The new coach of the Zhejiang team is close to finalizing Guardiola's "henchmen"

Special correspondent Xu Yi and reporter Han Bing report In the final round of the group stage of the second division of the AFC Champions League, Zhejiang defeated Bandung, Indonesia 4-3 away, but still failed to qualify from the group. After the game, the head coach of the Zhejiang team, Jodi, took a group photo with the players, which was a move that Jodi had never made. Perhaps Jody, who has led the team for four years, already knew at that time that he would leave the team.

Recently, the Zhejiang team selection team went to Manchester, England, and met with Raul Caneda of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola's coaching team, and both parties were satisfied with this communication. If the report of the selection team after returning to China can be approved by the board of directors, then Caneda will become the new head coach of the Zhejiang team, and another Spanish head coach will lead the Zhejiang team to set sail again.

In the season just ended, Zhejiang ranked seventh in the Chinese Super League, a significant decline from the previous two seasons. Considering that this is a year for Zhejiang FC to promote the share reform, the results will be affected by various factors, but some problems in the competition of the Zhejiang team this year still make the club inclined to change the coach.

After returning to the Chinese Super League, Zhejiang team finished third in the first two seasons in a row, and also participated in Asian club competitions for two consecutive years. With the foreign aid of the Chinese Super League teams this year, and other teams are more familiar with Jodi's tactical play, the results of the Zhejiang team have declined, especially in the 30 Chinese Super League games, a total of 60 goals have been conceded, only 6 less than the relegated deputy squad leader Nantong Zhiyun, and 5 more than the second-to-last Meizhou Hakka. In some games, the Zhejiang team conceded consecutive goals in the same way, and the offensive and defensive imbalance was a major problem for the team. In the second division of the AFC Champions League, the Zhejiang team also had a bad start and lost the initiative to qualify early, which eventually led to the failure to advance.

In such a situation, Zhejiang FC saw the "bottleneck" of Jodi's continued coaching, and if the team was to be upgraded, perhaps a change of coach would be a better choice. Jodi's contract with Zhejiang FC expires at the end of the year, and both sides face a two-way option.

Under the recommendation of relevant parties, the Zhejiang FC coaching team went to Manchester to contact Caneda, and Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola also received him personally. In recent years, Caneda has been an assistant to Guardiola's team, and can be called Guardiola's "confidant", and Guardiola also agrees with Caneda's football philosophy.

In fact, Caneda's partnership with Pep Guardiola is inseparable from a coach familiar to Chinese fans – Lillo, who once coached Qingdao Huanghai – and is currently Guardiola's assistant coach. The trio worked together in Mexico in 2006, with Lillo as manager and Caneda as assistant coach at the time, and Pep Guardiola spent his final season as a player, a relationship that began 18 years ago. He first worked with Lillo in charge of Real Sociedad and then Almeria, and then as a long-time analyst for Pep Guardiola's team, where he analysed Pep Guardiola's opponents in the Champions League.

In addition to being familiar with Pep Guardiola's advanced football philosophy, Kaneda also impressed Zhejiang FC with his independent coaching experience in Asia. Zhejiang team has participated in the Asian arena for two consecutive years, which is an important accumulation of the team in the development process, if there is a coach with rich coaching experience in Asian football to lead the team, maybe the team can get faster improvement.

In 2012, after four consecutive defeats, Jeddah United invited Kaneda from Pep Guardiola's coaching team, and Kaneda defeated Uzbekistan's cotton farmers by four goals in the team's first game, and became the best team in the group stage of the AFC Champions League that year with a record of five wins and one draw. In the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League, Kaneda led the team to eliminate Guangzhou Evergrande coached by Lippi with an aggregate score of 5-4 and broke into the semifinals.

In 2014 and 2016, Caneda also coached Cristiano Ronaldo's current Riyadh victory in Saudi Arabia. In 2019 and 2020, Kaneda briefly coached um al-Salal in Qatar and Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates. Since then, Caneda has returned to Pep Guardiola's team to continue as Guardiola's assistant.

Kaneda, who is more familiar with Asian football, said that this team has a certain upward potential after watching some game videos of the Zhejiang team. If there are some additions in certain positions, he can bring out the potential of the team and lead the team to improve further. In addition to signing Chongqing Tonglianglong's defender Wang Shiqin, the Zhejiang team is still in contact with several domestic aids, and now they have been basically finalized, and they are ready to introduce 3-4 domestic aids in the new season. There is also a clear target for foreign players, and the signing will be completed after receiving the approval of the head coach.

Zhejiang's selection team went to Manchester this time, and the other party had a high-level reception, and Pep Guardiola also met with the selection team, and he said that Caneda's football philosophy is the pursuit of speed and balance. And such characteristics are exactly what the Zhejiang team needs. During the talks, the two sides exchanged their respective football philosophies and reached an agreement on the whole.

The selection team will report to the board of directors and the leadership team after returning to China, and whether Caneda can coach the Zhejiang team in the new season will be concluded in the near future. As soon as possible, Kaneda will come to Hangzhou next week to sign with Zhejiang FC. At the beginning of January next year, the Zhejiang team will refocus on Hainan for winter training, if it is confirmed to coach the Zhejiang team, Kaneda needs to go to Hangzhou to sign a contract with the club and communicate with all parties, and strive to enter the state as soon as possible, and then lead the Zhejiang team to set sail as a "helmsman" in early January next year.