On April 13, Beijing time, according to a number of foreign media reports, Yuan Xinyue, the Olympic champion and captain of the Chinese women's volleyball team, has reached an agreement with the Wakifu Bank team and signed a one-year contract. Next season, Yuan Xinyue will start the first season of studying abroad, playing for Turkish powerhouse Vakifer Bank. Yuan Xinyue should have gone to a higher-level league a long time ago, and now she has finally taken this step.
Yuan Xinyue is 2.01 meters tall, she became famous at a young age, in the 2013 U18 World Junior Championships, Yuan Xinyue led the Chinese U18 women's volleyball team to win the championship and was crowned MVP. Then the Chinese women's volleyball coach Lang Ping made an exception to recruit this talented girl who was only 17 years old at the time into the national team. Yuan Xinyue helped the Chinese women's volleyball team win the runner-up in the World Championships in 2014, the World Cup in 2015, the Rio Olympics in 2016, and the World Cup again in 2019.
Yuan Xinyue has changed from the youngest newcomer of the Chinese women's volleyball team to the captain of the Chinese women's volleyball team in the current Cai Bin era. Yuan Xinyue was born in the youth training of the Bayi women's volleyball team, but the Bayi women's volleyball team was disbanded in 2020. Yuan Xinyue has played for the Tianjin women's volleyball team in recent seasons and helped the team win consecutive championships.
The 27-year-old Yuan Xinyue is still in the prime of athletes, but at the same time she has reached a turning point. She has struggled to improve in the Chinese Women's Volleyball League. At this time, staying in the ocean will help Yuan Xinyue broaden her horizons, and it may also stimulate Yuan Xinyue's energy again and help her achieve another transformation.
Vakifer Bank is a European women's volleyball giant, having won the Champions League and the Turkish Women's Volleyball League several times, as well as the Club World Cup.
Although the strength of the bank has declined, it is still a strong team in Europe. Wakifer Bank will continue its big shake next season. Yuan Xinyue joined Wakifer Bank and is expected to join forces with Güneş as the starting secondary attacker, and Wakifer Bank has a number of positions in the lineup next season that have not yet been determined.
However, judging from the current recruitment efforts, Wakifer Bank is likely to only fall into the second echelon of Europe, and it is difficult to return to the championship team.
Zhu Ting will play for Italian giants Coneliano next season. Koné is on a hiring spree to build a luxurious squad with the aim of achieving great results next season. The Chinese women's volleyball team is expected to have other players staying abroad. Zhuang Yushan was originally expected to stay abroad for a short time after playing in the Chinese Women's Volleyball League, but because she was recruited into the national team for training, she gave up the opportunity to stay abroad. I don't know if she will restart her plan to stay abroad next season.