Coach Choi Kang-hee's shock passing situation, Shandong leaders voluntarily recruited DF...Despite the risk of injury, annual salary of 2 billion → desperate gambling (media)

Jul 23, 2025

Coach Choi Kang-hee's shock passing situation, Shandong leaders voluntarily recruited DF...Despite the risk of injury, annual salary of 2 billion → desperate gambling (media)
Source= Shandong Taishan Weibo



Coach Choi Kang-hee's shock passing situation, Shandong leaders voluntarily recruited DF...Despite the risk of injury, annual salary of 2 billion → desperate gambling (media)
◇photo courtesy of the Korea Professional Football Association
Shandong Taishan, a Chinese Super League club led by head coach Choi Kang-hee, recruited a defender from Spain's youth representative.

Shandong announced on its official Weibo on the 21st that it has recruited Luis López (28), a center back who played for Real Zaragoza in Spain's second division. López joined to replace Kazar, who was severely injured and was terminated.

López is a native of Espanyol Youth and played for Zaragoza from 2021 to this year after playing for Espanyol and Tenerife. He was a promising defender throughout Spain's youth representatives, but he did not grow as much as expected.




There are not only voices welcoming the recruitment of new defenders. The Chinese portal `Sohu Dotcom' described López's recruitment as a `dangerous move, a desperate gamble' in an article titled"Shandong, Recruiting López even at serious risk of injury".

Coach Choi Kang-hee's shock passing situation, Shandong leaders voluntarily recruited DF...Despite the risk of injury, annual salary of 2 billion → desperate gambling (media)
Source= Shandong Taishan Weibo
The media said 'Lopez signed a contract for up to a year and a half and an annual salary of up to 1.2 million euros (about 2 billion won). This is undoubtedly a big change in the current situation of reducing overall spending in the Chinese Super League, and shows that the club is betting on López, or a desperate gamble. In particular, considering that López has been struggling with injuries recently, the recruitment carries significant risks. López was sidelined for nine weeks with injuries in the first half of the year, and barely played from February to April. After playing just 20 minutes against Oviedo in May, he had to leave the stadium again because of a muscle problem. Such frequent injuries are a wake-up call,' the report said.

In the process of recruiting López, the head of the team, Choi, was caught 'passing'. Citing a local reporter's report 'Sohoo Dotcom'Shandong Coaches had no plans to recruit defenders in the summer transfer market. Regardless of all opposition, it was the club's top management who quickly closed the López deal. The entire negotiation and recruitment process went very fast. It remains to be seen whether it will have an effect on recruitment, but it suggests that the club's management may not have fully considered the risk of player injury in the decision to recruit.




He also said that only time will tell whether the Shandong club's risky decision is a wise decision or an expensive misjudgment. Shandong, which has Zeka and Baco from the K League, is in sixth place in the Chinese Super League in the 2025 season.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.