Dong Delights Sir Alex as UK Move Nears

Dong Delights SAF
By Chris O'Brien
July 25 2006

Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with Dong Fangzhuo's performance in United's 1-0 pre-season win over the Kaizer Chiefs. The Red Devils manager is now looking to gain clearance for the Chinese youngster to play his football in the UK.

Sir Alex Ferguson has heaped praise on forward Dong Fangzhuo after his match-winning strike against the Kaizer Chiefs in United's second game of their South African tour.

The Chinese striker netted the only goal of the game on 82 minutes and looks a fantastic prospect for the future after an impressive second-half display.

"Dong has the speed, physicality and his technique is improving all the time." said Ferguson.

"He has improved a lot but we expect that and he has to continue it if he wants to be a player. Dong showed a lot of composure for his goal. He could easily have hit it first time but when his opportunity came, he remained patient."

Guesting from United from Royal Antwerp, Fergie is anxious to gain clearance for the 20-year-old to join the club permanently as soon as possible. There are numerous possibilities for the player to gain a work permit to play in the Premiership and United are now exploring all possible avenues with Fangzhuo clearly a player with such terrific potential.

"The situation with him is that he’s been at Antwerp for three years now which means he is soon eligible for a European passport which will be good news for us." added Sir Alex.

"He’s played four times for China now so we could apply on the fact of his potential. In England as it stands now we could get him a work permit on appeal based on his potential because he’s only 20 and has already played for China four times. So in the next nine months he should be at Manchester United."