Fabio Cannavaro, head coach of eight-time Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande, has expressed concerns over Ricardo Goulart's form, saying the Brazilian striker needs special care to improve ahead of the restart of the Chinese top football league.

Goulart, who returned from Brazil and rejoined the Guangzhou side early this month after becoming a naturalized Chinese, came on to score the winner in a 4-3 win over Shenzhen FC in a friendly last Saturday.

According to Cannavaro, Goulart is still far away from his best after undergoing surgery in May to repair meniscus damage in his right knee.

"We all know the importance of Goulart to us, he is being taken care of like a child," Cannavaro told a Guangzhou TV.

"We are trying our best to make him become the player again whom we were familiar with," the 2006 World Cup winner said.

The restart of the Chinese Super League 2020 campaign, which had been slated to kick off on February 22, remains undecided and the situation has been further complicated after new COVID-19 cases were reported in Beijing recently.

Goulart's fitness is allegedly followed by Chinese national team head coach Li Tie after the 29-year-old striker expressed his eagerness to serve the Chinese side.

"I am fully ready to serve the Chinese team, and I am waiting for my call-up," Goulart said in a video released last Thursday.

Three naturalized players were called up for a training camp in May in Shanghai by Li, who took over the Chinese squad in January after the abrupt departure of Marcello Lippi. 

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