Did Heaven Abandon China? Son Heung-min Urey 34-year-old career biggest crisis → The worst knee reoperation

Jun 20, 2025

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Chinese superstar Wu Lei is in the biggest crisis of his career after undergoing knee surgery again.

Citing a report by China's Eastern Sports Daily on the 20th, China's Dongchu-di quoted 'Urey's visit to various parts of Europe accompanied by a team doctor and was diagnosed by an expert, and finally decided to undergo surgery in Spain. The specialist who performed the surgery was also responsible for the treatment of players from prestigious European clubs such as Barcelona and Manchester City in the past, according to the report.

Wu Lei revealed himself on his personal SNS that he is starting rehabilitation while walking after surgery. Wu Lei "If you want to keep running, you have to go slowly first"In a message, he said he had decided on surgery to play football again.

Wu Lei's reoperation is nothing short of the worst news for China. Chinese superstar Wu Lei injured his meniscus in October last year. At first, I tried to overcome it with rehabilitation, but Urey's condition was serious, and eventually he underwent surgery in January of this year.

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Wu Lei returned in April and was improving his performance to his team Shanghai Hai River, but he began to feel strange in the surgical site while playing in mid-May. Wu Lei tried to play with his injury when China was on the verge of elimination from the World Cup qualifying round, but he was not in a condition to play. In the end, China, which failed to replace Wu Lei, experienced a humiliating elimination from the third round of the World Cup.

Wu Lei was called up to the national team and decided to return to his team to check his condition again. Even after returning to Shanghai, Wu Lei's condition did not improve, and he finally chose to have surgery again. Having surgery on the same part, even the knee twice, cannot help but worry about the player's career. This is because Wu Lei was born in 1991 and is not a young player.

Although he made the best season of his life with 34 goals and 15 assists in 30 league games in the 2024 season, he faced the biggest crisis in his career in half a year. If Wu Lei fails to return to normal performance, China is in an emergency. There are no offensive resources to replace Urey right now. Wang Wang-dong, a promising player born in 2006, is growing rapidly, but it is not comparable to Wu Lei.

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China suffered an empty stomach throughout the third qualifying round of the World Cup. No player could replace Wu Lei, so China would have hoped Wu Lei would recover well and come back. However, it is now questionable whether Wu Lei will return within 2025. China is worried about the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (hereinafter referred to as the East Asian Cup), which is just around the corner.

Unlike other Chinese players, Wu Lei is a player who has succeeded in going to Europe with his skills. Even when the Chinese league released huge amounts of money to recruit high-quality foreign players, it was always at the top of the scoring rankings. Although he didn't always show a good performance in Espanyol, Wu Lei also showed great performance in the Chinese league that came back.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.