Zheng Zhi Scores for Charlton

When a Premiership club signs a player from the Far East there is always the suspicion, often well-founded, that their arrival owes more to marketing than football. Yesterday Zheng Zhi, Charlton’s loaned Chinese import, showed he is here to do more than sell shirts.

On his first start for the club the China captain scored the opening goal, then won the penalty from which Jerome Thomas struck the second as Charlton gave themselves real hope of avoiding the drop. Charlton shirts will doubtless be changing hands this morning on the streets of Jinan, where Zheng plays for Shandong Luneng, but his value to Charlton lies in the £40m reward for playing in next season’s Premiership. Read more…