Recently, Chinese soccer's overseas players have once again shown outstanding performance. La Liga's Levante FC officially announced that 17-year-old young soccer talent Zhang Ziqi has joined their youth team. This signifies that the teenager will show his talent in the Spanish youth league and start his own legendary journey. Zhang Ziqi is the first Chinese men's soccer player to join La Liga in the new season, and his future development has sparked widespread expectations. Concerns have been raised as to whether he can follow Wu Lei and become another star to shine in Chinese soccer, which has become the center of attention.
Looking back, it's not the first time that Chinese players have dabbled in La Liga's youth training system, such as Zhang Aokai and Tan Kaiyuan, who once shone at Evergrande. Although they wore the robes of the Spaniards, they only hovered on the fringes of the youth game, hardly touching the core glory. Zhang Aokai's trajectory shifted to China's First Division, while Tan Kaiyuan played an important role in the Chinese Super League's relegation battleground Qingdao West Coast, but also masked the bleakness of the Liga MX youth training path. All of this seems to speak silently to the fact that a place in the Liga MX youth team is not easy to come by, even back in the domestic game.
However, Wu Lei, a hero whose name has long been etched in the history of Chinese soccer study abroad, broke the curse with his stellar performances.In 2018, he helped Shanghai reach the top of the CSL before resolutely embarking on a journey to La Liga. In his first season with the Spaniards, he showed an amazing ability to adapt. He repeatedly stood up in the team's moments of crisis and became the team's indispensable savior. What's more, Wu Lei etched his name forever in the historical corridors of La Liga with a shocking goal in an away match against Barcelona, becoming a brilliant milestone in the history of Chinese soccer study abroad.
Unfortunately, since Wu Lei has traveled far and wide, Chinese players seem to be out of reach on the stage of the big five leagues. Therefore, when Zhang Ziqi's name was closely linked to Levante in La Liga, the hearts of countless fans were once again lit with the fire of hope, expecting the young wind-chaser to continue to write brilliantly and become the new pride of Chinese soccer.
Zhang Ziqi, who once sharpened his sword in the Getafe ladder, is no stranger to the Spanish youth league. At this moment, his challenge is to stand firm in this familiar battlefield, and then impact Levante's first team. We believe that with Zhang Ziqi's hard work and endless passion for soccer, his performance in the Spanish Youth League will be satisfactory. He will take firm steps towards the heights Wu Lei once reached, and even beyond.
