Dong eyes England after training in Man Utd
(Edwin Chong)
Updated: 2003-10-09 16:03

Chinese starlet Dong Fangzhuo has revealed his desire to play in England after impressing on a month-long training stint with Manchester United.

Dong Fangzhuo poses for picture during the week-long training with Manchester United.

The Dalian Shide striker recently returned from a player exchange programme with The Red Devils, where he had the opportunity to train with the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ryan Giggs.

When asked about the quality of training and facilities at United, Dong said they live up to their reputation of being one of the best football academies in the world.

"Manchester is a very conducive place to develop one's football skills," he said. "I felt that every day was a fresh learning experience and it is hard to pin point a specific area where I had benefited.

"The big name players are all very friendly but I felt that in order for others to sit up and respect what you are doing, one must prove his worth.

"Over there, nationality means nothing because as long as you are a good player, everyone will naturally appreciate what you are all about."

Although the training stint was only a month long, the 21-year-old is confident he is a better player now and believes a move to England could possibly be on the cards.

"I think I've improved a bit from this short spell. Under such circumstances, it will be foolish if I did not pick up anything," Dong added.

"There were several friendly matches and sometimes we train on small pitches, on others we conduct our exercises on a bigger field.

"What made me happy was that I had scored a couple of goals. Seems to me that I had practically scored at least once a day and that did well for my confidence.

"I want to thank Dalian for giving me such a glorious chance and the fans as well for constantly giving me the moral support.

"As for a possible return, I would love to go back but I will have to leave it to the respective clubs to iron the details out."