Football is no more interesting to stories of unfulfilled potential. Tumbling to weight is a typical destiny, whether it be from associates, the players themselves or difficult to-please fans. Be that as it may, for Dong, the most serious weight originated from boring the weight of a whole football-fixated country on the opposite side of the world.
In 2004, withdrawn Chinese youngster Dong turned into the main East Asian player to sign for Manchester United. This was much sooner than the newly discovered wealth of the Chinese Super League had put the comrade superpower on the footballing map.
Twelve years on—and still just 31—a player who was once held as China's incredible trust has vanished into haziness. The narrative of ability unfilled is not another one, but rather it is the manner by which definitely Dong's profession took a crash that makes this story so striking.
Dong's ascent was fleeting. There were at that point Chinese players carrying out their specialty abroad—yet never with this glare of consideration. Sun Jihai—now drafted into the English Football Hall of Fame—had moved to United's neighbors Manchester City two years before Dong. This was distinctive, in any case. This was the worldwide superpower United.
Getty
"The measure of Manchester United has an incredible arrangement to do with how Dong's story unfurled," Tom Byer, leader of China's football improvement, told Bleacher Report.
"I worked with Shinji Kagawa from an exceptionally youthful age [in Japan], and I could see he was bound for Europe. I am not saying that [Borussia] Dortmund are a little club, however the hop from Dortmund to United was excessively. The same happened with Hidetoshi Nakata at Roma—he never fully looked on a par with he did at Perugia. Stop Ji-sung is the main exemption, I assume."
Ball and table tennis had for some time been prevailing in China, however in the late 1990s, new TV bargains gave Chinese viewers access to another, energizing brand of English football. The Premier League was a convincing worldwide item, and China went gaga for it rapidly.
The most monetarily dynamic English clubs knew about their introduction in Asia and the chance to win over a great many new fans. It was a characteristic expansion to search for their own Asian genius, and Dong was that man for United.
"He was obtained at kind of a high time for Chinese football, yet he was a long way from a built up player. He was just 18 and had recently played a modest bunch of alliance matches," Brandon Chemers, editorial manager in-head of Wild East Football, told Bleacher Report. "There's the inclination that he was just marked to offer shirts."
That negative view was typical in England at the time. The outside convergence from more settled footballing countries in the '90s was still another idea. The possibility of a player originating from China was outsider around then.
Getty
Dong in real life for United against Beijing Hyundai in July 2005
A club of United's stature had their pick of Asian players. Dong had a lot of credits that spoke to the physical way of the Premier League, and he rapidly emerged as a solid alternative.
"He went straight into the stores and was tipped to do enormous things," previous United under-18s mentor Paul McGuinness told Bleacher Report. "He was a solid player—truly solid. That is the thing that struck us, that a player from Asia would have that level of quality.
"Relatively few individuals know this, yet we had experience of Chinese players some time recently, so we had a thought of what to pay special mind to."
Fourteen years before Dong's landing, there was Su Maozhen—a trialist who was recognized by United legend Sir Bobby Charlton. Su's experience offers profitable knowledge into what Dong would have initially experienced at United.
"I was with the Chinese under-16 national group, and we visited in the UK," Su told Bleacher Report. "Sir Bobby Charlton came to see us play. He had soccer schools in China in those days. The venture was composed by Margaret Thatcher and the Chinese government—it was vital."
Su awed in his trial, and Charlton picked him to prepare with United. In 1989, he returned for a three-month spell with United's under-16 squad however endured a broken lower leg that scuppered his opportunity to inspire. Joined paid for the operation, notwithstanding, and Su's story proceeded with several years after the fact.
"I returned 1991," Su says. "I lived in Salford, close to the Cliff preparing ground. It was so energizing. Check Hughes, Bryan Robson, David Beckham, and so on—we prepared with them. Despite everything I recollect my proprietor, Brenda. Sir Alex Ferguson brought me preparing with the main group, and he let me know, 'One day, Su, you will be here.' He supported me a great deal. I can just envision they endeavored with Dong. Is there any valid reason why they wouldn't?"
Su recognizes his absence of quality and speed cost him a shot in English football, however Dong was an alternate kind of player inside and out.
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"Dong had that," he says. "Physically, Dong had power, speed what not. Ferguson let me know Dong was stunning—ideal for England. He called him 'unstable.'"
High acclaim in fact, yet there was an early obstacle for Dong: getting a work allow. With no national-group appearances for China, Dong had no way of inspiring leeway to play in England through conventional courses.
Joined had an emergency course of action. Belgian club Royal Antwerp had built up a feeder-club connect up with United, and not incidentally, Belgium's casual laws permitted non-European adolescents the chance to play without the requirement for such printed material.
"It wasn't the same as simply sending players out on advance—we had folks there working for us," McGuinness says. "Warren Joyce and Andy Welsh were there for anything for the players. The fans there were obsessive, and that would have been a gigantic ordeal for any youthful fellow.
"The Belgium association had a genuine blend of players from everywhere throughout the world—awesome for somebody like Dong, who felt like a genuine outsider in Manchester."
Dong flourished at Antwerp. He began to show naysayers that his feet, not his advertising potential, were his actual esteem.
"He was an incredible player. Exceptionally solid, entirely tall, quick, and when he shot at objective, it resembled a bomb—so effective," Regi Van Acker, one of Dong's previous mentors at Antwerp, told Bleacher Report. "Guards dreaded him.
"He did all that we asked of him in preparing and did additional individual preparing on his body. He appeared to be glad. Sir Alex Ferguson and [former United solicitor] Maurice Watkins went by Antwerp consistently. Everything was well."
All who discuss Dong's initial vocation talk emphatically of this forcing physicality he had, yet the dialect obstruction remained an issue. It takes a specific kind of identity to prevail as a player with the test of going up against another dialect and another culture came in. Dong appeared to need in that office.
"The colossal issue was the way saved he was," McGuinness says. "Su came in and communicated with every one of us; we are still companions now. I don't think Dong attempted, however as a youthful fellow in an interesting area, it more likely than not been hard."
Getty
Su backs such claims: "The dialect was an issue, however I tried to at any rate say easily overlooked details. From what I listen, Dong didn't attempt."
In Belgium, Dong scored objectives and seemed glad in a word collaborations with colleagues, however his unwillingness to incorporate attempted to his impediment.
"When, he left to play for the national group, and he returned with a shirt and different things from the national group as a present for me by and by," Van Acker says. "Be that as it may, and still, at the end of the day, it was just so hard to speak with him. No one recognized what was going ahead inside his psyche. It was hard to help him. We simply had European mentors."
In December 2006, Dong was at long last conceded his work allow to play in England. He had completed as the top goalscorer in the Belgian second division the past season and scored for United in the 2006/07 pre-season.
Dong was 21 and still had a considerable measure to demonstrate, yet he was moving in the right heading. A Premier League make a big appearance as a substitute against Chelsea toward the end of the 2006/07 season at last conveyed Dong to United fans' consideration. A full presentation against Coventry in the League Cup toward the begin of the accompanying effort appeared to at any rate propose he was in Ferguson's arrangements.
Dong scored the host nation's first objective in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, however he wasn't given a United squad number toward the start of the 2008/09 season. His calamitous decrease to lack of definition had started, and an arrival to China with Dalian Shide followed in August 2008. There, Dong endured a frantic starvation before objective, as he didn't locate the net once in two seasons. All seemed lost.
"His mentality wasn't right," Su says. "After Manchester United, Dong thought everything would have been simple and that when he came back to China, he would be the best.
"That is not valid. You need to demonstrate your ability all over. The great players are constantly very much arranged in preparing and in typical life. I don't think he had individuals at home letting him know how to carry on with his life far from football."
Getty
The arrangement was to go to Europe and attempt once more, yet the mental harm appeared to have been finished. A spell at Legia Warsaw in Poland kept going only four appearances, and Dong ended his own agreement at Portuguese club Portimonense—a move that had been supported by a proposal from Cristiano Ronaldo, no less.
A last stretch in Armenia neglected to reignite his thrashing vocation, leaving no other alternative than to head home again. That is when things truly got ugly. Everybody in China appeared to have abandoned him.
Having delighted in some type of wealth from his European experience, and with his fantasy of making it up on fire, Dong turned out to be to some degree a revolt in a nation that doesn't warmly embrace such conduct.
"His dedication was frequently addressed in the media, as he demonstrated little enthusiasm for pointing higher," Christopher Atkins, a player agent in China, told Bleacher Report. "He likewise got himself into inconvenience that season, gaining a six-matc
In 2004, withdrawn Chinese youngster Dong turned into the main East Asian player to sign for Manchester United. This was much sooner than the newly discovered wealth of the Chinese Super League had put the comrade superpower on the footballing map.
Twelve years on—and still just 31—a player who was once held as China's incredible trust has vanished into haziness. The narrative of ability unfilled is not another one, but rather it is the manner by which definitely Dong's profession took a crash that makes this story so striking.
Dong's ascent was fleeting. There were at that point Chinese players carrying out their specialty abroad—yet never with this glare of consideration. Sun Jihai—now drafted into the English Football Hall of Fame—had moved to United's neighbors Manchester City two years before Dong. This was distinctive, in any case. This was the worldwide superpower United.
Getty
"The measure of Manchester United has an incredible arrangement to do with how Dong's story unfurled," Tom Byer, leader of China's football improvement, told Bleacher Report.
"I worked with Shinji Kagawa from an exceptionally youthful age [in Japan], and I could see he was bound for Europe. I am not saying that [Borussia] Dortmund are a little club, however the hop from Dortmund to United was excessively. The same happened with Hidetoshi Nakata at Roma—he never fully looked on a par with he did at Perugia. Stop Ji-sung is the main exemption, I assume."
Ball and table tennis had for some time been prevailing in China, however in the late 1990s, new TV bargains gave Chinese viewers access to another, energizing brand of English football. The Premier League was a convincing worldwide item, and China went gaga for it rapidly.
The most monetarily dynamic English clubs knew about their introduction in Asia and the chance to win over a great many new fans. It was a characteristic expansion to search for their own Asian genius, and Dong was that man for United.
"He was obtained at kind of a high time for Chinese football, yet he was a long way from a built up player. He was just 18 and had recently played a modest bunch of alliance matches," Brandon Chemers, editorial manager in-head of Wild East Football, told Bleacher Report. "There's the inclination that he was just marked to offer shirts."
That negative view was typical in England at the time. The outside convergence from more settled footballing countries in the '90s was still another idea. The possibility of a player originating from China was outsider around then.
Getty
Dong in real life for United against Beijing Hyundai in July 2005
A club of United's stature had their pick of Asian players. Dong had a lot of credits that spoke to the physical way of the Premier League, and he rapidly emerged as a solid alternative.
"He went straight into the stores and was tipped to do enormous things," previous United under-18s mentor Paul McGuinness told Bleacher Report. "He was a solid player—truly solid. That is the thing that struck us, that a player from Asia would have that level of quality.
"Relatively few individuals know this, yet we had experience of Chinese players some time recently, so we had a thought of what to pay special mind to."
Fourteen years before Dong's landing, there was Su Maozhen—a trialist who was recognized by United legend Sir Bobby Charlton. Su's experience offers profitable knowledge into what Dong would have initially experienced at United.
"I was with the Chinese under-16 national group, and we visited in the UK," Su told Bleacher Report. "Sir Bobby Charlton came to see us play. He had soccer schools in China in those days. The venture was composed by Margaret Thatcher and the Chinese government—it was vital."
Su awed in his trial, and Charlton picked him to prepare with United. In 1989, he returned for a three-month spell with United's under-16 squad however endured a broken lower leg that scuppered his opportunity to inspire. Joined paid for the operation, notwithstanding, and Su's story proceeded with several years after the fact.
"I returned 1991," Su says. "I lived in Salford, close to the Cliff preparing ground. It was so energizing. Check Hughes, Bryan Robson, David Beckham, and so on—we prepared with them. Despite everything I recollect my proprietor, Brenda. Sir Alex Ferguson brought me preparing with the main group, and he let me know, 'One day, Su, you will be here.' He supported me a great deal. I can just envision they endeavored with Dong. Is there any valid reason why they wouldn't?"
Su recognizes his absence of quality and speed cost him a shot in English football, however Dong was an alternate kind of player inside and out.
SHARE
TWEET
"Dong had that," he says. "Physically, Dong had power, speed what not. Ferguson let me know Dong was stunning—ideal for England. He called him 'unstable.'"
High acclaim in fact, yet there was an early obstacle for Dong: getting a work allow. With no national-group appearances for China, Dong had no way of inspiring leeway to play in England through conventional courses.
Joined had an emergency course of action. Belgian club Royal Antwerp had built up a feeder-club connect up with United, and not incidentally, Belgium's casual laws permitted non-European adolescents the chance to play without the requirement for such printed material.
"It wasn't the same as simply sending players out on advance—we had folks there working for us," McGuinness says. "Warren Joyce and Andy Welsh were there for anything for the players. The fans there were obsessive, and that would have been a gigantic ordeal for any youthful fellow.
"The Belgium association had a genuine blend of players from everywhere throughout the world—awesome for somebody like Dong, who felt like a genuine outsider in Manchester."
Dong flourished at Antwerp. He began to show naysayers that his feet, not his advertising potential, were his actual esteem.
"He was an incredible player. Exceptionally solid, entirely tall, quick, and when he shot at objective, it resembled a bomb—so effective," Regi Van Acker, one of Dong's previous mentors at Antwerp, told Bleacher Report. "Guards dreaded him.
"He did all that we asked of him in preparing and did additional individual preparing on his body. He appeared to be glad. Sir Alex Ferguson and [former United solicitor] Maurice Watkins went by Antwerp consistently. Everything was well."
All who discuss Dong's initial vocation talk emphatically of this forcing physicality he had, yet the dialect obstruction remained an issue. It takes a specific kind of identity to prevail as a player with the test of going up against another dialect and another culture came in. Dong appeared to need in that office.
"The colossal issue was the way saved he was," McGuinness says. "Su came in and communicated with every one of us; we are still companions now. I don't think Dong attempted, however as a youthful fellow in an interesting area, it more likely than not been hard."
Getty
Su backs such claims: "The dialect was an issue, however I tried to at any rate say easily overlooked details. From what I listen, Dong didn't attempt."
In Belgium, Dong scored objectives and seemed glad in a word collaborations with colleagues, however his unwillingness to incorporate attempted to his impediment.
"When, he left to play for the national group, and he returned with a shirt and different things from the national group as a present for me by and by," Van Acker says. "Be that as it may, and still, at the end of the day, it was just so hard to speak with him. No one recognized what was going ahead inside his psyche. It was hard to help him. We simply had European mentors."
In December 2006, Dong was at long last conceded his work allow to play in England. He had completed as the top goalscorer in the Belgian second division the past season and scored for United in the 2006/07 pre-season.
Dong was 21 and still had a considerable measure to demonstrate, yet he was moving in the right heading. A Premier League make a big appearance as a substitute against Chelsea toward the end of the 2006/07 season at last conveyed Dong to United fans' consideration. A full presentation against Coventry in the League Cup toward the begin of the accompanying effort appeared to at any rate propose he was in Ferguson's arrangements.
Dong scored the host nation's first objective in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, however he wasn't given a United squad number toward the start of the 2008/09 season. His calamitous decrease to lack of definition had started, and an arrival to China with Dalian Shide followed in August 2008. There, Dong endured a frantic starvation before objective, as he didn't locate the net once in two seasons. All seemed lost.
"His mentality wasn't right," Su says. "After Manchester United, Dong thought everything would have been simple and that when he came back to China, he would be the best.
"That is not valid. You need to demonstrate your ability all over. The great players are constantly very much arranged in preparing and in typical life. I don't think he had individuals at home letting him know how to carry on with his life far from football."
Getty
The arrangement was to go to Europe and attempt once more, yet the mental harm appeared to have been finished. A spell at Legia Warsaw in Poland kept going only four appearances, and Dong ended his own agreement at Portuguese club Portimonense—a move that had been supported by a proposal from Cristiano Ronaldo, no less.
A last stretch in Armenia neglected to reignite his thrashing vocation, leaving no other alternative than to head home again. That is when things truly got ugly. Everybody in China appeared to have abandoned him.
Having delighted in some type of wealth from his European experience, and with his fantasy of making it up on fire, Dong turned out to be to some degree a revolt in a nation that doesn't warmly embrace such conduct.
"His dedication was frequently addressed in the media, as he demonstrated little enthusiasm for pointing higher," Christopher Atkins, a player agent in China, told Bleacher Report. "He likewise got himself into inconvenience that season, gaining a six-matc
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