Shanghai Shenhua Announce Termination with Mineiro; Manafa Revived on the Right, Key Foreign Player Protected, AFC Champions League as the Ultimate Test

In the 8th minute, Manafa delivered a lofted long pass from the flank, sending the ball over the entire defensive line. Gao Tianyi made a high-speed run forward before pulling the ball back, and Asue easily slotted into an empty net, breaking the deadlock for Shenhua away against Chongqing Tonglianglong.

Just three minutes later, another attack started from the right. Wu Xi's shot from the edge of the box deflected off a defender, and Gao Tianyi got a touch in front of goal to make it 2-0.

Those two goals brought Manafa back to the right corridor he knows best.

In previous matches, he had been moved to the left to focus on marking duties, which suppressed his attacking qualities. Returning to the right in this match, he combined long passes, crosses and diagonal runs. In the 86th minute, he also delivered a diagonal cross from the left, and substitute Yang Haoyu scored with a headed lob to seal a 3-0 victory.

A wide player directly involved in creating three goals in one match — with such numbers, who would still keep him at left-back?

Milojevic's adjustment effectively turned the switch on Shenhua's right flank back on.

But the day after the victory, the club dropped a bombshell.

On September 7, Shenhua officially announced that it had terminated its contract with Shalo Mineiro with immediate effect.

Looking back, there had been signs of this outcome. On September 1 in the FA Cup match against Dalian Yingbo, Mineiro came on as a substitute and played only 20 minutes before kicking Mao Weijie's leg without the ball. After reviewing VAR, the referee issued a straight red card. On September 4, the Chinese Football Association added further punishment: a three-match suspension and a fine of 15,000 yuan.

Mineiro was sent off after only 20 minutes as a substitute, leaving Shenhua with 10 men. They lost the FA Cup quarter-final 0-1 and missed out on the semi-finals. The club clearly did not want to pay that price.

From joining in January 2025 to leaving in September 2026, Mineiro scored 14 goals in 34 appearances across all competitions. His market value fell from 920,000 euros at the time of joining to 1 million euros. The statistics were not poor, but that FA Cup incident turned the page completely.

Shenhua's decision was tough and clear: no matter how capable a foreign player is at scoring, crossing the red line of on-field violence is unacceptable.

The termination with Mineiro happened alongside the protective rest of Teixeira.

Against Chongqing, Teixeira was not included in the starting lineup. After the match, Milojevic said directly: "Teixeira still has some issues with his hamstring, and we did not plan to take risks today."

This was not the first time. On August 28 against Shandong Taishan, Teixeira came on as a substitute and left after 23 minutes because of an injury sustained during a challenge. He has since missed several official matches. Milojevic's choice is clear: if league matches can provide opportunities for younger players, there is no need to force an older player with muscle concerns to carry the burden.

Gao Tianyi moved into Teixeira's position, contributed a goal and an assist, and directly participated in two goals in one match, setting a personal season record for goal contributions.

The front line's one-touch passing became noticeably smoother, with no one holding the ball too long and no one constantly arguing with referees. Teixeira's individual ability is unquestionable, but his tendency toward solo plays and slower decision-making has remained a point of debate in this new system.

Protecting him is both about protecting the player himself and creating space for younger players. As for whether the club will renew his contract after it expires at the end of the year, Shenhua has given no signal so far, and that decision will wait until the end of the season.

The biggest concern is the AFC Champions League Two, which arrives 10 days later.

At 20:15 on September 17, at Shanghai Stadium, Shenhua will host Singapore's Tampines Rovers in the opening round of Group G.

Before the match has even started, personnel shortages are already appearing one by one.

Wu Xi and Zhu Chenjie were selected as overage players, while Yang Haoyu was selected as an age-eligible player for China's U23 Nagoya Asian Games squad. The U23 team's first match is against North Korea at 20:00 on September 16, while the AFC Champions League opener kicks off at 20:15 on September 17. With less than 24 hours between the games, the three players cannot possibly return from Japan to Shanghai.

The defensive pillar, midfield metronome and attacking rotation option all disappeared overnight.

More complicated is the situation of foreign player Latang. In last season's final AFC Champions League Elite match away against Buriram United, he received two yellow cards and was sent off within two minutes. Under AFC rules, if a red-card suspension is not completed in the same season, it carries over to the next match in the same category of continental competition. Since Shenhua are playing AFC Champions League Two this season, the suspension carries into this opening match.

With Mineiro released and Latang suspended, Shenhua have only Asue, Teixeira and Manafa available as foreign players. Whether Teixeira's hamstring can handle a full 90 minutes remains a question mark.

Shenhua did not use the AFC-specific foreign player quota during the summer window, effectively giving up an opportunity to strengthen. They are now weakened in four areas — Zhu Chenjie missing from defense, Wu Xi absent from midfield, Yang Haoyu unavailable for rotation and Latang watching from the stands — leaving Milojevic to rely on Manafa's newly revived right flank and goalkeeper Xue Qinghao to overcome Tampines Rovers at home.

Xue Qinghao made several close-range saves in the previous match and is in strong form. His performance directly determines the floor of this weakened defense.

Milojevic said after the match that "the team is on the right path." That may hold true in the league, but in the AFC Champions League Two examination, results will have to prove it.

Can Manafa continue producing quality crosses from the right? Will Gao Tianyi's replacement of Teixeira in the attacking structure drop in effectiveness against continental-level opposition? Can the center-back pairing of Li Songyi and Jin Shunkai withstand the gap left by Zhu Chenjie?

On the night of September 17 at Shanghai Stadium, all the question marks will turn into either exclamation marks or question marks; there is no third option.

This is Shenhua's most realistic current situation — drawing a clear disciplinary line with a decisive termination, reactivating the flank through a positional adjustment, preserving an older player's remaining value through protective rest, and then walking into the AFC Champions League test with a squad full of holes.

Fans can debate: Should Manafa continue playing on the right? Is Teixeira still worth renewing? Are Milojevic's tactical changes genuine flexibility or simply forced choices due to personnel shortages?

These debates themselves are the most interesting appetizer before the AFC Champions League opener.