Man United sign Chinese teenager

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 15, 2004

Man United sign Chinese teenager

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English champions Manchester United have confirmed they have signed 18-year-old Chinese striker Dong Fangzhuo.

The Premiership club said on its website they will make an initial ��500,000 down-payment for the youngster in a deal which could rise to ��3.5 million depending on the number of first-team appearances he makes for United.

But Dong will be forced to begin his United career on loan to Belgian feeder club Royal Antwerp as he does not yet qualify for a UK work permit.

He could either apply for a Belgian passport - which would allow him to play in England - or play in 75 percent of China's international matches during the next two years to qualify for a work permit.

The signing of Dong could be extremely beneficial to United from a commercial perspective because of the huge interest in the club in China.

Dong joins a growing line of Chinese players at English clubs.

Midfielder Li Tie at Everton and defender Sun Jihai at Manchester City are already established in the Premiership while Beijing playmaker Yang Pu could be on his way to Southampton. Striker Qu Bo is currently having trials at Blackburn.

Three or four more Dalian Shide players are under review for possible trial agreements with English and French clubs.

One of them could be Chinese international youth skipper Feng Xiaoting, who in December had a week-long try-out with French first division club Nantes.

The potential value of the Chinese market to English football was underlined when Li Tie and Sun Jihai faced each other in two matches last year.

The game was broadcast live in China and drew an estimated audience of more than 100 million people - the largest ever for a Premiership game.

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