Ferguson has confirmed that United are close to signing a Chinese player suggesting Dong Fangzhuo is indeed on his way to the club. The Dalian Shide striker, as earlier reported last month, impressed during a trial spell with the Premiership champions and is on the brink of a move that could be worth in excess of £1 million. "We're signing a Chinese boy, hopefully in the next few weeks," revealed Ferguson during his trip to the United States to promote next summer's tour across the Atalantic. "But we have to be careful how much we grow. Can we cope with another couple of million wanting to support us?" Fangzhuo could initially join United on loan, but the 18-year-old is tipped for a bright future in the game and would bring huge commercial benefits with him should he join Ferguson's men.
They have. City and Everton have both got Chinese players in their squad. Although Chrystal Palace started it all off years ago.
I think that's true but didn't City and Everton select their players from their performances during the World Cup? From what I've read, Utd invited the top Chinese clubs to send their best players for trial and selected Fangzhuo as being the one most likely to succeed. Good to see that the loss of Kenyon has not blunted Utd's commercial judgement
Links. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/29/content_276669.htm http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,7-1111267,00.html
I know. I don't know how to insert the "wink" emoticon. I think the issue here is that when Utd sign a Chinese player then it's specualted that it's purely for financial reasons, but when others (such as City and Everton) do it then there has to be more to it.