Football nowadays is all about haircuts and social media. In that sense the Chinese Super League is no different than the English Premier League.
Like the much maligned Paul Pogba, Wei Shihao proved he is more than just a haircut – but what a haircut it is.
The 24-year-old’s new look is a dreadlock style with dyed tips. He debuted it on his private Instagram account late last week and it was made public at Tianhe Stadium on Saturday night.
Some social media users likened it to a mop and cigarette butts but others were more complimentary.
One social media user said they hoped that Wei could become China’s Ruud Gullit, perhaps the most famous dreadlock-sporting footballer.
Others said they had no problem with it, as long as the performance was good. It was.
Wei’s Guangzhou Evergrande beat Hebei China Fortune 2-1 and it was down to the man with the standout hairstyle.
He set up the opener for Yan Dinghao eight minutes in and scored the second himself. He came close to adding another and was a blur of energy and stepovers down the left wing.
Wei’s form – six goals and three assists in the last six weeks – has been key to Evergrande’s recent upsurge.
It has been even more important in the absence of Anderson Talsica, the league’s standout player.
Wei was taken off after 66 minutes, with Fabio Cannavaro looking ahead to the AFC Champions League trip to Shandong Luneng – a club where Wei is seen as a “traitor” because he came through their youth system before moving to Portugal.
That Cannavaro’s side go into the second leg with a 2-1 advantage is also down to Wei, although he did that before rushing to the salon to get the new look.
Manager Fabio Cannavaro was said to have told him if he scored at the weekend he could keep it.
Wei stepped up and it seems he is intent on keeping the new look as he pointed to his hair by way of celebration after his goal.
Cannavaro has got the best out of a mercurial talent, so that’s good man-management from the Italian.
It’s all the more impressive as Wei was suspended for a month by his club for a tackle on national duty at the China Cup after fan outrage on social media.
That is a sign of the rules in place at Guangzhou Evergrande, so it is all the more surprising he has been allowed such freedom with his hair.
Could it be the start of a more nuanced approach so often missing in the one-size fits all world of Chinese football? Probably not.
Good man-management appears absent at Dalian Yifang but that is only if they want to get the best out of wantaway winger Yannick Carrasco.
The Belgian has been suspended by head coach Cui Kangxi for his behaviour in training and for deliberately getting booked to miss matches. He was also late back from Belgium duty and punched a teammate last season.
Carrasco feels hard done by as he was reportedly promised that he could leave this window by general manager Zhou Jun.
Of course the Carrasco fiasco is being played out on social media.
“The attitude of some club’s leaders and teammates towards me is incomprehensible to me given my commitment and performance with the team so far,” Carrasco wrote on Twitter.
“The team needs me and I want to help the team. This problem need to be solved.”
This was followed with another tweet. “For my president and the owner of the club, I want to play this match. Unfortunately the staff decide otherwise.”
The owner of the club is Wang Jianlin, the owner of Wanda Group and one of China’s richest men. He has paid Carrasco many millions since his arrival and he is also the one who can get him out of his China nightmare. Break-ups are never easy.
Jiangsu Suning fans found that out to their cost this weekend. The side lost at home to struggling Shanghai Shenhua for the first time in a decade and lost their minds.
Things were thrown at the players after the final whistle and then people started posting pictures of them cutting up shirts and season tickets. Whether this was genuine or for social media likes it captures, the social media-based zeitgeist of fandom.
Oddly, the club felt the need to apologise for losing. The embarrassing scoreline? 0-1.
- Goal of the week: Beijing Guoan’s Renato Augusto. The Brazilian capped a comeback in the capital with the winner in the 93rd minute. What a goal it was, leaving the keeper helpless as he fired into the top corner. It could prove vital later in the season.
- Quickest sub of the week: 74 seconds. Poor Li Yuyang. The Guangzhou R&F under-23 was replaced barely a minute into their game with Beijing Guoan. The new under-23 rule can not come soon enough.
