Of all the greats to grace the Etihad Stadium, Sun Jihai is definitely a footballer.
He definitely played games for the club.
He absolutely kicked a ball, probably to a team-mate, and probably forwards.
The Chinese international scored a stirring four goals (three in the league) in more than six seasons with the club, achieving immortality by playing six times in City’s memorable run of nine home games without a goal under Stuart Pearce.
And now Sun, who we all knew was still playing for Beijing Renhe, has decided to hang up his boots at the age of 39.
Six years of City duty 🔵
130 appearances 🔵Happy retirement, Sun Jihai! ➡️ https://t.co/DnmTjJ5iCH #mcfc pic.twitter.com/GPNZPPi5Tp
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 11, 2016
Now, you might call Sun an unremarkable player, but the 80-cap Chinese international (one goal – about what we expected) is actually a member of the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame.
He’s in good company, and everyone can agree he deserves to share space with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Gianfranco Zola among the foreign Premier League stars honoured by the institution.
Still at least a few people were able to use that ‘Sun sets’ pun they’ve been saving up ever since he left English football all the way back in 2009.
Catch up with this week’s episode of Football Friday Live
