Wei Xiangxin: The sooner you go out, the better

Reporter Wang Wei reports From completing the trial of the Ligue 1 team to being selected for the U22 national team across the age group of 5 years old, Wei Xiangxin, who is only 17 years old this year, has created a lot of miracles. On the afternoon of May 22, Wei Xiangxin transferred from Meizhou Wuhua to Guangzhou to meet with Meizhou Hakka teammate Wei Zhiwei, who was also selected for the U22 national team, in Guangzhou. With the help of our reporter, before leaving for the U22 national team to report, Xiao Wei deliberately went to the stadium to practice, during which he also shared with reporters his three-week trial for French team Auxerre.

For Wei Xiangxin, 2025 can be called the "year of rushing", and he has been on the road for football.

During the winter training in 2025, Wei Xiangxin returned to Meizhou Hakka to prepare for the Chinese Super League, and made his Super League debut in the second round of the league on the evening of March 1 this year. He then traveled to Foshan, Guangdong, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Taif from March 6 to compete in the Asian Cup with the U17 national junior team until returning to China on April 11.

Subsequently, Wei Xiangxin received an invitation from the French club Auxerre to go to the Ligue 1 team for a trial at the end of April. After the end of the Auxerre tour on May 18, Wei Xiangxin immediately received another call for the U22 national team, and was selected for the U22 national team together with his teammate Buniamin, who was a junior at the age of 5.

This time, the U22 national team required the players to report to Dalian before 2 pm on May 23, because there was no direct flight to Dalian in Meizhou, Wei Xiangxin and two other Meizhou Hakka teammates Wei Zhiwei and Zhang Hao who were selected for the training camp met in Guangzhou, ready to take the flight from Guangzhou to Dalian early in the morning of May 23.

After 3 p.m. on May 22, Wei Xiangxin arrived in Guangzhou by high-speed train from Wuhua. Because it was still early, after Wei Xiangxin and Wei Zhiwei met in Guangzhou, they said that they wanted to find a place to "activate their muscles". So the reporter of this newspaper acted as a guide for the two Xiao Wei and drove 15 kilometers to find a court with a gym for them, so that they could practice both muscles and ball.

During the exercise, Wei Xiangxin and Wei Zhiwei competed in the mirror from time to time to compete for muscles, and it could be seen that the two were usually very self-disciplined, and the relationship between the two was good. The two Xiao Wei are both from Hengpi Town, Wuhua County, Meizhou City, and it is definitely a good story to be able to emerge two national players in the same town.

The city of Guangzhou is both strange and familiar to Wei Xiangxin, and in the first two years, he has been training with the Guangdong National Games team at the bamboo football base in Guangzhou, and rarely goes to the city center to play. This time, during his short stay in Guangzhou before rushing to Dalian, he did not choose to go to the bustling urban area, but seized the time to practice his body and ball. Wei Xiangxin didn't even know how long the drive from Guangzhou Tianhe to Baiyun Airport was, because he had to catch an early flight to Dalian at 6 o'clock in the morning on the 23rd.

Talking about the selection of the U22 national team this time, Wei Xiangxin said: "I didn't expect to be able to enter the national Olympic team so soon, and the next step is to try to kick out my own things, play my best, strive to gain the trust of the coach, and make my own contribution to the team." ”

A month ago, the 17-year-old Wei Xiangxin embarked on a trial tour for Ligue 1 club Auxerre, and completed his first training session after arriving at Auxerre on April 30 local time. From April 30 to May 18, Wei Xiangxin spent 18 days experiencing French football, and he said that he had gained a lot.

Founded in 1905, AJ Auxerre is a French club with a long history and a strong tradition in the youth field. In 2016, Chinese entrepreneur Zhou Yunjie invested in the acquisition of the club, helping Auxerre's first team return to Ligue 1 for the 2022-2023 season. Over the years, AJJ has established a number of youth football clubs across China to discover potential players and provide a broader development platform for young players. They provide these young players with the opportunity to train and play in Europe with high quality, improve the players' competitive level, and then promote the improvement of Chinese football.

This trial in Auxerre made Wei Xiangxin feel a lot of differences. "Even in the club's B team, the pace is quite fast, the physicality is intense, the transition is fast, the players are physical, the fitness is good, and their technique is definitely at a relatively high level in Europe." Wei Xiangxin said, "At first, I felt that there was a gap with them, and when I first started training together, I was still a little unconfident. But by the second week, my confidence had improved a lot and I was determined that I would definitely take the opportunity to play here, now and in the future, and hopefully one day I could succeed in Europe. ”

During his time at AJERRE, in addition to training and matches, Wei Xiangxin spent most of his time observing and learning about French football culture. Because of the language barrier, he didn't communicate much with other local players. "When I first arrived, I felt like they all looked the same, and by the time I left, my teammates hadn't recognized them all." Wei Xiangxin said with a smile, "But there are more than a dozen Chinese staff and coaches at AJ Auxerre, and we usually eat together in the restaurant, and we also play football and have dinner together on weekends, and they take good care of me." The team's Chinese coach often reminds me to be more confident when I go to France. ”

For Wei Xiangxin, the significance of this European trial trip is not only to improve his personal skills, but also to broaden his horizons, increase his knowledge, experience the strong atmosphere of European football, and learn the professionalism and attitude of European players. These experiences will be an invaluable asset in his future career and will help him better adapt to the high-level competition environment.

When asked by reporters about the difficulties that Chinese players may encounter in studying abroad, Wei Xiangxin said that as far as he is concerned, the first thing is the language barrier, and the language barrier will cause obstacles to communication in training and life. "Sometimes in the confrontation training, my teammates don't pass the ball to me because of poor communication, so language is very important for foreign players. If I have the opportunity to play at Auxerre in the future, I will learn French first. At present, it is necessary to strengthen the learning of English on a daily basis. ”

Secondly, Wei Xiangxin believes that physical confrontation is also a big challenge for Chinese foreign players, and it took him about three or four days to integrate into the team before he can play some cooperation with the players of Auxerre B team. "After three weeks of training at Auxerre B, what struck me the most was the physical strength of the players and the intensity of the confrontations on the pitch. The players in this team are basically born between 04 and 08, they are all reserve players, and they all have a chance to enter the first team. Wei Xiangxin said.

Before leaving for France from China, Wei Xiangxin's mother told her son to relax in his mentality after arriving in Auxerre, stay in France if he can, and look for opportunities in the future if he can't stay in Auxerre. Don't be discouraged if you don't get selected, come back and play well.

"At the end of the three-week trial, I didn't have a clear answer to the question of where I was going to stay, but for me, I still want to go out and play if I have the chance. Wei Xiangxin said, "I am also very grateful to the owner of Meizhou Hakka Football Club for being willing to let me go to France for a trial during the league, and thank you for the itinerary along the way." After Wei Xiangxin returned to Meizhou, his relatives, friends and teammates asked him about Auxerre's trial. I told you about what I saw and trained at AJ Auxerre. There are more than 30,000 people in the town where Auxerre is located, and there are relatively few people, but even though there are not many locals, there are many people who watch Auxerre's games. I watched two Ligue 1 games at AJ Auxerre and the crowd was very welcoming, the French players were very technical and the speed transition was very fast. When Wei Xiangxin told reporters about this, there was light in his eyes.

Wei Xiangxin also said that Chinese players must try in Europe if they have the opportunity, "My most direct feeling at Arsenal is that the sooner you go out to play, it may be better." Now I want to train and compete hard and get a chance to go out again. ”