Yennaris joined from Brentford, alongside
Norwegian youth international John Hou
Saeter from Staebek. Thanks to being of
partial Chinese descent, both will play as
naturalised Chinese players, with Yennaris
now being known as Li Ke and Saeter as
Hou Yongyong.
Also joining was South Korean
international Kim Min-jae, who is one
of the continent’s most highly rated
young defenders. The capture of the
22-year-old from K-League side Jeonbuk
Motors was greeted with glee by fans in
the capital and raised hopes that this
could be their team’s year. Guoan
doubled down with another big transfer,
Chinese international Zhang Yuning
joining from West Bromwich Albion
following a fruitless year on loan to
Eredivisie side Den Haag. Despite Zhang’s
modest record in Europe, the 22-year-
old striker is still highly rated in China and
his signing was seen as a real statement
replace him – which is a real problem in
a league where teams must field at least
eight domestic players. Former Porto boss
Vitor Pereira will look to Shanghainese
winger Lyu Wenjun, who frequently came
off the bench to great effect last season,
to fill the gap left by Wu.
A spritely and nimble wide forward
with great technique, awareness and an
eye for goal, Wu made encouraging start
to his European career, getting on the
scoresheet once and making an assist in
his first six games. Unsurprisingly, this
rare good news story caused the Chinese
football media to get carried away with a
torrent of superlatives after he became
the first Chinese player ever to score a
goal in La Liga, and the first in a top
European league since Shao Jiayi for
Cottbus in the Bundesliga in 2008.
While Wu is undoubtedly one of the
best players China has produced, the
melodramatic reaction to his modestof intent from Guoan.
In something of a contrast, the
reigning champions Shanghai SIPG had
a quiet window – they have not signed a
single player since splurging on Brazilian
forward Hulk and former Chelsea man
Oscar in 2017.
Stability was the key to their success
last year, but the second-city club face
a massive change this season with the
departure of Wu Lei to La Liga side
Espanyol. It is impossible to overstate the
size of the hole the Nanjing-born forward
leaves in SIPG’s squad. In a phenomenal
season, he scored 27 goals in 29 CSL
games last term and there simply aren’t
any Chinese players of his standard toBeijing Guoan are touted by some
as favourites to take their first
CSL title since 2009Super Cup...Shanghai
SIPG (in red) take on
Beijing Guoan