100 articles to awaken the cultural cognition of Chinese football, this is the 4th article, and the progress is 4%.
Dai Weijun returned to the place where the dream began - Shenzhen after ending the not smooth half of the season of Shanghai Shenhua, and in his latest interview, Dai Weijun once again talked about his choice, he said that he originally considered going to stay in the United States, but the planning of Shenzhen Xinpeng City moved him, and finally gave up staying in the United States again at the age of 25 and continued to choose to work hard in the Chinese Super League!
He has chosen to give up staying in the United States twice and stay in the Chinese Super League
Many people think that Dai Weijun is talking about staying abroad? I can't even play the game of the Chinese Super League giants, and I am reduced to the "relegation team" of the Chinese Super League, and I dare to say that I stay abroad? Going to Oceania to stay in the ocean?
However, Dai Weijun was originally a talented new star in Chinese football, at the age of 18, he gave an assist in the English League, and at the age of 19, he played in the Dutch Second League, contributing 2 assists, which can be called the leader of Chinese players of the same age, and at the end of the Chinese Super League Jinyuan football era with many stars, he chose to come to the Shenzhen team of the Chinese Super League, Dai Weijun contributed 6 goals and 10 assists in 3 seasons, as the core of the midfield to help Shenzhen relegation, Lippi's number one assistant Maddaloni regarded him as the core of the midfield of the Chinese men's football team in the next 10 years, and since thenHe has successfully entered the sight of many national team coaches and participated in the East Asian Cup, World Preliminaries, Asian Games, Asian Cup and other events. Coupled with his cultural background of growing up in United Kingdom, he was originally the most promising Chinese overseas player who became the next Wu Lei! It's just that Dai Weijun finally lost his choice in the "easier choice" again and again, and even missed the last chance to succeed in staying abroad, which is undoubtedly a huge loss for Chinese football.
What made Dai Weijun go from the infinite possibilities in the past to the "ordinary players" who are ridiculed by the outside world as "the relegation team kicks the ball first" and "wants to stay abroad"?
To stay abroad, you have to learn from Sun Jihai
The road for Chinese players to stay abroad has been very difficult, but there are still many Chinese players who have finally gained a foothold in Europe's top five leagues, and the most successful player is Sun Jihai, who played 135 games in Manchester City in the Premier League and was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Sun Jihai, like Dai Weijun, became famous at a young age, he chose to play with Fan Zhiyi at the age of 21 to play at Crystal Palace in League One, starting his first overseas challenge, but like Dai Weijun, he played in the lower leagues of United Kingdom for the first time in his life but did not gain a foothold, and then returned to China. At the age of 25, Sun Jihai chose to stay in the United States for the second time, and this time he joined Manchester City, which was still in the League One, and finally helped the team to surpass success, thus starting an epic Premier League career.
Dai Weijun is more familiar with United Kingdom culture than Sun Jihai, and he originally had the opportunity to start his second stay in the ocean from Shenzhen in 2022, but he chose Shanghai Shenhua, who has just successfully reformed the shares, and now 25-year-old Dai Weijun still has the opportunity to create England again, at least with the level of English One or Dutch B, but he once again chose a more secure way, went to a weaker team in the Chinese Super League, returned to Shenzhen, and seemed to be back to the starting point.
Do things that are difficult for others to imitate
For Chinese players, few people dare to choose breakthrough challenges and paths, but will choose more conservative and easier small things. However, challenging something that others have not done or even difficult to imitate, although it will be a little more difficult, the reward is much greater, even a hundred times.
Chinese players have successfully established themselves in the age statistics of Europe's top five leagues
Among them, the best role model is Wu Lei, when the Super League was in trouble, Wu Lei chose to stay in the United States at the age of 27, Wu Lei, who was at his peak at the time, could have chosen to go to a non-five major European leagues, or a secondary team in the five major leagues, so that the probability of success would be much greater, but he chose to make history and become the only player in the five major European leagues in Chinese football at that time.
With Dai Weijun's ability, he can completely emulate Wu Lei, in the lowest period of Chinese football, choose to go out, and even create a new history, after all, he is younger than Wu Lei, more adaptable to the European cultural environment, and has the endorsement of famous coaches such as Madaloni, becoming the most outstanding foreign international player after Wu Lei, but he chose to help the development of Shenzhen Xinpeng City, which is extremely important for Shenzhen football, but for Dai Weijun and Chinese football, it is a big regret.
The harder path is often the right path
Since primitive times, in order to avoid the dangers brought by uncertainty, instinctively choose to dodge and look for a more certain and easier path, so in real life people always want to do something that can get rewards faster, and it is often not the thing that makes you better.
Yang Chen is the most successful player in the Bundesliga in Chinese football, he has played 68 games in the Bundesliga, no one has ever come, and his experience is enough to prove that choosing the more difficult path is the most correct way. In the early years, Yang Chen became famous early in Beijing Guoan, and also played the main force, which was quite similar to Dai Weijun's experience when he first came to the Chinese Super League, but the good times did not last long, with the introduction of a number of strong foreign aid by Guoan, Yang Chen's playing time was greatly squeezed, and Yang Chen at that time was like Dai Weijun in the Shenhua period was no longer "unable to play".
At that time, Guoan was the top giant in the Chinese Super League, and he could choose to go to other middle and lower teams to win back playing time and prove himself again, just like Dai Weijun. However, Yang Chen directly chose to go abroad for a trial, at this time his age was 24 years old, almost the same as 25-year-old Dai Weijun, and in the end, he was selected by Eintracht Frankfurt, and Yang Chen also seized the opportunity to prove himself, thus becoming the top scorer of this Bundesliga team. Today, Yang Chen has become a household name in Chinese football.
There are too many stories of "injured Zhongyong" in Chinese football, the former Wang Chu, Chen Tao, Dong Fangzhuo, etc., are far from meeting the expectations of Chinese fans for them, now, Dai Weijun may also lose the best 2 opportunities to stay abroad, compared to last season in Turkey's second-tier league international Wu Shaocong, Dai Weijun obviously early talent, Chinese Super League record, national team resume, outside expectations are far more than him, however, Wu Shaocong has improved in more difficult choices again and again, the road is getting wider and wider, and is about to start the journey of staying abroad in Poland's top league, in the future, it may also be the only foreign international player in the national football team for a long time!
As KK Kevin Kelly, the spiritual father of Silicon Valley and the great tech prophet, said, whenever you can't choose which path to take, choose the path that can make a difference. Easy choices pay off right away, and the best choices pay off in the end. I hope that Chinese players can also choose the most difficult but correct path, which will definitely be the path that can bring changes to Chinese football!
(Qiu Zeyun's personal opinion, please indicate the source for reprinting)