Wu Lei

Wu Lei (born 19 November 1991) is a Chinese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port and the China national team.

Wu is widely regarded as one of the best Chinese players of his generation and one of the best Chinese strikers of all time.

He is currently the all-time top goalscorer for Shanghai SIPG with 200 goals, and ties with former teammate Elkeson as the all-time Chinese Super League top goalscorer with 131 goals.

Wu also holds the record for being the youngest player to have appeared in a Chinese professional league match aged 14 years and 287 days.

Wu was born in Nanjing and developed a passion for football at an early age.

Turned down by Jiangsu Sainty's youth academy for being too small, Wu took a recommendation letter from former Chinese footballer Li Hongbing and went to Shanghai to apply for the Genbao Football Base in 2003.

After watching a single training session of Wu, Xu Genbao, the founder and owner of Genbao Football Base, decided to recruit Wu.

Later in 2005, Wu and his teammates joined Shanghai East Asia, which was jointly founded by Xu Genbao.

Wu started his football career playing for third-tier side Shanghai SIPG, making his debut for the club on 2 September 2006 in a 5–3 loss against Yunnan Lijiang Dongba, making him the youngest ever player to play professional Chinese football aged 14 years and 287 days.

He helped the club win the third tier title and promotion to the second tier at the end of the 2007 league season.

Wu was also named as the Chinese Football Association Footballer of the Year at the end of the season, becoming the first Chinese footballer to win the award since Du Zhenyu in 2007.

He scored his first goal for the club on 30 August 2008 in a 2–0 win against Qingdao Hailifeng.

This made him the second youngest goalscorer in Chinese football aged 16 years and 289 days, just 47 days behind Cao Yunding's record.

On 8 March 2013, Wu scored on his Chinese Super League debut, in a 4–1 away defeat at Beijing Guoan.

Wu scored a hat-trick on 2 June 2013 in a 6–1 win against Shanghai Shenxin, becoming the second youngest player to score a hat-trick in the top tier.

He scored his second hat-trick of the season on 18 August 2013 in a 3–2 win against Tianjin Teda.

He scored his third hat-trick of the season on 27 September 2013 in a 6–1 win against Qingdao Jonoon.

His goal, a header in the third minute, was the fastest in the club's European history and was also the first goal scored by a Chinese footballer in any European continental competition since 2013.

On 31 July 2016, Wu became the first Chinese footballer in over two years to score a hat-trick in the Chinese Super League in a 3–3 draw against Guangzhou R&F.

On 18 March 2018, he scored four goals in a 5–2 win against Guangzhou R&F, becoming the second Chinese footballer to score four goals in a league match after Li Jinyu.

On 11 August 2018, Wu scored his 89th Chinese Super League goal in a 2–0 home win against Shanghai Shenhua, becoming the competition's record goalscorer, surpassing previous record of 88 by former Shandong Luneng striker Han Peng.

Wu won the 2018 Chinese Super League with SIPG, while he also won the Golden Boot award with 27 goals, becoming the first Chinese footballer to win the award since Li Jinyu in 2007.

On 28 January 2019, Wu transferred to La Liga side RCD Espanyol for a reported fee of €2 million, signing a three-year contract with an option for an additional year.

He made his debut for the club on 3 February 2019 in a 2–2 draw against Villarreal, coming on as a substitute for his teammate, Dídac Vilà in the 77th minute.

It was watched by more than 40 million people in China, as he was one of the very few Chinese players to play outside of Asia.

He became the second Chinese footballer to play in La Liga after Zhang Chengdong.

On 9 February 2019, he came on as a substitute and earned a penalty which produced the equalizer in a 2–1 win against Rayo Vallecano.

On 17 February 2019, Wu became the first Chinese footballer to start a La Liga match in a 0–0 draw against Valencia CF.

Wu scored his first goal for the club on 2 March 2019 in a 3–1 win against Real Valladolid, becoming the first Chinese footballer to score in La Liga.

On 24 April 2019, Wu scored his second goal for the club in a 1–1 draw against Celta.

On 18 May 2019, Wu scored his third goal for the club in a 2–0 win against Real Sociedad, securing Espanyol's spot in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League qualifying stages.

On 25 July 2019, Wu made his UEFA Europa League debut in the qualifying rounds in a 4–0 win against Stjarnan, coming on as a substitute for Esteban Granero.

A month later, he scored his first goal in the same competition in a 3–0 win against Luzern.

On 3 October 2019, Wu became the first Chinese footballer ever to score in European competition, excluding qualifying stages, scoring in a 2–0 win against CSKA Moscow.

The club suffered relegation at the end of 2019–20 La Liga but made an immediate return in the following year after winning the 2020–21 Segunda División.

On 15 August 2021, Wu made his 100th appearance for the club in a 0–0 away draw at CA Osasuna.

On 11 August 2022, Wu returned to Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port signing a contract until 2027.

On 20 September 2022, Wu made his second debut for Shanghai Port in a 2–1 win against Henan Songshan Longmen.

On 29 September 2022, he scored his first 2 goals after returning in a 3–0 win against Chengdu Rongcheng.

On 4 January 2020, Wu became the first Chinese player to score against Barcelona, scoring a 88th-minute equaliser for Espanyol after coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 draw.