Hyundai A-League club to trial Chinese winger

Newcastle Jets will trial a Chinese winger during the club’s pre-season tour later this month in China.

A report in the Newcastle Herald on Tuesday revealed 27-year-old Ma Leilei will link with the Jets when they arrive in China on August 25.

Click here for the official Newcastle Herald site

Leilei has been playing in the Portuguese second division with Cova da Piedade but also spent five seasons in the CSL at Tianjin Teda, where he scored two goals.

If the trial goes to plan its understood Leilei will fill the final spot on the Jets roster, with new owner Martin Lee keen to have a Chinese player in the club’s squad.

“Ma is training in China and will join us in Shenyang ahead of the game against Liaoning,” Jets chief executive Lawrie McKinna said in the Herald.

“We will assess him at training but we will also want to see him in games.”

The Jets will play three matches on their tour to China with their new Finnish signing Aleksandr Kokko to be part of the trip. 

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Scott Miller’s troops will take on Dario Vidosic and Michael Thwaite’s Liaoning Whowin, Hong Kong champions Eastern FC and Shenzhen Renren.

“The pre-season is so long and it is just brilliant to get away,” McKinna said.

“There are a lot of new players in the mix. Nigel Boogaard and Morten Nordstrand are getting close to playing and obviously Kokko and the Chinese lad.”