Dong Fangzhuo: The Trailblazer

It is a tale of opportunity and anguish; resilience, regret and pride. And one he was ready to tell, 20 years after he became the first – and as yet, only – Chinese player to sign for Manchester United.

“I’m so happy and excited to come back,” Dong told us, settling into a seat in one of Old Trafford’s East Stand boxes for a catch-up with Inside United. Day is turning to night on an early Monday evening in November, and our view for the conversation overlooks the turf on which United narrowly defeated Luton Town just over 48 hours earlier. 

Dong was at the game as part of a special trip to Manchester, to mark 20 years since he joined the club in 2004. That milestone arrives today, 12 January. The now-38-year-old’s visit was his first return since departing in 2008, and so it was apt that one of the first people he ran into was a familiar face: his old team-mate Wes Brown. 

“I was very happy [to see Wes] but I was taken back by his reaction when he saw my face,” Dong begins, smiling, reciting the encounter via our colleague Li Yan’s interpretation.

As Fangzhuo acknowledges in response to one of the opening questions of an eventual 80-minute conversation, some things have stayed the same, while others are different. Brown now flourishing in a post-playing media role with MUTV is certainly evidence of the latter. 

Dong’s whistle-stop comeback to the North West alongside his admirably patient wife, who sat in quietly on our extended chat, also included returning to our Carrington training ground, seeing his old digs and reuniting with former boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

Our legendary manager first brought an introverted and talented Fangzhuo to the club in 2004, after the player had impressed during a trial period the year before. The potential of a shy boy from Dalian – a renowned footballing city in China – shone through on the pitch. “The trial was supposed to be two weeks,” Dong recalls. “But 10 days into the trial, United decided to give me another two weeks to test how good I could be. Halfway into the trial, the decision had been made for me to sign, but they wanted to see if my performances were consistent.”

It was a platform for the future China international to showcase the player he had developed into, after first getting into the game at a young age. “I was five years old when I got into school football in China. It was an in-school club, the boys would play there, and I told my parents I wanted to play with them because I like sport, but I liked football most, so I wanted to try to start to learn.”

Badminton and kung fu were two other sports he enjoyed as a kid, but it was football that he excelled in. “I would try any position but first I played as a striker,” he explains. “When I was young, the keeper coach wanted me to play goalkeeper, but my coach said: ‘No, no, no. This guy must play striker!’”

A BELGIAN DETOUR

Fangzhuo developed, in his words, into “a forward of European-football style” with “aggressive, front-footed and powerful” traits. His senior career started in local teams Dalian Sidelong and Dalian Shide, before he secured a dream move to United in 2004. 

Dong’s European adventure had its initial limitations, however. He was ineligible for a work permit upon arrival in the UK and had to wait until January 2007 to get his opportunity to show what he could do among United’s first-team ranks. 

In the meantime, he went out on loan to Belgian side Royal Antwerp, where a frequent number of United’s youngsters of the time would sharpen their craft during temporary stays.

Understandably there were teething problems, with the language barrier, a sense of hefty expectation and a solitary life in a hotel for the first two months all factors in a slow start to Fangzhuo’s European odyssey. But he would begin to find his feet. 

Aged 20 as the 2005/06 term began, Dong moved into his own apartment and got a driving licence, but there was perhaps one change that had more impact than all on the form that would see him finish the campaign as Antwerp’s top scorer.

“I hired my own trainer at Antwerp – I explained to my coach why I needed a trainer and why I did extra training. The argument was: ‘I respect you, I respect your training sessions, but my ambition is not to stay at Antwerp, my ambition is to go back to Manchester United one day.’” 

That day would come in early 2007, after Dong had received his work permit. He returned to United to sign a new contract, on the back of a prolific first half-season in Belgium, and he was keen to make an impression. 

Awaiting at Carrington was a star-studded squad on its way to the first of three successive Premier League titles. Its striking talent – including Ronaldo, Rooney and Solskjaer – wasn’t just something that the young forward wanted to watch with awestruck admiration. “I felt pressure, even from training with these massive players,” he tells Inside United. “There was a consistently high intensity in the training sessions every day. The more pressure I felt from playing with them, the more I wanted to prove that I could do that too.” 

It meant Dong was incredibly determined to make his mark when stepping out – through a memorable Chelsea guard of honour – on his United debut at Stamford Bridge in May 2007. The Reds had already pipped Jose Mourinho’s men to the title, so Sir Alex rested his regulars and awarded game-time elsewhere, with a rematch in the FA Cup final looming later in the month. “I was surprised to see my name in the starting XI,” he explains. “On the pitch, I felt a bit nervous and when I look back, I feel I could have done even better. Some content creators made fun of me, mocked me with highlights as ‘lowlights’, showing me shooting the ball into the stands.” 

Dong didn’t make the impression he wanted on his first outing but would have the privilege of taking the Premier League trophy back to his home country for the summer tour of 2007, before being rewarded with two further senior appearances in the campaign that followed: a competitive Old Trafford debut v Coventry and a Champions League bow away to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico.

OLYMPIC AMBITIONS

It seemed a platform for the young striker to build his United career on, but injury struck in the second half of the season and he was faced with a significant ultimatum as the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing approached.

Fangzhuo was so eager to feature at his home tournament – in which he later scored China’s only goal – that he ignored Sir Alex’s advice to have surgery on a serious knee injury sustained in a reserve-team game, instead opting for ongoing treatment so he could continue to play and keep his Olympic dream alive.

It was that choice Dong believes may have been a key factor in his United career coming to an end, shortly after he returned from the Olympics. “Maybe Sir Alex took me continuing to play as a sign that I wasn’t professional, that I didn’t have a long-term plan for myself. Sir Alex thought about the club, he cared about his players and didn’t want them to risk their careers to keep playing with injury.

“He made the call in person to inform me [that he was being sold], and I was really disappointed and sad. It was an ultimate honour to represent my country in such a tournament, so I would probably make the same decision again, but what I would change is to have had better communication with the manager and to have made smarter decisions.”

Dong went back to Dalian Shide in the summer of 2008, two years before his United contract was due to expire. He would go on to play in Poland, Portugal and Armenia too, but injuries would continue to be a burden on his journey, and he eventually hung up his boots in 2014 at the premature age of 30. 

Having initially struggled to have the same passion for football immediately after retiring, the former Red has since rediscovered his love for the game, and now combines working as a pundit with running the Dong Fangzhuo Football Club in Xiamen, aimed not only at developing players who might one day follow in his footsteps but also at helping youngsters with special needs. 

And even from afar, United remains firmly in his heart. Fangzhuo says he still keeps an eye out for how his old team are getting on, while remembering the love he received from our fans while he was here as a player. 

He signs off our chat with a message for the club’s supporters, saying: “Thank you for your support. Maybe you have already forgotten that there used to be a Chinese boy chasing the dream as Manchester United here at Old Trafford.

“Maybe you have already forgotten me, but I have to say thank you for your support because as a Chinese player, having that opportunity to play in the red shirt at Old Trafford was already a dream come true.”

This feature was first published in the January edition of our official monthly magazine, Inside United, on sale here.