Hard road to the top

Many of China's best young footballers are fighting hard to make their names in Europe's rich and highly competitive football world

Ambitious young footballers from countries that are not major football powers can struggle to gain recognition from top European clubs. But it can be done. All it requires is for a coach at one of those clubs to spot talent and to have an open mind.

Even now, Wang Chengkuai, 19, does not know exactly what his idol, Dennis Bergkamp, the Dutch former international, Arsenal player and now assistant manager at Ajax in Amsterdam, saw in him. "Maybe he just saw my hunger to play here," Wang says.

"Some people call him 'The Ice Prince' and he can seem to be a cold fish sometimes. But when you get to know him, he is truly a generous guy with a gentle character like his style on the field."

Ajax, four-time winner of the European Cup/European Champions League is renowned for its junior academy, where it nurtures talented young players from around the world.

Wang was chosen for the academy through a fortunate coincidence. In January last year, his former club, Dalian Shide, quit the Chinese Super League and Wang, as a professional footballer, was out of work.

Opportunities for Wang and the former China under-19 player Wei Shihao turned up after they passed a trial at Ajax, where Bergkamp is a talent scout.

The two players were recommended by former Ajax coach Henk ten Cate, who worked in China in 2012.

Wang impressed Bergkamp with his abilities as a second striker in the reserve team, and he has signed a contract with Ajax.

Ajax's coach told Chinese media that he thought Wang could have a promising future with Ajax.

Wang, born in Zhejiang province, moved with his family to Dalian, Liaoning province, when he was 6 because his father believed the northeastern city was a breeding ground for football talent. Wang's primary school, Dongbeilu, had a strong football tradition and had helped produce more than 300 international players in the previous 30 or 40 years.

Wang's ambition does not stop with being recognized by someone like Bergkamp; he wants to forge a successful career in European football. "Even if I develop into one of China's best players, I will still be far from world class," he says. "What I really want is to play in Europe among the world's top footballers."

In daily training at Ajax the players challenge each other with every ball, he says.

Ajax arranged home-stay accommodation for him in Amsterdam and advised him to take school classes in his spare time. Wang left school after junior high to pursue his passion for football.

"European players always have career options to fall back on if they don't make the grade as a professional player," he says.

In the Chinese system most footballers drop out of school too early. A player who has taken a different course is Wang Shangyuan, 20, who before leaving China to play football in Europe gained admission to one of the country's best colleges, Renmin University of China.

The then captain of China's youth team signed a three-year contract with Club Brugge, one of Belgium's best clubs, in July last year. Wang began his career there spectacularly, scoring the league's first goal of the season on his debut.

Wang Shangyuan, born in Henan province, believes his education makes him unusual among Chinese footballers.

"When I retire, I will definitely go back to finish my college courses."

Wang immersed himself in football as a child and persuaded his father to send him to Tianjin and later to Beijing, where he had professional training.

"The primary school headmaster complained to my father, because my academic record was outstanding."

The headmaster could not understand why the father wanted Wang to be a footballer rather than a student at a top university. Wang's father, an accountant, said he respected his son's wishes and rejected the school's advice.

"When I was a boy, my father taught me to do anything I did with all my heart, and he believed I could make it as a footballer if I was determined to do it."

Wang studied in class like everyone else and did his training in his spare time after school.

Eventually, a former head coach of China's youth team, Eckhard Krautzun, spotted his talent, recruited him and made him team captain.

"I put everything into my training, then went home and studied late into the night. That's why I did well in both."

A few months before he joined Club Brugge, he had a chance to play for one of the most famous clubs in the world, English Premier League side Manchester City. However, club manager Robert Mancini, who appreciated Wang's talent, was suddenly sacked while Wang was still on trial.

Wang had to continue his career in Belgium, where he shone in his first few games, but the coach who had signed him took another job. The new coach was happy to rely on his experienced players and decided he did not need Wang.

Undeterred, Wang kept working on his skills and put up with the loneliness.

Wang says that his mentor Li Hui, a former China international, had once told him: "How can you shed tears in the spotlight one day if you have not suffered enough to cry?"

Wang says he does not read media or care about what fans say about him, and he has discontinued his micro blog so that it does not distract him.

"Making money or being famous is not my aim now. I'm still far from success."

A huge amount of money has been poured into China's football clubs in recent years, and most proven Chinese internationals have been tempted to play in the Chinese Super League. However, it is top European clubs that the country's young players still strive to play for.

The latest major signing to a European club was last month when French Ligue 1 champion AS Saint-Etienne signed the national under-19 center-forward Xiang Baixu.

According to Sina Sports, at least a dozen teenage Chinese footballers are seeking spots in secondary European leagues, such as those in Portugal and the Netherlands.

Lu Yang, deputy editor of Sina Sports, says that in recent years most young, talented Chinese players who have returned from overseas have failed to stand out among local footballers. This may present a challenge to Xiang and Wang Shangyuan, he says.

"Given the language and social hurdles, it is hard to say how much they can learn in Europe."

Ke Han, a football commentator, disagrees. "For our young footballers, playing for secondary league clubs as springboards for bigger targets is a sound idea. But they need to understand that contracts with those clubs are just a beginning."

Ke says that only about 10 percent of footballers who play in clubs' teenage teams end up becoming professionals.

"When a European player does not win a contract, he always has an alternative," Ke says. "Chinese football needs to provide options like that."

Wang Shangyuan's former club, Beijing BTV Sangao, has set up an advanced football-education development program in which 95 percent of its players will eventually go to college, but only 4 percent will become professionals, Sina Sport reported.

"In such a situation, those parents would know football is not a dead end for their kids, and they will have other opportunities in the future," Lu says.

Japan and South Korea have had similar programs for years, and Chinese football's management should adopt them, he says.

qiubo@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 04/11/2014 page28)