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On January 6, Beijing time, Li Lei, a Chinese player who stayed in the Swiss Super League, began his first training session with the Grasshoppers. It is worth mentioning that the grasshopper team that Li Lei joined is not only a club controlled by Chinese, but also a Tianjin owner.
On December 20 last year, the Swiss Grasshopper Club officially announced the joining of Beijing Guoan full-back Li Lei. On December 29, in the Jinglu battle between Beijing Guoan and Taishan in Shandong, Li Lei wore the captain's armband to finish the game, officially bidding farewell to his 7-year guoan career. On January 4, Li Lei departed from the capital airport and traveled to Zurich, Switzerland.
At a time when the national football team basically rushed into the Qatar World Cup, and the road to naturalized players is getting narrower and narrower, Liuyang is regarded as one of the main means to improve the level of domestic players. However, in recent years, with the decline in the level of Chinese players and the high salaries offered by domestic clubs to players, there are very few Chinese players who dare to go, want to go and can play abroad. Therefore, in addition to Wu Lei and naturalized players who play in La Liga Espanyol, for the vast majority of Chinese players today, playing in strong teams in Europe's second- and third-rate leagues is indeed an extremely rare opportunity, which naturally includes marginal internationals such as Li Lei.
In the early morning of January 5, Beijing time, Li Lei arrived at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. The next day, he came to the Grasshopper Club to take a photo of joining, and then he threw himself into the training of the Grasshoppers and was warmly welcomed. Li Lei said that the captain had told him that if he encountered any problems in the locker room, he should tell the captain that the captain could help him get it done. After Li Lei's first training session, coach Giorgio Contini said he hoped Li Lei could help the team in the second half of the league.
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I've seen a lot of videotaping of his games before he joined, he's a very disciplined player on the pitch, he can find his place on the left, regardless of the formation of four and three defenders. He has a lot of experience, especially a lot of experience in international competitions, and in that regard he can also help our current relatively young team. As a foreign player, it is important for him to communicate with other players and coaches in language. Of course, the whole team will always help him, and Japanese player Jun Kawabe only came to the club last summer, hoping that Li Lei will be like him, quickly adapting to and enjoying life in Switzerland.
— Giorgio Contini
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Contini mentioned Jun Kawabe, who joined the Grasshoppers from the Hiroshima Three Arrows last summer. In the first half of the season, Jun Kawabe, who played as a midfielder, scored four goals and had three assists. Just as Li Lei arrived in Zurich, the Premier League Wolves officially announced that they had officially signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Jun Kawabe, but Jun Kawabe would return to the Grasshoppers on loan at the end of January (the Grasshoppers currently have four players on loan from Wolves, accounting for one-sixth of the total number of Grasshoppers players). Perhaps at this time, Li Lei is also looking forward to being like Jun Kawabe, after the grasshopper has risen to the top and then go to the Premier League. At the same time, he also has such "conveniences" because wolves and grasshoppers are actually the same Chinese family investing.
In 2016, Fosun group boss Guo Guangchang bought Wolves for £30 million. In an interview with the media, the former owner of Wolves said that many buyers expressed interest at the time, and he chose Fosun Group because Guo Guangchang promised to invest 100 million pounds, which made him feel very relieved. In fact, there were many Chinese investors who joined the Premier League club that year, but in the end, the best job was Guo Guangchang. After taking over the club, Guo Guangchang fulfilled his £100 million commitment, and at the same time, he was a business partner with the famous agent Mendes, and Wolves was built as a platform for Mendes's players to show their strength, accumulate experience and thus increase market value. The team has been steadily improving in recent years, and is currently eighth in the Premier League this season, making it a mid-range club that the giants dare not despise. The latest news is that Manchester United have taken a fancy to Wolves' Portuguese back Ruben Neves, but Wolves will not accept offers under £40m.
Britain's Newspaper Times reported that Wolves would be questioned for their connection to Mendes
Guo Guangchang, who runs wolves well, shot again last year. In 2020, 90% of the grasshopper club was acquired by Champion League Holdings in Hong Kong, China, controlled by Wang Jinyuan, the wife of Fosun Group Chairman Guo Guangchang.
Born in Tianjin, Wang Jinyuan graduated from the Department of Journalism at Fudan University in 1995. After graduating from university, Wang Jinyuan entered the News Center of Shanghai Television Station as a reporter and host, hosting many news programs. By chance, Wang Jinyuan was sent to interview Guo Guangchang, in fact, the two had known each other as early as Fudan University. Eventually, Guo Guangchang came together with Wang Jinyuan, who also quit his job at Shanghai Television. Single-mindedly assisting her husband in his career.
In fact, Wang Jinyuan is only the nominal owner of the Grasshoppers, and the person who manages the club on behalf of Guo Guangchang is Mr. Sun (SKY SUN), who used to work for Wolves.
From Li Lei's point of view, to be able to play in a Chinese-funded club, he should cherish this opportunity. Of course, he must not have the illusion that "there are people in the DPRK" and that there will be a guarantee in the position of the team. Chinese-funded European clubs only provide a more convenient condition for Chinese players to land in Europe, but if they really want to improve themselves and even improve the level of Chinese football, they still need to work hard.