Zhang Aokai, who was once regarded by Evergrande as a future star and even considered to succeed Zheng Zhi as the captain of the team, is now in a really sad situation. In 2020, he returned to China to join the Cangzhou Lions, and in 2 years, he actually played 0 times, and now at the age of 22, he had no choice but to commit himself to the Central B and join the Zhongjiangxi Dark Horse Youth Team (Yichun Weihu) on loan.
Zhang Aokai, who was born in 2000, once made people shine with his outstanding talent. As early as the age of 12, Zhang Aokai enrolled in Evergrande Football School and went to Spain to study with the team. Due to his outstanding performance in the echelon, Zhang Aokai was promoted to the first team in 2015 and was given the opportunity to train with the first team.
October 30, 2016, was the brightest day in Zhang Aokai's life. On this day, Evergrande played at home against Luneng, and when the game was played in the 85th minute, the then Evergrande coach Scolari replaced Zheng Zhi with Zhang Aokai, who immediately put the captain's armband on Zhang Aokai's arm. Zhang Aokai thus became the youngest captain in evergrande's history, when he was only 16 years old. After the game, both his teammates and the media praised him, believing that he was the hope of Evergrande's future.
Regrettably, after that, Zhang Aokai and Evergrande had all kinds of unpleasant troubles, and even openly defaulted with Evergrande under the temptation of the agent and wanted to go to Spain to stay in the ocean. However, after Evergrande was generously released, Zhang Aokai also expressed his gratitude. After that, Zhang Aokai joined the Espanyol U19 echelon, playing for the team in the youth league.
A year later, due to his average performance, he joined Horta in La Liga on loan. In 2020, Zhang Aokai, who was frustrated by the ocean, was discouraged and decided to return to China and join the Cangzhou Lions. He thought that his return to China would usher in a great future, but he did not expect to suffer a bigger blow, and did not get even one official appearance in 2 years. In the new season, Zhang Aokai had no choice but to seek other opportunities. Now 22 years old, he officially joined the Chinese Second Division team Jiangxi Dark Horse Youth on loan.
I have to say that the trajectory of Zhang Aokai's rapid decline in career deserves more people's vigilance. Whether it is Zhang Aokai or later Hu Ruibao, they all fell quickly after leaving the parent team that cultivated themselves and were very optimistic about themselves, which is enough to see the huge impact of a stable growth environment on the player's career.