After collecting last season's gold, silver and bronze boots, Harbour aims to defend the Super League title

Reporter Cheng Shan reported Leonardo, who trains alone in Dubai last week, arrived in Abu Dhabi to join the Shanghai Port and will join him if there are no surprises. In this way, Harbour will collect last season's Chinese Super League gold, silver and bronze boots, and after the departures of Oscar and Vargas, the ambition of the defending champions remains unchanged.

At the end of last season, Oscar and Vargas left, Oscar 14 goals and 20 assists, Vargas 12 goals and 12 assists, the damage on the Harbour attack is visible to the naked eye, given the salary cap, it is almost impossible to find a replacement for Oscar and Vargas, "but the club will do everything in their power to fill the void." A seaport insider said.

In fact, including coach Muscat is clear, with the departure of Oscar and Vargas, the team's offensive system must be rebuilt, and it is impossible to completely copy it, of course, if it is rebuilt, it will be upgraded.

Muscat led the team to the double, and in the transfer, he has a certain say, after finalizing the Brazilian midfielder Vital, he wants to sign a player with a certain scoring ability, not necessarily a midfield engine, Leonardo into his sights.

For Leonardo, Muscat had a certain understanding during his time in Japan, and his performance in the Chinese Super League, especially Leonardo's feeling in front of the goal, he saw it even more, and in the end, he ordered Leonardo's general, and the club's senior management went to Jinan to negotiate with Taishan.

Leonardo and Taishan still have a year left on their contracts, and there are many clubs interested in him, including Osaka Sakura in the J-League, and Harbour is bound to pay a certain transfer fee. In terms of personal treatment, Harbor gave Leonardo a three-year contract, and the annual salary should be $1.5 million after tax.

In the 2024 season of the Chinese Super League, Wu Lei scored 34 goals, Leonardo scored 21 goals, and Gustavo scored 20 goals, winning the gold, silver and bronze boots of the Chinese Super League.

After Leonardo joined Taishan in 2021, he only played 8 games in the Chinese Super League and scored 1 goal, and then Taishan went out on loan and played for Hebei (1 goal in 12 games), Ulsan (11 goals in 34 games), Yatai (10 goals in 12 games), Zhejiang team (30 goals in 45 games), during his time in Yatai and Zhejiang team, he showed his keen sense of smell in front of goal, last season, he won the silver boot and was selected in the best team of the Chinese Super League. Given Leonardo's outstanding performances in the past two seasons, Shandong fans have been calling for him to return, but in the end it was unsuccessful.

Leonardo joined, if he continued his form in Yatai and Zhejiang, he could fill the hole to some extent, but Wu Lei's injury still plagued the club.

Last season, since June, Wu Lei has been plagued by a knee meniscus injury, and in the round of 18 of the World Preliminaries, he only played against Japan and Saudi Arabia, and missed all four games in October and November, and did not play in the FA Cup final.

In the Chinese Super League, Wu Lei relieved the pain by playing closed, and he revealed that by November, "the edema in the knee, including cartilage wear, was getting more and more serious." ”

Playing closed is harmful to the players, and Wu Lei also knows it, but in an interview with "Football Night", he said that there is no way, including the national team and the club, they all need themselves.

Wu Lei had wanted conservative treatment, and in December last year, he went to Italy, but the effect was not as good as he imagined, he told local media in Shanghai that he was kicking with pain in the second half of last year, "It was too painful, and if I didn't have surgery, this year might be worse than last year." ”

In the end, Wu Lei decided to undergo surgery, and at present, he has returned to Shanghai to discuss the specific plan of surgery with the club and the medical team, and the operation will be carried out in China.

It is understood that if he has surgery, Wu Lei will have to rest for at least two months, which will have an impact on the national team and the harbor. Specific clubs, including the Super Cup and the AFC Champions League Elite League, are difficult to play. But the current problem is that even if Wu Lei recovers, it is also a question of whether he can find his form in time, after all, the Oscar and Vargas he is familiar with have left, and it will take time to run in with the new signings.

Last season, Shenhua put enough pressure on Harbour in the Chinese Super League, and although they successfully defended their title, the gap between the two teams was not large. Now, Oscar and Vargas are gone, and Wu Lei is going to have surgery, at least the offensive impact is very great. At present, the foreign aid is likely to be Vital and Leonardo, and the domestic aid is Liu Ruofan and Eiffelding, which have a certain boost to the offense, but they need to be run in and start all over again.

The goal of this year's Chinese Super League is definitely to defend the title, in the case of serious offensive attrition, can only be a stable defensive line in the past, and the addition of domestic reinforcement tomorrow is another improvement to the defensive line.