On September 10, Glasgow soccer giants Celtic beat Aberdeen 2-0 in what was the first time Chinese defender Du Wei experienced a Scottish Premier League game, despite being on the bench.
After impressive performances at the 2001 World Youth Championship in Argentina, Du has since become a regular fixture in the men's national team and has attracted the attention of Europe's finest after playing a vital role in China's Super League (CSL) club Shanghai Shenhua's title-winning season in 2003.
Last month, the 23-year-old became the third Chinese center-back to join a European powerhouse, following Fan Zhiyi to Crystal Palace in 1999 and Li Weifeng to Everton in 2002.
Local media and Celtic officials said he wasn't ready for the latest game, still being exhausted physically and psychologically from long-distance travel and the transfer process.
Du received his trial invitation from Celtic in late July. "It's the transfer time for the European Leagues and I want to take the opportunity and have a try," he said.
The domestic soccer league has fallen into disrepute due to rigged matches, corrupt referees, unprofessional players and incompetent organizers, and Du decided to risk a steady career paying millions of yuan each year for an unknown future.
The Scottish club's offer of £500,000 for Du was rejected by Shenhua, but when negotiations between the clubs halted Du went to his agent RAMP, who helped to resume the talks and finally persuaded Celtic to raise their bid to US$1.3million.
"It's not a losing business." Wu Jinan, Shenhua general manager said. "China's soccer market is really stagnant now. If Du was being sold domestically, he wouldn't be worth that much."
Although Shenhua was satisfied with the transfer price, the club still put barriers up for fear that the move might weaken the strength of the team in the CSL. Du was expected to arrive in Glasgow on August 30 but this was delayed by the club.
With the help of his agent, he landed at 5 PM on August 31, hours before the closure of the summer transfer market. He hurried to sign a copy of the contract at the airport and fax it to the Celtic officials by the 7 PM deadline.
According to the contract, Du will initially join Celtic for a loan period of five months, with a permanent contract to be discussed during the January transfer window, when Celtic will have an option to cancel the contract if Du fails to adapt to conditions in Scotland.
"I make plans often. Previously it was to go abroad before 24 and that dream has come true. My next goal is to pass through the loan period and win the contract." Du said.
With a weekly salary of several thousand pounds until January, Du will lose at least US$60,000 in income.
"I'm not here for the money but to play soccer. After all, there's not much room for me to improve in China where the domestic environment is not so good,"said Du.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao September 14, 2005)
