Welcome, Wu Lei! Yesterday afternoon, Shanghai Harbour Club posted a poster on its official Weibo: Welcome Wu Lei home and officially announce the return of the former top scorer of the Chinese Super League to the team. After three and a half years of staying in the Espanyol club, Wu Lei finally returned to his "mother's home".
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At the same time, it was officially announced
Wu Lei's return is not a surprise. Before that, he himself said that due to the impact of the epidemic and considering many factors such as family, he would return to China after staying in the country. All that remains is the negotiation of details such as transfer fees between the seaport and the two Clubs of Espanyol.
At the beginning of 2019, with the support of the Harbor Club, Wu Lei, after winning the Chinese Super League, transferred to the Espanyol club in La Liga and went overseas to pursue his football dream. At that time, the transfer fee was around 2 million euros, and Wu Lei also gave up the high salary of more than 10 million yuan in China, and he could only get an annual salary of 1 million euros in the Espanyol team. Time has passed, and when Wu Lei returns, his value has also fallen from 10 million euros at his peak to 1 million euros after negotiations between the two clubs.
On the occasion of welcoming Wu Lei's return, the official tweet of the Harbor Club read: "Now, Wu Lei, who has stood in his thirties, has finally returned home!" We always remember those years, Wu Lei and the club and fans grew together, the years of struggle; We always remember that Wu Lei played for the club in 172 Chinese Super League games, setting a team record of 102 goals. After three years, such as 7 returns! Welcome Home! The dream is still the same, the future can be expected, let us work together, and then upward! ”
Espanyol also issued an announcement almost at the same time: "Real Espanyol Football Club and Shanghai Harbor Football Club have reached a tripartite agreement on Wu Lei's return to Harbor Football Club. The Spaniards thank Wu Lei for his professionalism, commitment, dedication and dedication during his time at the club and wish him good luck in his future career. Wu Lei, this place will always be your home. ”
For the Harbor team, the return of Wu Lei will undoubtedly greatly enhance the scoring ability of the team's front line. Harbor has suffered a "scoring drought" this season, scoring only 11 goals in the first 11 league rounds, and the level of 1 goal per game is extremely mismatched with the favorite to compete for the title. Re-ushering in the former Chinese Super League Golden Boot Wu Lei, the Harbor team's "picturesque frontcourt" scene may be reproduced.
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Stay abroad for inspiration
From January 28, 2019 to August 11, 2022 – In these 1291 days, Wu Lei has become the "hope of the whole village" in the hearts of hundreds of millions of Chinese fans, and it is also the banner for Chinese players to stay in the ocean. After his decision to return, China no longer played for the male players in europe's five major leagues, leaving only Li Lei of the former Beijing Guoan on loan at the Swiss Grasshoppers.
Although for Wu Lei's foreign career, the outside world has mixed reviews, after all, his current situation has gradually become a marginal role of the team from the main substitute at the beginning, but from the data and performance, Wu Lei has been quite difficult. During his time with Espanyol, he made a total of 126 appearances for the Blue and White in official matches (La Liga, Copa del Rey and Europa League), contributing 16 goals and 6 assists; In the final round of the 2018-2019 La Liga season, Wu Lei's key goal helped Espanyol qualify for the Europa League; In the Catalan derby in La Liga, Wu Lei even broke through the goal of the giant Barcelona. He was also the first Chinese male footballer to score in La Liga and Europe.
However, when the neighboring Japan and South Korea have dozens of players playing in the five major leagues in Europe, with the return of Wu Lei, Chinese football has become an embarrassing "0" in this regard, which is still lamentable. There is no doubt that the gap between Chinese football and Asia's top powers will once again be widened.
Looking back at Wu Lei's career in foreign countries, there are also many points worth learning and thinking about. He has long been famous in domestic football, and it was not until the end of January 2019 that he officially began his career in foreign countries. At that time, Wu Lei had reached the age of 27, and his technical ability and physical fitness had basically been fixed. There are many people who compare Wu Lei with Sun Xingyu, who is half a year old, who entered the bundesliga Hamburg youth training camp at the age of 16 and laid a solid foundation for this, so people in the industry also put forward this point of view: "Why can't a player like Wu Lei stay in the Ocean early?" ”
Where is the next Wu Lei? Obviously, judging from the personal strength and potential of the current domestic players, those who can reach the same height as him are probably not, and it will be difficult to appear again for a long time in the future. South Korea has Son Heung-min, Huang Hee-chan, lee Kang-jin, and Japan has Hisa-jang- Kyū-young, Fu'an Ken-yang, and Takushi Minamino, but what about us? From then on, there was only envy.
Extra-field sound:
Or be brave enough to go out
On the same day, when Wu Lei was officially announced to return to China and Chinese male footballers no longer had five major leagues to stay in the ocean, on the same day, it was also reported that the former Shanghai women's football team Tang Jiali joined the Spanish Madrid CFF club on loan, becoming the first Chinese player to play in the La Liga women's football league. Tang Jiali took Wu Lei's "gun" and continued to break into Spain, which was gratifying. (Related report: Landing in La Liga, Tang Jiali made a wish)
There is no doubt that Wu Lei is a banner for Chinese players to stay in the West in the past decade or so. With him, no matter whether he plays or not, no matter how he performs, thousands of Chinese fans will always have more expectations in their hearts. When he decided not to stand alone any longer, how many people's long-term waiting was also scattered with the wind.
Fortunately, there are also women's football. The tide of Chinese women's football has been fierce in the past one or two years, which is gratifying. Under the impetus of the Chinese Football Association, Shen Mengyu and Shen Monroe met in the Celtics of the Scottish League, Zhang Linyan was caught in the grasshopper of the Swiss League, and Tu Linli played hard in the Icelandic Women's League. In the past two days, there have been good news such as Wang Shuang joining Atlético Louisville in the United States, Yang Shuhui's transfer to the Russian Premier League Moscow Locomotive, and Tang Jiali's transfer from Premier League Tottenham Hotspur to Spain's Madrid CFF. There are constantly players who can "go out", open up insights and improve their level, which is undoubtedly a positive signal for the Chinese women's football team.
The number of Japanese players is now staggering throughout Europe's four major leagues except Serie A. From defenders to strikers, these returnees can form a starting lineup for the Japanese national team, and even the bench is almost full; South Korea sits on the "Asian brother" Son Heung-min, whose personal ability can win the Golden Boot in the Premier League, and there are young talents such as Huang Xican and Li Kangren around him.
In addition to the leading Japan and South Korea, many Asian countries also have many players who play in the five major leagues. Iran has Azmon from Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, Gudos from Brentford in the Premier League, Manchester United youngster Iqbal in Iraq, Uzbek with Roma center-forward Shomurodov, and even Holtmann from the Philippines playing for Bochum in the Bundesliga, who scored after five consecutive goals in the Bundesliga last season, and even scored against Bayern.
If one day in the future, the Chinese men's football team can even lose the Philippines, this is by no means unfounded. An excellent national team needs excellent foreign players and star players to drive, which is already a consensus in the football industry. Even if the 2026 World Cup, Asia will have 8.5 qualifying places, if there can be no more foreign stars like Wu Lei, how much hope can the Chinese men's football team have?
Therefore, people who truly love Chinese football are more eager than ever to have the next Wu Lei appear. Just like the current Chinese female footballers, continue to bravely go to the outside world. Go out and take a look, this is the only way for the rise of Chinese football.
Author: Guan Yin (Xinmin Evening News, Sports Hub Studio)
Source: Xinmin Evening News