Dong kicks his heels in the wilderness
Daniel Taylor meets the striker bought so United could conquer China but who now can´t get a game in Belgium´s second division
Saturday December 4, 2004
The Guardian
As cunning plans go, it was one of which Baldrick would have been proud. Dong Fangzhou is ambitious, willing to make sacrifices and, most important, Chinese. When Manchester United agreed a £3.5m package with Dalian Shide the men in power at Old Trafford congratulated one another on a smart piece of business. It scarcely mattered whether the young striker would ever be serious competition for Ruud van Nistelrooy. Dong could make them money, serious money.
The problem, as Baldrick used to discover, is that even best-laid plans can go belly up. Sixteen months have passed since England´s wealthiest club picked out Dong from a trial of 15 Chinese teenagers, yet not only would the 19-year-old still go unrecognised if he sat in the Stretford End on any Saturday afternoon, he has hardly set pulses racing in his own country either. United wanted China to go Dong-crazy; instead, visitors to the club´s restaurant and store in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, have been asking " who´s that?" when they see his photograph next to those of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs et al.
To locate him it is necessary to travel to Royal Antwerp´s antiquated stadium in Belgium´s equivalent of the Coca-Cola Championship. The Bosuil has been Dong´s place of work since his United career began. He is a peripheral figure on an extended loan in a distinctly average team, desperately trying to convince himself that it will all work out in the end.
He is a stranger in a strange land and the language barrier is so great he generally lets others do the talking. Yet he is so generous with his time that the instinct is to hope, for his sake, that he has not been let in on the fact of how quickly English football has forgotten about him, how one Belgian sportswriter has described him as a " laughing stock" and how China´s football-loving public are wondering whether he will ever actually play in England.
" I´m trying to enjoy myself," he says, via his interpreter. " It´s difficult sometimes and when I first arrived I was lonely. But the thought of one day playing for Manchester United drives me on. That is why I have come to a foreign country, to improve myself and to work hard, so one day I will be good enough to play in England. I am not ready yet but that is my ambition."
United loaned Dong to Antwerp, their feeder club, in the hope that he would win his first call-up to China´s national team. They are still waiting and until that time comes he can forget about moving to Manchester. An international credential is mandatory for a footballer from outside the European Union or its favoured partners in eastern Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to obtain a work permit from the Home Office. As it stands, Dong is forbidden to play for an English club.
There is another problem: Dong´s first season in Flanders coincided with Belgium´s oldest club being relegated from the top division for only the third time in their 124-year history. Dong lost his form, then his confidence, then his place.
" By the end of his first season people were laughing at him," says Wim Vos, of the daily Gazet van Antwerpen. " Whenever the ball came to him, it would bounce off his knee and go in any direction. Everyone was thinking he would never make it in Belgian football, never mind England."
The United board has never concealed the fact that they deliberately looked for a Chinese player. Unlike Japan, a proven market where replica shirts fly off the shelves for high prices, China is considered an investment for the future, with the world´s largest population and fastest-growing economy. United already have 25m Chinese fans and will tour the far east next summer. Rightly or wrongly, they can afford to buy and try Chinese players, even if it takes a few attempts before finding one who is good enough.
" There must be some relevance between United signing me and the club´s aspiration to break into the Chinese market," Dong admitted. " They wanted someone who was young, who could be worked on and improve, and who came from China. I fit all those criteria and that is why they chose me but they do not need me to win popularity in China. They already have huge support in my country."
Until he actually pulls on the red jersey, however, Dong´s compatriots will look elsewhere for sporting heroes. When Sun Jihai and Li Tie played against each other last season, for Manchester City and Everton respectively, the television audience in China was said to be 120m, about twice Britain´s population.
At United´s Chengdu restaurant, meanwhile, visitors can take their pick from " Fergie cocktails" and " Old Trafford strawberry sundaes", but the dish named in Dong´s honour is seldom chosen from the menu. " We have pictures of him in the restaurant but they are small compared to the established players," says the manager Liang Jiong. " Some Chinese fans don´t even recognise him; they have to ask us who he is."
As for shirt sales, he adds: " I haven´t noticed any change in business since Dong joined the club. He hasn´t helped us sell a single shirt yet . . . probably because he´s never worn one himself."
But it can be only a matter of time, surely. United knew it would not be a quick process and, besides, the Chinese media must have designated Dong a hero-in-waiting. Not so, says Dong Yuxiong, a sportswriter for New Time Weekly. " Dong was never the prodigy that Dalian Shide billed him as. He wasn´t even a regular in their team. They just played up his unproven potential, saying he could be another Sun Jihai. Hardly any Chinese journalists thought he was worth £3.5m."
There are encouraging signs. Dong has scored six goals in a super-sub role this season and went to the Asian Under-23 Championship with China. Antwerp are also second in their division and, slowly but surely, he is beginning to make an impact.
" My first season was difficult," he explained. " I was living in a hotel and I didn´t have a car. I didn´t know anyone and I couldn´t speak Flemish, French or English. All I had was my own company and a hotel room. There were times when I felt homesick. Who wouldn´t find it difficult in those circumstances? But I am happier now."
He is fortunate that Antwerp, like Manchester, has a strong Chinese community. " When he arrived here he didn´t speak one word of English," says Paul Bistiaux, the Antwerp secretary. " You expect everyone knows what yes and no mean. Dong couldn´t even manage that. I´ve never met a person as ignorant as far as language is concerned. But he´s working hard and going to school. He´s well liked by the fans and, given time, he will be a figure to be reckoned with. He´s a great asset."
Maybe, but there is a marked difference between the second tier of Belgian football and the Premiership, never mind the Champions League. Dong may yet become a player who will be beneficial for Sir Alex Ferguson, and just as relevantly United´s chief executive David Gill. But he is 20 next month, older than Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, and Ferguson usually operates on the policy that, if a player is not good enough at that age, he never will be. Privately United must be relieved that the vast majority of the £3.5m deal is based on appearances. They have paid only £500,000 so far.
" I will probably have to stay in Belgium another year or two," explained Dong. " I need to get stronger because the defenders in Europe are much tougher than the ones in China."
His innocence is charming. " Van Nistelrooy is my favourite player," he continued. " Also, I am a fan of Sun Jihai. Manchester City are one of my favourite teams."
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