Espanyol’s trip to Villarreal in La Liga attracted more than 40million viewers in China hoping to catch a glimpse of their new January signing.
The Catalan club signed Wu Lei from Shanghai SIPG – a player who has been dubbed the ‘Chinese Maradona’.
The 27-year-old made a substitute appearance in the 2-2 draw at Villarreal watched by an astonishing amount of people.
Domestically, the game only attracted 177,000 viewers but this was dwarfed by the interest in the Far East.
Spanish newspaper Marca report that the total audience for all 17 of their league matches is just over seven million.
But the £1.8million signing appears to be a masterstroke by Espanyol in raising their profile in China.
The club sold 2,000 replica shirts with his name and number on the back in the 48 hours after his signing was announced.
Their social media following has also seen an increase of 20,500 outside of China and this figure exceeds half a million in the country.
Espanyol are owned by Chinese billionaire Chen Yansheng and he is keen to raise the profile of La Liga in his home country.
The transfer is not just for publicity, though, as he netted 27 goals in 29 games for Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League last season.
He averaged around a goal every other game for the Shanghai side where he netted 151 times in 296 matches.
The forward has also represented China 63 times and scored 15 goals.
Wu has reportedly been scouted by the likes of Barcelona while Wolves were tipped to sign him last summer.
He was dubbed the ‘Chinese Maradona’ by a former coach and has received praise from the likes of Marcelo Lippi and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Lippi, the former Italy boss, who now manages in China, said: “Wu has been performing very well lately, no matter whether it is in the league or with the national team.
“I’m very satisfied with his performance. His effort on the pitch was clear to all and he always creates opportunities at key moments.”
Wu also caught the eye of interim Manchester United manager Solskjaer, who was at Molde at the time.
He said: “If he moves to Molde, I think he can improve well enough to play for an English Premiership side in a year.”