He is the first naturalized international footballer in the history of Chinese football, he is a footballer with Chinese ancestry, he is a full-timer midfielder with good attack and defense, he is flexible on the field, can be qualified for full-back, center forward and other key positions, he has strong long-range shooting skills, which can not only enhance the defensive intensity of the team's midfield, but also help the team to score goals.
His performance on the pitch was impeccable and very impressive. He is the Chinese footballer Li Ke. In this issue, the Ziya Children's Fun Sports Observer led everyone to approach Li Ke and tell his experience.
Li Ke, formerly known as Nicholas Jennaris, born on 23 May 1993 in Leidenstone, London, England, is a Chinese professional footballer who plays at the back, right-back, full-back and center-back, and now plays for Beijing Guoan F.C. in the Chinese Super League.
He is also the first naturalized international footballer in the history of Chinese football. Li Ke, a name that sounds very Chinese, is because he is a mixed race. Li Ke's mother lives in the United Kingdom, is a Chinese Guangdong immigrant to the United Kingdom, Li Ke's father is an immigrant from the island country of Cyprus, born in England Li Ke was exposed to the sport of football very early, and played football with his friends in East London since childhood.
Li Ke joined the Arsenal Academy at the age of 8, and in 2010, Li Kerong was promoted to captain of arsenal's U18 youth team and led the team to the U18 Youth Premier League championship. In August 2011, Li Ke signed his first professional contract with Arsenal, saying that "the team I supported as a child was Arsenal, it was an honor to play for Arsenal, which is significant to me" Coming to Arsenal, he really started his football career.
He made a total of three appearances in the 2011-2012 season. On 25 October 2011, in the English League Cup, Lee Ke won the starting spot and played the whole game, successfully completing the arsenal first team debut. In the match against Manchester United, he replaced his teammates in the second half and his performance was also extremely good.
On 8 January 2014, Arsenal officially announced that Lee could officially join Brentford FC in the thirtieth round of League One on 1 February 2014. Lee qualified in the 50th minute and completed his first performance with a new team. In February 2015, Lee Ke was loaned to Wellcombe Rangers Club, and on loan, Lee Ke had nothing to play in, and returned to Brentford after only three months here.
In the 2014-2015 season, Li Ke performed relatively mediocrely, playing 20 times in all competitions, scoring only one goal and one assist. In the 2016-2017 season, Li Ke played a total of 49 times, scored 6 goals and contributed 5 assists. In the 2017-2018 season, Li Ke played a total of 44 times, scoring 4 goals and contributing 4 assists. In the star-studded Championship, Li Ke's performance can be described as very mediocre, and he has not played much in these seasons.
In 2019, a very important year for Li Ke, Beijing Guoan Football Club and Championship Brentford Club reached an agreement to introduce Li Ke with a transfer fee of 5.5 million pounds. On May 30, 2019, Li Ke was selected for the new Chinese men's national team training list, becoming the first naturalized player to enter the Chinese national team.
Regarding this transfer and change of nationality, Li Ke said: "It is an honor, because no one can erase this history I have created." In the interview, Li Ke said that he wanted to represent the national team in the competition, and this determination brought him to China.
For every athlete, it is extremely proud and honorable to be able to play for the national team, which is also the pursuit and desire of many athletes, and Li Ke is no exception, he also admits that when he sees the trend of his career, he feels that he has little chance of playing for the England national team. In fact, as early as the age of seventeen or eighteen, Li Ke had the idea of playing for the Chinese team.
In the summer of 2012, Li Ke came to China with the Arsenal team, saying that he knew very little about Asian football and was looking forward to joining Chinese to play for the Chinese team, but due to Chinese law at that time, he could apply for Chinese citizenship, but had to renounce his British and Cypriot citizenship.
This will have a lot of impact on his career, which is just unforeseen for him. But now the footballer of Chinese descent, who has always aspired to play for the Chinese national team, finally has a chance, and this transfer and nationality change allows Li Ke to truly usher in the peak of his career.
On March 30, 2019, in the third round of the Chinese Super League, Beijing Sinobo Guoan played away to Beijing Renhe, and Li Ke made his Debut in the Chinese Super League, becoming China's first naturalized player to appear in the Chinese Super League. On April 14, in the fifth round of the Chinese Super League, Beijing Sinobo Guoan hosted Henan Jianye, and Li Ke scored his first goal in the 69th minute of the Chinese Super League, which is a wonderful goal, because it is also the first goal after the naturalization of china's first naturalized players.
Perhaps he has not yet adapted to the rhythm of the Chinese Super League game, has not found a tacit understanding with his teammates, and has not played his best level, but this goal also proves his ability, and also lets us see the enhancement of the strength of Beijing Sinobo Guoan midfield, and his joining has brought more variability in playing style to Beijing Guoan.
In the 2019 season, Li Ke made 46 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals and contributing 1 assist, the second of which was a goal scored by 72 points in the 10th round of the Chinese Super League, Beijing Sinobo Guoan's 2-1 home win over Tianjin Tianhai.
In the AFC Champions League, Li Ke did not qualify for the game, so he was given a short break, and used this free time to chat with friends about life in Beijing. Since he grew up in England and was greatly influenced by his father, he was unfamiliar with Chinese culture and living habits.
When he came to China, he had to follow the customs, and Li Ke and his friends ate authentic Peking duck once. Before he also went to the Forbidden City to understand the Chinese culture, in addition to his serious study of Chinese, it can be seen that Li Ke has accepted that he is a Chinese, in terms of living habits and other aspects of gradually Sinicization, he also wants to integrate into the beijing Guoan this big collective.
On the evening of June 7, 2019, Beijing time, in the warm-up match against the Philippines, naturalized player Li Ke made his debut for the national team, in this game, Li Ke was arranged by coach Lippi in the position of the back, Li Ke formed a barrier for the midfield of the national football team on the field, bringing better liberation to the midfield.
Relying on his excellent anticipation ability and physical flexibility, Li Ke defended steadily, intercepted many times, and in the 54th minute of the second half, Li Ke responded very sensitively after receiving the ball from his teammates, he immediately dribbled and turned around continuously, successfully playing two Filipino players, although playing for 55 minutes, Li Ke's performance can be described as very wonderful, he proved his ability with strength.
After the game, Li Ke said that he was very satisfied with his performance and was very honored to have the opportunity to play for the national team, and he also said that Chinese football has unlimited potential and the team's performance will get better and better.
In the second round of the 2020 AFC Champions League, Beijing Guoan defeated Taitai Chao Chiang Rai United 1-0, and the 27-year-old Li Ke made his debut, creating the first history of Chinese naturalized players in the AFC Champions League.
In this AFC Champions League game, Li Ke showed a strong ability, he was very active in fighting and defending on the field, in the 23rd minute of the game, Li Ke staged a strong steal, broke the opponent's ball, grabbed the ball, the performance was very eye-catching, in the 34th minute, he almost assisted his teammates to score.
In the 67th minute, Lee was given a chance to shoot in front of an absolutely threatening penalty area, putting a lot of pressure on his opponents. Li Ke showed absolute loyalty and self-motivation in this game, and he proved with his strength that he was worthy of the title of a player in the Chinese national team.
The addition of Li Ke has made Chinese football show a lot of vitality, as the key to the team's midfield, maybe he does not have so many wonderful goals, but he is the barrier of the team and is an indispensable existence.
Li Ke always keeps in mind the original intention, and has done his best in the Chinese national team, bringing us many wonderful moments, of course, his national team career continues, and the excitement continues to be staged, so let us stay tuned. What do you think of Li Ke? What kind of athlete do you think he is? Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area.
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