Introduction: Li Jinyu's innate physical condition is not the best among Chinese players, but the instinct of the shooter is first-class, and after the Jianlibao team returned home, Li Jinyu immediately became the head card of the new generation of Chinese football forwards. In Ligue 1, although Li Jinyu did not play successfully, it did not erase his experience.
In the second game of the Toulon Cup group stage in May 1998, Li Jinyu, who returned from Brazil and was in full swing, broke through the Portuguese team's goal with a header to help China win 1-0, and was immediately scouted by The Ligue 1 team Nancy. In the summer of that year, the Nancy team negotiated to bring in Li Jinyu from Liaoning on loan for a year. Although Li Jinyu's official signing of Theaurus to play in Nancy, France, started much later than Fan Zhiyi, Sun Jihai and Crystal Palace, he landed in Europe before the two brothers.
At 11:00 p.m. Beijing time on September 2, 1998, Li Jinyu arrived in Paris. At the Paris airport, the Nancy club sent four key members to greet them, and more than a dozen local French reporters also went to the airport to interview the Chinese player who set foot on French soil for the first time. Subsequently, head coach Bononi took Li Jinyu to the press conference of nancy club and officially met with the long-awaited nancy fans.
In response to a reporter's question, Li Jinyu said: "It is very fortunate to be able to play in the clubs of the world champion countries. He's wearing the number 22 shirt now, but he says he prefers to wear number 10.
Li Jinyu on the homepage of Nancy Football Club
On September 4, Li Jinyu participated in the warm-up match with the team against Germany's second division team Karlsrube (Karlsruhe). Nancy took the opponent 3-1 lightly. The performance of Li Jinyu, who played for Nancy for the first time, satisfied head coach Bononi, and in the first half, it was his wonderful pass that made teammate No. 11 Zannotti open the record for Nancy; less than 2 minutes after Yibian, Li Jinyu made a contribution to expand the score to 2-0. After being substituted, Nancy won 3-1. This performance is naturally well received by the outside world.
Li Jinyu is also trying his best to integrate into the team and has conducted online communication with fans in the forum on the homepage of the Nancy team. Fans called Li Jinyu "Tayu" and doubled their praise: a fan named "Baz" said: "I never thought Tayu from China would be so powerful!" A fan named Baz asked online: Li Jinyu, what is your opinion of Brazilian football? Li Jinyu replied: "The Brazilians cooperate very well. I'm practicing coordination now, but they also carry too many balls sometimes. "Some fans asked, what are your strengths and weaknesses? "I think I played well in the technology around the penalty area. But I still have to keep practicing. ”
On September 11, 1998, Nancy played Paris Saint-Germain at home, and Li Jinyu entered the roster, which was Li Jinyu's first game for Nancy. More than an hour into the opening, the score was still 0-0. At this time, Li Jinyu warmed up outside the field, and thousands of fans shouted his name in unison, which was not only expected, but also because of the freshness brought by the first appearance of Chinese players in Ligue 1. In the 87th minute of the second half, Li Jinyu replaced Brazilian striker FERREIRA on the field, which could only play a role in familiarizing the atmosphere, and The big feather failed to make a contribution, and the final score was also fixed at 0:0. At the end of this round, Nancy ranked 12th in Ligue 1.
According to Zhao Tongpu, the acting general manager of Liaoning Club at the time, although Li Jinyu strongly requested to play football in France this time, he felt a lot of difficulties once he went out.
Mr. Zhao said that after Li Jinyu answered the phone with him, his voice trembled with excitement, as if they had been separated for a year or two. He felt very lonely and unaccustomed, because he did not know French at all, and could hardly speak a word a day. After the afternoon training, the team members all drove back to their respective homes, but he stayed alone in the dormitory next to the training ground, where he had to cook by himself, and Li Jinyu had never cooked. The dormitory where he lived was in the woods, and the sound of the wind blowing in the woods at night was so eerie and terrible. Living alone in a room at night often makes Li Jinyu's heart hairy, and sometimes he is afraid to tears. At this moment, he realized that when he went to Brazil to study with the Jianlibao team for three years, although he also went abroad, he did not leave the group and the coach at that time, and he did not have to take care of his own food, clothing, housing and transportation. But this time he went abroad alone, only to know that the outside world was very difficult. (Life Times reports)
Later, after Nancy Club Chairman Barentin learned of this situation, he personally instructed the relevant parties to rearrange Li Jinyu's food and accommodation. Li Jinyu moved into a spacious and bright apartment in Nancy, and the club was ready to take Li Jinyu's parents to live with Li Jinyu for a while. Li Jinyu and Zhao Tongpu agreed to make phone calls once a week and send faxes once every half a month, so that he would always pay attention to the situation of the Liaoning team and Chinese football.
The discomfort in life directly affects the state of Li Jinyu, and The Romanian head coach of nancy, Bononi, believes that Li Jinyu has not yet entered the state, especially the physical condition of Li Jinyu is not very satisfied, and on September 19, during the nancy match against Montpellier, Li Jinyu did not even qualify as a substitute. Fellow substitutes Laquette and Viad were replaced in the 55th and 75th minutes, but Lee Jinyu did not have such a chance.
Li Jinyu's slump in Liuyang was also covered up by Yang Chen, who shined in the Bundesliga, and Sun Jihai and Fan Zhiyi, who played in the United Kingdom, and the media focus became less.
On September 26, Nancy team played second in the Lyon team at home, and when there were 15 minutes before the end of the game, there was a warm applause on the field, and it turned out that Li Jinyu was replaced. This is Li Jinyu's second game in the league. Nancy's squad was lined up in a 433 formation, with Kony, Cascarino and Rambo as strikers, and in the 76th minute, Lee Jin Yu replaced Cascarino. Before the final, Li Jinyu had a chance to break the goal, when Kony successfully broke the ball on the left side of the front and passed directly to him in the middle, but because he started a step early, he did not have the opportunity to shoot. Head coach Boloni has said many times in his acceptance that it will take him a while to understand Li Jinyu, and he does not know when he will really understand Da Yu and give him the opportunity to play the whole game. (Sports Weekly reports).
In Nancy that year, the two main strikers in the team, Cascarino and Viarte, were Li Jinyu's main rivals. Boroni's tactic is defensive counterattack, he often let Li Jinyu appear in the winger position, and Li Jinyu's speed is not an advantage. It is difficult for the weak Nancy to create enough position attack opportunities for Li Jinyu.
Li Jinyu played alone overseas, but he also found good friends in the team. Perhaps sympathetically, he and two other foreign aides, Pablo CORREA from Uruguay and Demetrius FERREIRA from Brazil, have become iron brothers. While playing in Nancy, France, on loan, Big Yu had his first car, the Renault Clio, and when he was about to leave, Big Yu even wanted to ship it back home. In the end, Li Jinyu only made 6 appearances in Ligue 1 and did not score a goal.
Long-term loneliness can easily make a person mentally unbalanced. Li Jinyu, who has never been able to play the main force in the Nancy team, has the idea of returning to China to play football. When he first went abroad, Li Jinyu did not expect that he would not be able to play the main force for such a long time. However, he admitted that his days in Nancy were not without gains. "At least I've seen the football environment abroad, which is good for my future development."
On July 7, 1999, the French Football Association sent a fax to the Chinese Football Association and Liaoning Football Club at the same time, confirming that the Chinese player Li Jinyu had officially returned to Liaoning Football Club. Liaoning and Nancy signed a contract to terminate their contract in late June 199, which ended with Liaoning Football Club compensating each other with $10,000.
After Li Jinyu returned to China, he launched a attack on the championship with the Liaoning team that returned to the A that year, and in the half season he contributed 8 goals to the team and almost won the A League championship with his teammates that year.
Li Jinyu is the fourth Chinese international to stay in the West after the professionalization reform of Chinese football, Sun Jihai, Fan Zhiyi joined Crystal Palace, Yang Chen went on loan to Frankfurt, followed by Li Jinyu joined Ligue 1.
Speaking of Nancy, in addition to the joining of Li Jinyu, there are still some ties with China, the original Chinese team coach Mr. Perrin's career began in Nancy, after retiring from 1983 to 1987 as the club's echelon coach, and then as the club's training center director and reserve team coach until 1993. After retiring as head coach of the Chinese men's national football team, Perrin also served as assistant to the president of Nancy Football Club. Li Jinyu was able to enter Perrin's coaching team in 2015, probably also thanks to this origin.
Li Jinyu wrote in his sports column:
"I've been drifting. Go to Brazil, go back to your country, go to Nancy again, and then go back to your country.
With football as a companion, my journey is not lonely. Football keeps me in my footsteps and takes me to the sunshine everywhere. A sun in the sky, a football on the ground, I have no reason not to be happy.
I'm happy, so I'm going to play seriously. (Based on information)