Selecting foreign players in V-League 2022: A headache gamble for SLNA and many clubs

V-League 2022 will kick off on February 25, which means that in just about a month, all 13 participating teams will have to complete all procedures for registering their player lists. Over the past 3 months, the transfer market of Vietnamese football has been bustling as teams such as Hanoi FC, Hai Phong,SLNA,... and especially Topenland Binh Dinh are constantly exploding blockbusters. Looking at the new players brought in by the teams, fans feel extremely excited because their quality and reputation have all been confirmed, including Nghiem Xuan Tu, Mac Hong Quan, Que Ngoc Hai,...

The quality of foreign players is decisive to a club's championship ambition in the V-League.Photo: HAGL

However, in contrast to the colorful picture of domestic players in the transfer market, the task of recruiting enough foreign players and ensuring quality to register for V-League 2022 is causing many clubs to feel a headache.

Starting with the capital team, Hanoi FC has brought in 3 foreign players including Ivancic, Djuro Zec and Thomas Verheydt. These are all expensive players, Djuro Zec alone is the most valuable player in V.League 2022 (up to this point) when the Transfermarkt website valued him at up to 18 billion VND. However, all 3 strikers have not left any mark on the club. In the recent friendly match with the First Division team Pho Hien, Hanoi still had to rely on 2 veterans Thanh Luong and Van Quyet to win 3-2. There is even information that Mr. Hien's team is considering selling the expensive Djuro Zec just 2 weeks after his debut at the club.

Hanoi still has a quality domestic squad, but the lessons of the 2020 and 2021 seasons are still there, when national players such as Quang Hai, Dinh Trong, Van Hau,... were overloaded and devastated by injuries after having to work hard with the Vietnam team. In V.League 2021, Hanoi was helpless when watching the two foreign players Geovane and Bruno Cunha adapt slowly and have poor performances.

Obviously, Hanoi FC is not as stable as Viettel, the army team owns 4 foreign players including Jaha, Geovane, Pedro Paulo and Caique. Of these, except Geovane who will need time to regain his form after a disappointing period in Hanoi, the remaining 3 foreign players all understand Viettel and the philosophy of head coach Truong Viet Hoang very well.

Another championship candidate is HAGL with 2 central defenders Mauricio, Kim Dong Su and 2 strikers Baiano, Brandao have also shown extremely promising signs. In particular, Kim Dong Su and Brandao both played impressively in V.League 2021 to help HAGL lead the rankings before the tournament was canceled. The question for HAGL now is whether it is okay for them to decide not to add more domestic players, but instead trust in young players?

Hanoi FC's foreign players had a lackluster performance in the recent friendly match with Pho Hien.Photo: Hanoi FC

Another team that also owns famous foreign players, all of whom have made waves in the V-League, is the "new giant" T.Binh Dinh. The team from the land of Vo currently has Rafaelson, Jermie Lynch - strikers with a free-spirited, fiery playing style - and Hendrio Araujo. However, coach Nguyen Duc Thang is still struggling to find a way to combine the two strong personalities of Rafaelson and Lynch in attack.

In theory, Topenland Binh Dinh has a formidable force with excellent domestic and foreign player quality. But if they have problems with foreign players, the dream of winning the 2022 V-League championship will be difficult to come true.

The old force of Vietnamese football, Becamex Binh Duong, is also one of the clubs struggling with foreign players. Names like Petrovic Tudor, Michaelou and center-back Oliver have not left any significant mark. It would not be surprising if B.Binh Duong liquidates all three of these names in the near future, even though the 2022 V-League is nearing its opening date.

SLNA is also having a headache choosing 2 more foreign players after Olaha for V-League 2022.Photo: SLNA

One of the reasons why clubs are having difficulty identifying quality foreign players is due to the trend of modern football. Specifically, foreign players do not want to try out for too long but must quickly be given a contract, because they do not want to waste money when coming to a brand new land without finding a club. At that time, clubs are required to carefully study the video and technical specifications of the "Westerners" before nodding to accept bringing them to Vietnam to sign a contract with the club.

Other clubs such as SHB Da Nang and SLNA are even having difficulty in selecting 3 foreign players, they are still in the process of urgently adding enough players before the season. If coach Phan Thanh Hung of Da Nang had to find a broker to quickly introduce foreign players after the disappointing training session at the Emperor Quang Trung Cup 2022, coach Huy Hoang of SLNA only has Olaha in hand, and is still considering between 5 options including center back Thiago Melo, midfielder Jong Mark, striker Carlos Sanchez, Vuciavic, Vinicius to add 2 more quality new foreign players to realize the goal of entering the top 3 of V-League 2022.

According to information from SLNA's coaching staff, the club will prioritize choosing 1 foreign player for the midfielder position and 1 striker. After returning from the tour to the South, the Nghe An team will decide to sign contracts with 2 of the 5 players mentioned above.

Meanwhile, the two Saigon teams, Ho Chi Minh City FC and Saigon FC, are experiencing the opposite situation. With Saigon, they do not have enough 3 foreign players, but have signed 2 strikers with relatively good quality, Oseni and Vieira. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City has enough 3 foreign players, but over the past 2 years, this team has never made fans feel secure about the quality of their foreign players. Lucas, Cosendey and Joseph are all unknown players and who knows, they will continue to sow the nightmare called "low quality foreign players" for Ho Chi Minh City.