Manchester United’s Dong Fangzhuo celebrates with teammates Danny Simpson, Wes Brown and John O'Shea after scoring in a 2006 friendly. Photo: Reuters
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https://scmp.com/sport/football/article/3091346/man-uniteds-china-flop-dong-fangzhou-tells-wolves-target-wu-lei-move Football
Manchester United’s China flop Dong Fangzhuo tells Wolves target Wu Lei to move to England
- Dong, who played once for English Premier League giants, advises China’s star striker to swap Spain for England
- Espanyol forward has dismissed speculation linking him with Wolves as Spanish side battle La Liga relegation
Espanyol’s Chinese forward Wu Lei warms up before a La Liga game. He has been advised to move to England by former Manchester United striker Dong Fangzhuo. Photo: AFP
Former Manchester United striker Dong Fangzhuo has advised Espanyol’s Wu Lei to move to the English Premier League amid ongoing transfer speculation.
Wu, who joined Spanish side Espanyol in January 2019, has been linked with a move to Chinese-owned Wolverhampton Wanderers as his La Liga club head toward relegation.
“Will Wu Lei stay if Espanyol get relegated? I think he’d better move to England no matter how Espanyol will finish the season,” Dong told fans in a video on his Weibo account.
“In my view, Espanyol is no longer suitable for Wu, considering their deficient midfield and their whole set-up. I think he should not choose to stay on.”
Barcelona-based Espanyol are rock bottom of the 20-team Spanish top flight and 10 points from safety with six games left. They have lost their last three games, most recently against Real Madrid at the weekend.
Wu has been linked with Wolves, who are owned by Fosun, and Turkish side Besiktas in reports in the Spanish press and he spoke about those reports in his weekly diary on Espanyol’s official club Weibo account.
What a miss from Wu Lei!
A golden opportunity for Espanyol to come away with a point, but he hits it right at Joel Robles pic.twitter.com/t8uUC7fO6P— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) June 25, 2020
“In fact, there are many rumours on the internet before the game,” Wu wrote ahead of the 0-0 draw with Getafe last month. “They are about players on the team, including me, transferring to other teams.”
Wu said the players laughed off the rumours. “We joked about it, saying that media outlets have already sold half of the team. But on the other hand, this shows that our talents are recognised by people.”
China striker Dong moved to the Old Trafford club as an 18-year old in January, 2004 after impressing at Chinese powerhouse Dalian Shide.
He had a successful spell on loan at feeder club Royal Antwerp – hitting 30 goals in 53 matches in Belgium – before making one English Premier League appearance for Manchester United.
Dong started up front with current Manchester United manager OIe Gunnar Solskjaer in a 0-0 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in May, 2007. The game was notable because the much-changed visitors were given a guard of honour by the home team after winning the English Premier League title.
His first-team career lasted 73 minutes before returning to Dalian Shide in 2008 and retiring aged 30 in 2014. He was also reported to have undergone plastic surgery on a Chinese reality television show. Dong, now 35, coaches children at his academy in Xiamen.