled away.
Luneng have made one of the most significant acquisitions of the Chinese transfer window, snapping up Marouane Fellaini from Manchester United.
He has been joined in China by fellow Belgian midfielder Mousa Dembele, who signed for Guangzhou R&F from Tottenham Hotspur for about $14 million.
Another high-profile arrival was Marek Hamsik, who went to Dalian Yifang after outstripping the great Diego Maradona as Napoli’s record goal-scorer.
All aged 31 and established internationals, the trio’s arrival proves that CSL clubs still have the financial muscle to lure European stars with big contracts.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2tID4ul
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