Why did Hanoi FC break the contract with Nguyen Dinh Bac?

Despite reaching a preliminary agreement, the deal to bring Vietnam national team striker Nguyen Dinh Bac to Hanoi FC still fell through because they could not find a common voice.

On March 8, Dinh Bac agreed to join and reached a preliminary agreement with Hanoi FC through discussions after the match between the two teams in round 13 of the 2023-2024 V-League. Quang Nam also signed a contract and agreed to loan the 19-year-old striker to the capital team.

Hanoi FC said they wanted to sign a contract with Dinh Bac because he is a player with good skills. The club's leadership also showed high expectations for the national player, as shown by the fact that the Chairman, General Director and Executive Director of the club all met with Dinh Bac. In addition, Coach Daiki Iwamasa also highly appreciated the ability of the talent from Nghe An. He even agreed to let Dinh Bac play in the match against Ha Tinh in the 1/8 round of the National Cup on March 12, despite only having two training sessions. Hanoi FC even let Dinh Bac propose his own salary.

On March 9, Dinh Bac was present at My Dinh for his first training session with Hanoi FC. However, after receiving the detailed contract, he asked to delay signing it because he wanted to carefully review the terms. Hanoi soon announced on the club's homepage that they had reached an agreement to borrow Dinh Bac for a season and a half.

Nguyen Dinh Bac during Hanoi FC's training session on March 11. Photo: Minh Minh — Nguyen Dinh Bac during Hanoi FC's training session on March 11. Photo: *Minh Minh*

According to VnExpress , Dinh Bac only wants to join Hanoi FC for half a season, which is the end of V-League 2023-2024. The reason he gave was that he felt that a season and a half was too long because he was worried about not being able to play and not being able to adapt to the new team.

Hanoi FC then sent a representative to explain to Dinh Bac that signing for half a season would be too short because the season would end in June 2024. The proposed one and a half year is not too short, nor too long, and is enough for both sides to feel whether the player can develop or not. However, Dinh Bac's wish is to return to Quang Nam to continue contributing to the home club, "repaying" the teachers who supported the Quang Nam youth team after being eliminated from the SLNA training center.

Dinh Bac was also not satisfied when the contract had not been signed but Hanoi FC had announced it on the homepage. Regarding this, Hanoi FC said they were subjective and confident that the deal would be completed even though it had not been officially signed, because Dinh Bac had agreed preliminarily, came to practice with the club and the parent club Quang Nam had also completed the player loan contract.

"Dinh Bac has no good will to cooperate with Hanoi FC," a source said. "Even though a contract is needed, the player needs to maintain his reputation once he has accepted the preliminary agreement and is on the team."

On the morning of March 12, Hanoi met with Dinh Bac for the third time in the hope that this striker would sign a contract, thereby being eligible to play against Ha Tinh. However, Dinh Bac still refused. In all three meetings, Dinh Bac attended alone without a representative.

Last night, Hanoi FC decided to abandon the Dinh Bac deal due to "inappropriate" reasons. The 19-year-old striker will return to Quang Nam Club, and will likely receive disciplinary action from the club for not following the transfer instructions as stated in the youth training contract.

Previously, Dinh Bac was demoted to the youth team by coach Van Sy Son due to a disciplinary violation of arriving late after the Lunar New Year holiday. He was also late for practice many times. Dinh Bac was only able to return to the Quang Nam first team from round 12 of the V-League.

Dinh Bac grew up in the SLNA training center, but was released at the age of 14 due to not meeting the requirements. A year later, he joined the Quang Nam youth team. In mid-2022, Dinh Bac was promoted to the Quang Nam first team. He scored eight goals, assisted seven times and was voted the best young player when the team won the 2023 First Division championship to gain promotion. In the 2023-2024 V-League, Dinh Bac scored two goals in seven matches for Quang Nam.

Dinh Bac has attracted much attention when playing for the Vietnamese national team under coach Philippe Troussier. He shined with the goal that sealed a 2-0 win over the Philippines in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. He then scored the equalizer in a 1-1 loss to Japan 2-4 in the opening match of the 2023 Asian Cup group stage.

He is one of the strikers called up to prepare for two matches against Indonesia in the upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers - Asian region.

Mid-Autumn Festival

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