Painful, but necessary.

VHO - The fact that Nam Dinh team has just decided to simultaneously release five expensive foreign players, led by former Premier League star Percy Tau, along with Walber Mota, Caique Santos, Njabulo Blom and the 2.06m tall "giant" Kyle Hudlin, partly shows the failure of an unprecedented project in the history of domestic football.

Former Premier League star Percy Tau boasts an impressive resume but his time playing for Nam Dinh FC has been marked by disappointment. (Photo: Nam Dinh FC)

Investing in a squad worth over 10 million euros (according to Transfermarkt's valuation) resulted in failure in both the V-League and two international competitions.

The shock at Thien Truong Stadium is not just an internal story of one team, but has become a profound wake-up call for the entire national professional league system regarding the mindset of purchasing and utilizing foreign resources.

The paradox of the "million-dollar foreign label" and the trap…

Despite possessing an incredibly impressive resume, having competed in the most demanding league on the planet, Percy Tau left behind nothing but utter disappointment, scoring only one goal in 21 appearances. The multi-million dollar project collapsed, Nam Dinh sadly watched their dream of defending their V-League title shatter, and were eliminated early from the Asian competition. This story highlights a fundamental issue of sports management that needs to be thoroughly examined.

The biggest mistake many Vietnamese football administrators make today is the habit of buying players based solely on their resumes. When a foreign player is offered a contract by an agent with an impressive resume, having played in Europe, South America, or prestigious leagues, clubs are immediately convinced, forgetting that compatibility with the V-League ecosystem is the decisive factor.

Vietnamese football has its own unique playing style: average quality pitches, a harsh hot and humid tropical climate, and especially a defensive counter-attacking tactical mindset, sometimes involving rough tackles, requiring players to have exceptional stamina and the ability to operate independently.

Stars like Percy Tau and Kyle Hudlin were trained in a scientific football environment, where they were an integral part of a perfectly functioning system. When they came to Vietnam, they found themselves "starved of the ball" because the surrounding domestic players lacked the quality to provide the necessary assists.

The lack of systemic support quickly isolates expensive foreign players, leading to psychological distress and a decline in performance. Furthermore, the pressure from huge signing bonuses and salaries creates an invisible barrier, putting the coaching staff in a dilemma: not using them is wasteful, but using them disrupts the team's tactical structure.

Many experts believe that a good foreign player isn't necessarily the one with the highest transfer value on valuation websites, but rather the one who best fits the coach's philosophy and the abilities of the surrounding domestic players. A resume is only a reference; performance on the Vietnamese pitch is the true measure of value. Looking at the broader picture of the league, this paradox has persisted for many years.

While clubs are rushing to activate "blockbuster" transfers only to suffer the consequences, some teams with more modest financial resources are succeeding thanks to a pragmatic scouting strategy. They don't need big names; they need players who are eager to contribute, have the physical condition suitable for the Southeast Asian environment, and most importantly, are willing to put aside their egos to integrate into the team.

"The cost of acquiring a reputation," or the expense of building a good image, is clearly taking a backseat to "the art of managing people," or the skill of selecting and assembling personnel.

Restructuring the recruitment mindset

The drastic squad overhaul at Thien Truong Stadium is a painful but necessary signal. It shows that Vietnamese football is beginning to move beyond the wasteful spending phase and towards pragmatism and sustainability.

To avoid repeating past mistakes like the 10 million euro project, V-League clubs need to radically change their foreign player recruitment practices. Instead of relying entirely on player agents (football brokers) and their cleverly edited highlight clips , teams must build professional data analysis departments.

The trend of applying technology and big data in global football needs to be strongly introduced into Vietnam. Metrics such as travel distance, heat maps, tackling rates, weather stress tolerance, and past injury history of players need to be thoroughly analyzed before signing contracts.

Medical examinations also need to be tightened with strict standards of modern sports medicine, avoiding situations where foreign players "play while recovering from injuries," causing serious depletion of the club's wage budget.

Furthermore, establishing smart contract clauses is also an optimal self-defense solution for clubs. Clauses regarding performance, number of goals, minimum number of appearances, or the right to unilaterally terminate the contract with reasonable compensation if the player fails to meet professional requirements after the trial period should be clearly defined.

This helps teams take the initiative, avoiding the awkward situation of having to support "freeloaders" with overpriced contracts costing tens of thousands of USD per month. More importantly, the use of foreign players must go hand in hand with the goal of improving the quality of domestic players.

Quality foreign players should be mentors on the field, guiding and inspiring young local talents, especially the rising Gen Z generation of Vietnamese football. When foreign and domestic talent find common ground, creating a harmonious formula, the value of the team will truly be elevated in the most sustainable way.

The costly lessons from Nam Dinh FC's personnel overhaul have provided a sobering perspective for those involved in Vietnamese football. Money is a necessary condition for upgrading the quality of the league, but management thinking, the art of using people, and understanding core values ​​are the sufficient conditions to achieve glory.

It's time for the V-League to end the era of an arms race fueled by flashy names on paper and enter an era of professionalism, science, and substance. Remember, in football, the shirt doesn't make the man, and a million-dollar resume doesn't guarantee a goal on the home turf.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/dau-don-nhung-can-thiet-231292.html