Young national football player joining Shenhua, waiting for "Dai" to finally have a result in the competition | Dai Weijun | Shenhua
On the evening of June 28th Beijing time, Shanghai Shenhua Football Club officially announced that after friendly negotiations and reaching an agreement with the player himself, Dai Weijun has officially joined Shanghai Shenhua Football Club.
In 1999, Dai Weijun was born in Hong Kong, China. At the age of 7, his father sent him to Guangzhou to participate in youth training. Dai Weijun studied under Guangzhou football legend Huang Guocai, and Huang's coach has always believed that Dai Weijun is a good seedling. "Ah Jun has been very spiritual since childhood, has a good vision, and dares to take action. Although he has a thin physique, he has many characteristics and development prospects." As he was only in the 97 age group at the time, Dai Weijun, who is in the 99 age group, has been "playing small against big" since childhood, not afraid of collisions, and has confidence.
In Dai Weijun's career, his father was his guide. When Dai Weijun was 11 years old, his father moved his family to England in order to provide him with more professional football training. My father warned Dai Weijun, "If you put in the same effort as the local children, you won't get more opportunities."
Dai Weijun joined Reading Youth Training Camp for five years, and at the age of 16, he encountered his first professional setback. "You go, we don't need you anymore," said Reading's youth training coach, bringing Dai Weijun back to a cruel reality. Afterwards, he traveled to various parts of the UK and tested several clubs. By chance, during a match, Dai Weijun's outstanding performance was noticed by scouts from the Premier League One club Bury, and he signed a professional contract with him.
Dai Weijun first established himself in the Bury Youth Team. He once said in an interview, "Later on, when I played for U18, everyone thought I didn't have a chance to make it to the first team, and out of that group, only I made it to the first team." In the 2017-2018 season, Dai Weijun played 8 times for Bury Club in the League One and scored 1 goal.
Becoming a professional player is Dai Weijun's goal. Every day, he is either on the field or in the gym, and the refrigerator is filled with green food. Self discipline and professionalism allow him to resist external interference. Although his weekly salary is only £ 200, Dai Weijun said that being able to play in the UK is his happiest thing.
In August 2018, Dai Weijun transferred to Oxford United but did not receive any playing opportunities; In January 2019, he was loaned to Dutch second division team Utrecht again, representing the youth team and playing 12 times in the Dutch reserve league, contributing 2 assists. In 2019, Dai Weijun was favored by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League. He represented Wolverhampton Wanderers in the U23 league, playing a total of 7 games and scoring 1 goal. In the summer of 2020, 21-year-old Dai Weijun transferred to the Chinese Super League Shenzhen team, playing a total of 60 times for the team, scoring 6 goals and providing 13 assists.
Although he did not make it to the Premier League stage, Dai Weijun grew up in the professional football environment of the UK, cultivating his excellent technical and tactical qualities and overall perspective, far surpassing most of his peers in China. His performance in the Chinese Super League quickly earned him the favor of the national team. In 2021, Dai Weijun was successfully naturalized and incorporated into the Chinese national football team. On January 27, 2022, in the semi-finals of the World Cup Asian qualifiers between China and Japan, Dai Weijun made his debut for the Chinese national team and has made a total of 7 appearances so far. His footwork skills and football awareness displayed on the field have been recognized by the fans.
Since taking over Shanghai Shenhua, the team has made frequent efforts in attracting players, striving for a more reasonable age structure and a thirst for talented young players. Dai Weijun is one of the best internal support options. In addition, during Dai Weijun's time at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sun Xiaotian, the newly appointed Sports Director of Shenhua, served as a director of the Wolverhampton Wanderers team, and this familiar relationship was also more conducive to catalyzing this transfer deal.
After experiencing some twists and turns, Dai Weijun finally held hands with Shen Hua. As a technical midfielder, Dai Weijun's creativity on the field can bring more offensive changes to the team. At the same time, he also has excellent set pieces ability. Dai Weijun's joining will effectively improve the attacking methods and quality of Shenhua's midfield and front court. This season, Dai Weijun will wear the number 9 jersey to play for Shenhua.
