Football: Starting at Dortmund With Kevin De Bruyne’s Template

Li Xiaoan, a prodigy from the Evergrande Football School with Chinese and French citizenship, went to Borussia Dortmund's youth academy at sixteen and was promoted to the first team ahead of schedule at eighteen. He was once seen as the future midfield linchpin of the Black and Yellows.

A torn cruciate ligament sent the prodigy crashing down. After recovering, his form plummeted, leaving him an invisible figure on the fringes of the substitutes' bench. German media mocked him as “an East Asian flop ruined by injuries.”