On the evening of April 1, the Quzhou Gift Men's Professional Soccer Invitational Tournament was held at the Quzhou Sports Center, pitting Shandong Taishan, last season's Chinese Super League (CSL) runner-up, and Zhejiang, the third-place finisher. Although Taishan lost on penalties, many trialists showed up. Among them, 25-year-old Quzhou player Tong Lei got his debut as Taishan's right back.
Although Tong Lei has yet to be officially announced by the club, he has joined on a free, officially becoming a member of the Taishan squad, according to the German transfer market administrator.Born in December 1997, Tong Lei, who is 1.74 meters tall, comes from the Zhejiang Greentown Soccer School, and made his debut in the Chinese Super League in 2016 on behalf of Zhejiang's first-team squad.
Tong Lei was a regular member of the national soccer team at all levels during his adolescence. Since being selected for the U19 national youth team in 2015, he has missed almost every training roster for the 97 age group national team. However, during the seasons when Tong Lei was in a critical period of growth, the Zhejiang team was relegated to China's A-level. In the end, Tong Lei had to move to Dalian to play in the Chinese Super League in 2020 for a transfer fee of €1.7 million.
In his first two seasons at Dalian Ren, Tong Lei got a lot of chances to play in the Chinese Super League and gained a lot of game experience. He was very diligent on the pitch and had good speed and assisting ability. He was one of the best performers in his position during the same period, so he was recruited by the national soccer team late in the Big 12 season. Although the first game hasn't been completed in an international match, it proves that Tong Lei has the strength of an international player.
Due to the financial constraints of the Dalian People's Club, Tong Lei had a contractual dispute with the club in the middle of last season, and his playing time dropped drastically, leading to his retirement. At the beginning of this year, Tong Lei and Sun Guowen came to Taishan early for a trial, which was very favorable to their integration into the new team. In the new season, Taishan entered a critical period for promotion. Tong Lei is in his playing year and he is very hopeful to be reused by head coach Hao Wei. Hopefully, he will have a good performance in both the Chinese Super League and the Asian Championship, and will have a chance to return to the national soccer team in the future.
