Espanyol to offer limited edition Wu Lei shirt in Chinese characters

La Liga club Espanyol is coming out with a limited edition shirt with Wu Lei's name in Chinese characters on it, according to the club's website.

Ahead of Espanyol's game against bottom sitters Huesca later this month, the club is offering 100 of the shirts exclusively through its online store to further take advantage of the "Wu Lei effect", which saw the number of followers to the club's social media accounts in China surge by over 520,000.

Wu Lei during Espanyol's La Liga game against Rayo Vallecano on February 9, 2019. [Photo: IC]

Barcelona's Sport.es reported on its English site that just two weeks after his arrival, some 5,000 shirts carrying Wu Lei's name have been sold, making his No. 24 shirt the bestseller for the club this season.

Espanyol confirmed that over 40 million people in China watched Wu's debut at his new club earlier this month.

Wu substituted at the 77th minute in Espanyol's 2-2 away draw against Villarreal and came onto the pitch again at the 34th minute in their home game against Rayo Vallecano, where Wu won a penalty in his side's 2-1 victory.

Wu Lei joined Espanyol from Chinese Super League winners Shanghai SIPG in late January. The 27-year-old won China's Golden Boot last season and was the domestic top scorer in China's top flight in the past five years.