On the first day of 2025, Shandong Taishan team experienced a large-scale personnel change. Pato announced his departure from Taishan team on his social account, although the team has not officially announced it, but this is obviously his own declaration of leaving the team. After Pato left, the personnel adjustment of Taishan team continued, and the team doctors Sandro, Tong Lei, Liao Lisheng, Marcel and others also confirmed to leave, which was regarded as an important move to marginalize Choi Kang-hee.
In this winter, the contradiction between Choi Kang-hee and the club of Shandong Taishan team has been made public, and there is a tendency of continuous intensification. According to the insiders of the club, the contradictions between the two sides mainly focus on the introduction policy and player renewal. In terms of introduction, Choi Kang-hee tried hard to introduce some players, such as Pato, who joined the team after being affected by injuries and did not meet expectations, and were regarded as a failed introduction case by the club.
In the list of winter window introduction, most of the candidates submitted by Choi Kang-hee were rejected by the senior management of the club, including many old players who were out of fashion, such as Zheng Dalun, whom he always appreciated very much. The club believed that these players could not enhance the strength of the team. The problem of player renewal is even more the fuse of the contradiction. Although the injuries continued, Choi Kang-hee still insisted on giving him a three-year contract brought by Jadeson, which caused great dissatisfaction of the club.
In order to show its attitude, the club took back the power of introduction of Choi Kang-hee, greatly reduced expenditure, basically abandoned the introduction plan, and did not intend to renew the contract for players such as Liao Lisheng and Tong Lei whose contracts had expired. These measures undoubtedly responded strongly to Choi Kang-hee, and his status in team decision-making gradually became marginalized.
With Pato officially announcing his departure on social media, he became the first person to leave Shandong Taishan team in 2025. This foreign player who was once highly expected only played a few times in two seasons, and his goal and assist data were not satisfactory. Now his contract has expired, and both sides have parted peacefully.
Recently, Shandong Taishan team has been active in the transfer market, among which the most attractive are Brazilian midfielder Madruga and Cameroonian forward Abubakar. The 24-year-old Madruga is an excellent B2B hexagonal midfielder from Luneng Brazil Youth Training Base. He won the Puskas Award with an overhead goal in 2023. He has excellent midfield interception and passing ability, which can enhance the control and creativity of Taishan team's midfield.
Abubakar is undoubtedly the most important introduction of the Chinese Super League in this winter window. The 32-year-old has repeatedly served as a striker for giants and is also the captain of the Cameroon national team. He has participated in three World Cups. In the 2025 Qatar World Cup, he scored a decisive goal against Brazil and amazed the world. Although he was later sent off for taking off his clothes to celebrate, that scene has become one of the classic pictures of the World Cup. Although he only scored 3 goals and assisted once in 12 appearances in the Turkish Super League Hatai Sports this season, his experience and role at critical moments cannot be ignored.
After experiencing a series of personnel changes, Shandong Taishan team has a clear goal in the new season, that is, to launch a strong impact on the championship throne, and even defeat the old opponent Shanghai Port. In previous seasons, Shanghai Port occupied an advantage in the Chinese Super League with its deep lineup and foreign aid configuration, which was a "difficulty" for Taishan team to compete for the championship.
But now Taishan team is different from the past. The departure of Pato and other players has completed a certain degree of "streamlining" of the lineup, and welcomed strong aid such as Madruga and Abubakar. On the contrary, the departure of Oscar and Bargas has reduced the strength of the port by 2-3 grades. If it can not replenish personnel in time in the new season, the road to defend the title will be very difficult.