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China captain Zheng rejoins Charlton
2007-08-10
China captain Zheng Zhi has signed permanently for Charlton Athletic for two million pounds (four million dollars, three million euros), the club said Thursday. Zheng, 26, was on loan at The Valley from January to May, playing 12 league games and scoring one goal as the Addicks unsuccessfully battled against relegation from the Premiership. The midfielder has returned from Chinese side Shandong Luneng to help Charlton's bid to return to the top flight. South-east London side Charlton have also snapped up striker Izale McLeod from Milton Keynes Dons for 1.55 million pounds. "Zi Zi came to us last season, and his return to us now in the Championship is a huge boost to me, the squad and the club," manager Alan Pardew said. "I'm delighted to sign Izzy and Zheng. I felt in the group of strikers that we had, we lacked someone with genuine speed and pace to stretch teams. "Izzy is going to offer us that and I also feel that he is ready for the step up. He'll come into our pool as one of the strikers hoping to get us 25 goals. "He's capable of that and his challenge now is to achieve that." Pardew has brought 11 new players to The Valley during the pre-season, but he is not happy about one that got away. He has also let centre-half Souleymane Diawara to join French side Bordeaux for an initial fee of 2.6 million pounds. But the former West Ham boss said he was considering taking action against Diawara's agent. "I didn't want to lose Souley," he said. "His agent played a massive part in his departure and I'm currently considering whether to report him to the Football League and the relevant authorities."
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