September 10: Four high school players could form a new version of Beijing Guoan’s ‘Four Youngsters’; Zhao Songyuan scores 11 goals in five games and joins national team camp

Four high school players could become a new version of Beijing Guoan’s Four Youngsters. Four teenagers from Beijing schools in youth national team competitions have drawn fans’ expectations, with hopes centered on Zhou Younuo, Zhao Songyuan...

During Guoan’s internal warm-up match with Beijing Institute of Technology, reports circulated that Xie Jin scored twice. The 17-year-old winger, with a Peking University Affiliated High School background, previously played in lower-level youth football in Spain and later trained with Guoan. Without an official announcement, fans began grouping him with Tsinghua Affiliated High School players Zhao Songyuan, Zhou Younuo and Nan Zixun as a new Guoan Four Youngsters.

Zhao Songyuan has attracted more attention recently. On September 8, the Chinese Football Association announced a 30-player men’s national team training squad, and the 17-year-old Tsinghua Affiliated High School striker was included, with his school listed rather than a professional club. Born in April 2009, he is publicly listed at around 1.94 meters tall and scored 11 goals in five U17 Asian Cup qualifiers, including six goals against Brunei in China’s 12-0 win.

China finished second at the May 2026 U17 Asian Cup finals, with Zhao winning and converting a penalty in the final. The national team camp runs from September 12 to October 7 in Wuhan and Chongqing, with warm-up matches against Palestine, New Zealand, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

A high school student without a professional contract directly entering the senior national team is rare in the normal Chinese Super League environment. Most other young players on the list have experience in CSL youth teams or first teams, while Zhao’s path has been school training, youth national team competitions and the National Games U16 team.

In September 2025, Beijing U16 won the National Games football title and Zhao scored in the second half. The value of this example is not immediate replacement of senior strikers, but showing Guoan and national youth teams a prototype striker who is 1.94 meters tall yet can still control the ball, play with his back to goal and drop deep.

Information about Zhou Younuo and Nan Zixun has been less prominent. In the Tsinghua Affiliated High School system, Zhou is described as a defensive midfielder and team captain responsible for interceptions and organization, while Nan plays centre-back with his tackling and buildup ability highlighted in youth football reports.

If they follow youth national team development, they will face the transition from youth midfield and defence to professional first-team football. A defensive midfielder needs stronger physical battles, recovery runs and rhythm judgment, while a centre-back needs improvement in one-on-one defending, set-piece communication and switching between three-centre-back systems. Professional football has different standards because of foreign strikers, fast counterattacks, away pitches and schedule intensity.

The Xie Jin situation is the easiest to be affected by emotion. It was reported that he scored twice in Guoan’s warm-up with Beijing Institute of Technology, while some media said he had trained with Guoan but could not be registered for the CSL because he was not a Guoan academy product and the transfer window had closed.

He previously played U19 football at lower-level Spanish clubs such as Real Carabanchel. At the 2026 U17 Asian Cup semifinal against Australia, he came on in the 85th minute and scored in stoppage time as China won 2-0 to reach the final.

In August, a blogger claimed through a sponsored advertisement that he was already with Guoan, but Dong Lu denied that he had settled and said he had returned to Madrid. Guoan issued no transfer announcement, and the Spanish club did not confirm his registration return. The current conclusion is that there are training links, but no official contract and no confirmed CSL registration for the season.

The four players’ positions are complementary. Zhou organizes from defensive midfield, Nan starts attacks from centre-back, Zhao provides a target and aerial presence as a striker, and Xie can cut inside or attack from the wing. If Guoan obtains all four, they would have young options for buildup, finishing and wing breakthroughs. However, all four are students or recently returned from overseas, and registration is not completed simply by signing.

Under the 2026 Chinese football registration and transfer rules, a player can only be registered with one training organization or club at a time. Professional registration and transfers must be completed during registration periods, and unregistered players participating in organized competitions violate regulations. First professional contracts between ages 12 and 23 and transfers before age 23 involve training compensation, with stated annual amounts for CSL, China League One, China League Two and others.

Transfers before contract expiration also require joint mechanism compensation based on training years between ages 12 and 23. If Tsinghua Affiliated High School, Peking University Affiliated High School, previous Spanish clubs or domestic academies are recognized as training organizations, Guoan must clarify each registration record before discussing contracts.

Domestic transfers involving minors also have boundaries. Regulations generally allow domestic transfers after age 16, with exceptions for certain relocation or registered football school situations. Training agreements are signed by players and guardians and can last until the player’s 18th birthday.

Zhao is 17, while Xie’s path depends on whether he has reached 18. If under 18, guardian, school status and previous registration must be considered. After the transfer window closes, a newly signed professional contract cannot be used to register for that CSL season and must wait for the next registration period, explaining the reports that Xie could train but not play.

Education is another branch of the decision. Zhao joining the national team camp does not mean abandoning the college entrance examination. Tsinghua Affiliated High School combines training and academic study, and a professional contract would require new arrangements for training time, youth national team call-ups and make-up classes.

If Zhou and Nan first receive Guoan U21 contracts and then attend sports or comprehensive universities, that route may be more stable than immediately leaving school. If Xie stays in China, he must balance the U21 league, first-team training and youth national team call-ups; if he returns to Spain, he must solve visa, registration and competition-level issues. The four paths do not all point to Guoan.

Guoan’s actual actions should be judged by its youth teams rather than promotional images. The B team, U21 and U19 should first integrate players and set position-specific physical demands. Zhao would rotate with first-team strikers to assess hold-up play, heading, and first-touch passing outside the box; Zhou would train midfield pressing transitions and track defensive metrics.

Nan would work on both three-centre-back and four-defender systems, including left centre-back buildup and covering. Xie would first become a key U21 player before being considered for first-team warm-up substitutes. Without match data, youth highlights and warm-up rumors cannot determine his first-team ceiling.

School football supplies talent to Guoan, but the cost is not only salary. Training compensation, academic coordination, national team call-ups, injury recovery and psychological support all require resources. The four same-school, same-city players are naturally packaged by public opinion as a group, but professional lineups depend on opponents, Asian competition rhythm and foreign-player configurations rather than the Four Youngsters label.

Zhao will first attend the Wuhan and Chongqing national team camp and then decide when to sign a professional contract. Xie must first solve his registration status. Zhou and Nan need U-series and National Games data. Each step is more concrete than simply imagining a future reunion at Guoan.