Less Than One Day After Contract Termination! 29-Year-Old Foreign Striker Announces New Club, Thanks Shenhua on Social Media but Misspells Team Name

On September 8 Beijing time, Brazilian club Ceara officially announced that 29-year-old forward Saulo Mineiro, who had just terminated his contract with Shenhua, has officially returned to the team. The two sides signed a contract until the end of this season.

Just one day earlier, Shenhua had announced the early termination of its contract with Mineiro. In less than 24 hours, Mineiro quickly found his next destination and joined his former club Ceara for the third time.

Previously, Mineiro had made 109 appearances for the club and scored 26 goals. His first spell at Ceara came in 2020, when he made 49 first-team appearances and scored 12 goals before transferring to Yokohama FC in 2021.

In 2023, Mineiro returned to Ceara for the first time and made 60 appearances with 14 goals during his second spell, helping the team win the state league title and earn promotion to the Brazilian top flight.

At the end of 2024, Saulo Mineiro transferred from Ceara to join Shanghai Shenhua. During his time with Shenhua, he made 34 official appearances and scored 14 goals.

According to Brazilian media reports, after terminating his contract with Shenhua this time, Mineiro was eager to return to Ceara and gave up a considerable portion of his financial benefits to help complete the deal. Although other Brazilian clubs were interested in him, he made Ceara his first choice.

After returning to his former club, Mineiro happily thanked Shenhua on social media for agreeing to terminate his contract. Mineiro wrote: “Thank you, Shenhua. I am very happy to have played here.”

However, the amusing part is that despite playing for Shenhua for one and a half years, Mineiro still wrote Shenhua's pinyin incorrectly. Perhaps he did not develop a particularly deep sense of belonging to this Chinese Super League club.