Since Wu Lei joined RCD Espanyol, “武球王牛逼!”(Awesome Wu Lei!) became the most frequent words among Chinese football fans in all social media. The original Spanish supporter of Espanyol were also shocked by the wall of Chinese in the comments of club’s Twitter. Moreover, Wu Lei’s news attracted 14 times of fans (most of them are Chinese, obviously) to retweet than Messi’s news, which is impressive and seems unbelievable. Even Cristiano Ronaldo also tweet on Weibo and commented Wu Lei is “one big milestone for China”
So, who is Wu Lei? Why could he drop a bomb in both La Liga and China?Does China have another Wu Lei to go to Europe? And what’s his possible future?
Wu Lei the China O Rei
Recently, a Chinese fan found 12-year-old Wu Lei in a old TV show, when TV presenter known his dream and ask “Do you think how much is your market value in future?”, Wu Lei said “60 to 70 million dollars I guess”.
Although his market value is still far away from his target, but Wu Lei is always on the road to his dream. Wu Lei’s story is full of fortune and miracle, but it also because of his hard-working and strong belief.
Football Academy in China is not as scientific as Europe. Wu Lei was rejected by Academy of Jiangsu Suntian and other professional academy in his hometown Nanjing at 2003 just because he was slim and short at that time, even when he already won dozens of prize and cups in youth games. Fortunately, a local coach named Cai Chenyu(蔡成玉) introduced Wu Lei to Shanghai, where he met his lifelong mentor and supervisor Xu Genbao(徐根宝) here.
Xu Genbao and his Chongmin Academy is one of the most successful academy in China Football history. Shanghai SIPG, which is the champion of Chinese Premiere League (CPL)last season, was formed by graduates of Xu Genbao. Chongmin Academy to Shanghai is La Masia to Barcelona. On the other hand, as one of the most famous local coach, Xu Genbao realised Wu Lei’s talent and believed he can be “China Maradona”.
There was a interesting story. When Xu Genbao was keen to grab Wu Lei from Nanjing to Shanghai, Nanjing Football Association said Wu Lei already registered here, he could leave Nanjing only if someone pay 30,000 RMB as a “transfer fee”. Xu Genbao paid the fee immediately and bring Wu Lei with him to Shanghai.
In addition, 30,000 RMB is not a small number at 2003 in China, I remember my mom’s annual salary is roughly equal to the same number, and she is a high school math teacher. Football academy is not a profitable business either, but Wu Lei proved his value and never let Xu Genbao down.
Wu Lei is only 16 years and 289 days when he played his first professional game for Shanghai Dongya FC in China League One, which made him as the second youngest appearance in China professional football history. (The first is his teammate Cao Yunding and also from Chongmin Academy). And the coach of Shanghai Dongya FC or known as Shanghai SIPG later, was Xu Genbao.
Xu Genbao said his ultimate target of Chongmin Academy is to build a Chinese ManUtd. Although now he is not the manager of Shanghai anymore, but when this year Shanghai SIPG finally break 7 years’ monopoly of Guangzhou Evergrande and won the CPL champion, when Wu Lei finally became the top striker of CPL and the first local Chinese player who won this price since 2007, his seed of dream is finally blossoming into such a beautiful flower.
Shanghai fans call Wu Lei “武球王” (Wu Qiu Wang), which means “Wu Lei the O Rei”. At the beginning it’s more like a joking that fans made because of Xu Genbao’s comments. However, Wu Lei’s amazing performance conquered picky fans, he is the light illuminated the abyss of China football, the real hope for Chinese football fans.
Chinese player and La Liga
Wu Lei is not the first Chinese player in La Liga. In 2016, Zhang Chengdong was loaned to Rayo Vallecano and became the first ever Chinese player in La Liga. As a China National Team player and top level defender in China, he only played 1 Copa de Rey game against Getafe and 1 La Liga game against Atletico.
I remembered when he was in Spain, all sports media in China would write a preview like “Could Zhang Chengdong play in next game?” for every game, literally. And finally, when he subbed in at 82 minutes of Vallecano vs Atletico’s game, touched ball for 4 times, and blocked a shot from Atletico, all Chinese Media published the prepared news and regarded this game as a historical moment.
However, that is the last moment for Chinese player in La Liga as well. Zhang Chengdong back to Beijing Guoan ahead of time of his contract as his injury and he felt he can’t play enough games in Spain. On the other hand, Chinese Super League start from February and he had to catch up the new season if he want to play for Beijing Guoan again.
It is the first step that is troublesome. Especially for Zhang Chengdong, he is a good player and always dreams to play aboard, but it is hard to say he has a happy overseas experience, not matter in Spain or Portuguese. There was a saying that Vallecano bought him just because of marketing reason, as well as let him play against Atletico, which has a Chinese investor and big fan base in China. What’s more, he is a defender. It’s harder for a defender to be a super star and create topics on the pitch as well.
Meanwhile, Zhang Chengdong is the last Chinese player in top European leagues. 2 years later, Wu Lei became the second and only Chinese player in La Liga and top European leagues.
This time he is in a much better situation. Firstly, he is the top 1 striker in CPL last season and always regarded as the best Chinese player at the moment. Secondly, his fast and agile tactical style is suitable for Espanyol. Last but not the least, he joined the team when Espanyol’s strikers were injured, which gave him more space and time to show his talent.
Therefore, we can see his amazing dribbling, assistance, and a goal. You know, last time when there was a Chinese player scored a goal in top European leagues, is already 3751 days ago.
10 Years Gap
As a Chinese football journalist, I was always asked “Why there is no Chinese players in Premier League anymore?” by fans, journalist and club staff in different situation. Some senior journalist who follows Crystal Palace or Everton still remember