Jesus Carrasco Zhou, a 15-year-old promising footballer with mixed parentage of China and Spain, has decided to apply for Chinese citizenship and play for Chinese Super League club Guangzhou R&F, China News reported on Dec. 24.

Before obtaining Chinese citizenship, the young man will join Real Betis for a round of youth football training. He has received three rounds of trial training at Guangzhou R&F.

The young footballer has played football since he was five years old. He has played for Next Star, and participated in provincial-level tournaments in Spain, as well as inter-school football contests held by Arsenal.

Jesus lived in China with his mother before he was five. His grandfather, Angel Carrasco Diaz, disclosed that the young man prefers eating with chopsticks and likes China more than Spain.

Believing China will give full play to his role, Jesus said his dream is to be a member of the Chinese Super League and to fight for the World Cup for China. His grandfather said the whole family is supportive of their young boy’s decision.

The decision is valued by China, as it has introduced a strong policy to curb splashy spending on players, especially on foreign players.

Yu Xiaobo, person in charge of the sports resources education platform in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, said China’s football system, especially in youth training, lags behind Spain and France.

Taking advantage of advanced foreign youth training projects, China will cultivate more talented players to fill in the gap in the domestic youth training system, Yu said, citing Jesus Carrasco as a very good example for this ambition.

Yu disclosed that his platform has signed cooperative agreements with famous foreign football clubs on the systematic training of Chinese footballers in order to boost the healthy development of Chinese football.