Most Premier League fans would struggle to conjure vivid memories of former Manchester City defender Sun Jihai. The Chinese international is a figure of a bygone era.
When he arrived in Manchester in 2002 he found a team, managed by Kevin Keegan, about to embark on a fifth consecutive season in a different division to the last. The Cityzens were in a state of flux.
But after Jihai had made the final of his 151 appearances, he waved goodbye to a club only months away from the takeover that would transform their destiny.
However, the fullback is in the rare position of not losing too much sleep over the riches that descended on one half of Manchester on account of his ventures after retirement in 2016.
The 46-year-old co-founded a sports data company, HaiQiu Sports [HQ] later that year and has made millions of his own.
Before moving to City, Jihai had a brief spell on loan with then First Division Crystal Palace and became the first Chinese footballer to play professionally on these shores.
'I changed the British fans’ image of Chinese players.' He told The Times in 2017. 'I let them see what we have instead of the traditional view. I thank the fans. The support I received from fans was one of the biggest affirmations that I had during my time in the UK.'
City purchased the defender for £2m from Dalian Shide before he continued to make history as the first Chinese player in the Premier League, as well as the first scorer from the nation.
His achievements controversially saw him inducted into the National Football Museum's hall of fame in 2015. A move some at the time described as a blatant attempt to curry favour with the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
By that point Jihai was less than a year away from hanging up his
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