Zhang completes Wolfsburg move

Chinese soccer player Zhang Xizhe's transfer from Beijing Guoan to Bundesliga side Wolfsburg was completed on Tuesday with his first news conference broadcasted live in China.

The 23-year-old has been given a ­contract until 2017 with Wolfsburg, who are paying Beijing Guoan a reported transfer sum of 1.5 million euros ($1.9 ­million) for the attacking midfielder.

Zhang proved he already has an impressive grasp of German by introducing himself in the language.

"Today is one which has a lot of meaning for me," he said in German. "I am delighted to be able to play for such an excellent club in the Bundesliga. 

"It's a dream to be able to play in a European league."

Such is the interest that China's State broadcaster CCTV screened Zhang's first news conference live (10:30 local time, 17:30 in Beijing) to make use of China's prime time viewing market.

Should Zhang successfully transfer his Chinese Super League form to the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg will have signed a bargain.

But he will be given an extended ­period to adjust to the physicality of German soccer, the culture and the ­language.

"He is quick and can play in all the positions behind the strikers," said Wolfsburg's coach Dieter Hecking. 

"He has to first of all find his feet with us and get used to the level of training.

"There is no set date when he will play, but the main thing is for him to be fit when training starts on January 5.

"But I don't think any of us could have spoken Chinese the way he just spoke German, so he has already demonstrated his professionalism."

Zhang arrived in Germany on Saturday and was in the crowd to watch his new team's 1-1 draw against Paderborn on Sunday which left them second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich.

"He's one of the best players in China and while the interest his signing has already generated in the Chinese and German media is great, this is no public relations stunt," said Klaus Allofs, Wolfsburg's director of sport.

Wolfsburg will hold a training camp in Cape Town, South Africa in January.

Wolfsburg are on course to play in the Champions League next season and the club's website was launched in Chinese on Monday.

Zhang has made 10 international ­appearances for China and scored his first of two international goals in a 6-1 thrashing of Singapore in September 2013.

China's Young Player of 2012 will ­become the only active Chinese player in the German league, but not the first.

He will follow in the footsteps of Hao Junmin, who made 14 league ­appearances for Schalke 04 in 2010 and 2011; Shao Jiayi, who joined 1860 Munich in 2003, then Energie Cottbus in 2006; and striker Yang Chen, who made 65 Bundesliga appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt up until 2001, scoring 16 goals.