Manchester City’s history goes back many decades, and every generation of fan has been blessed with players who achieved hero status at both Maine Road and the Etihad Stadium.
From the icons of yesteryear like Colin Bell to contemporary legends like Sergio Aguero, City fans have been spoilt for role models over the decades.
Even during some of the tougher or less heralded times for Manchester City, there have been players who will be remembered fondly.
Manchester City News looks at the career of a player who plied his trade for City in the early 2000s and made Premier League history.
How Sun Jihai made Premier League history while at Manchester City
In 2002, a Premier League-bound Man City paid Dalian Shide around £2million to sign China international midfielder Sun Jihai.
Sun already had some English football experience, spending time on loan at Crystal Palace in the 1998/99 season alongside fellow China international Fan Zhiyi.
Sun didn’t take long to make an impact, winning City fans over with his combative and tireless displays, his defensive contributions, and his dangerous forays in attack.
In September 2002, Sun won the club’s Player of the Month award, and a month later, he scored his first goal in a 2-0 win at Birmingham City.
On 26 minutes, Sun burst forward from the back and met Eyal Berkovic’s cross with a powerful header to open the scoring.
In doing so, Sun – the first Chinese player to play in the Premier League – became the first East Asian to score in the competition.
Sun was a fan favourite throughout his time at City, making 151 appearances before leaving at the end of the 2007/08 campaign.
In 2015, Sun also became the first Chinese player inducted into the Football Museum Hall of Fame
| Years | Team | Apps | Goals |
| 1995–2002 | Dalian Shide | 123 | 7 |
| 1998–1999 | → Crystal Palace (loan) | 23 | 0 |
| 2002–2008 | Manchester City | 130 | 3 |
| 2008–2009 | Sheffield United | 12 | 0 |
| 2009 | → Chengdu Blades (loan) | 10 | 0 |
| 2010–2014 | Guizhou Renhe | 118 | 1 |
| 2015 | Chongqing Lifan | 28 | 0 |
| 2016 | Beijing Renhe | 9 | 0 |
| Total | 453 | 11 | |
| 1996–2008 | China | 80 | 1 |
What Sun Jihai is doing now
Sun, who hung up his boots in 2016, is the co-founder of HaiQui [HQ] Sports, which provides sports media, technology and ‘datatainment’.
As per talkSPORT, Sun also hosted a talk show where he promoted his sports social media app MiaoHi – which connects celebrities to fans – and ‘match prediction tool’ Jihai App.
Sun’s personal wealth as a result of his business ventures is reported to be around £20million.
“One of my dreams is to create a coaching education programme for football,” the outlet quoted Sun as saying.
“It’s hard to do that now while I prepare for a different life but in the future I hope I can do something for China in football in a more direct way.
“I do believe with the investment China is making that becoming a force in football will come faster than we were expecting.”
