Former Beijing Guoan and now FC Seoul forward Dejan Damjanović. (Photo : Getty Images)
Former Chinese Super League standout Dejan Damjanovic had recently said that the arrival of foreign talents in the China top flight is "inhibiting" the growth of homegrown forwards and strikers which could be detrimental to the improvement of the China national football team in the long run.
The 34-year-old ex-Beijing Guoan forward is said to be concerned that "China's recent influx of expensive imports will damage homegrown development in their domestic Super League and hold back their national team", as reported by ESPN.
Damjanovic's comments are well-warranted as the opening matches of the new CSL season saw all the first 16 goals of the games scored exclusively by imports. No one among all the country's local talents has netted a single goal, which could be a bad sign in terms of developing the homegrown scorers to be utilized for the national squad.
The report noted that Montenegrin striker, who is now suited up with K League Classic squad FC Seoul, was the CSL's third-highest scorer last season "when only two local forwards finished in the top 15 marksmen".
"This is the problem," said Damjanovic. "In all teams, it is the foreigners who are making the difference and scoring the goals and so clubs are buying strikers and midfielders to help them achieve their aims."
Taiwanese midfielder Chen Po-liang of Hangzhou Greentown came closest to scoring a goal for any local player so far in the new CSL season, which is said to be a clear sign that "Chinese attacking talent is being crowded out" by the foreigners.
"Generally, the national team of China is having problems because of this," he said. "Chinese strikers when they play, they are not scoring too much. A few of them are doing good jobs but others are struggling. There needs to be improvements. They need to improve their young players and the youth facilities if they want to be one of the best leagues and national teams in Asia."
WSOC-TV indicated that "the reliance on foreign strikers has been an issue across Asia for some time" as top flight leagues from Japan and South Korea have also struggled to develop world-class goalscorers.
However, the practice is "becoming more extreme in China" as CSL clubs seem to be aiming to acquire a world-class striker every transfer window.
