Espanyol have lived in the shadows of city rivals Barcelona for decades but the arrival of China forward Wu Lei raised the club’s profile ahead of Saturday’s derby at the Camp Nou.
Wu was the Chinese Super League’s top goal scorer when he moved to the ‘Periquitos’ (The Budgerigars) in January and has scored once and claimed two assists in seven La Liga appearances.
“He’s one of the most important transfers for Espanyol in recent years but on the media level he is probably the most important,” Espanyol’s director of marketing Agusti Filomeno told AFP.
Wu’s impact off the field has seen the number of followers on the club’s social media channels cross the 2 million mark, 800,000 of them on Chinese platforms, an overall increase of 65 per cent in two months.
The club has also sold just under 10,000 shirts with Lei’s name and his number, 24, on the back, compared to the 700 personalised jerseys sold on average for other players each season.
“We…
