SAM ALLARDYCE looked up at the player billed as China’s Peter Crouch and said: “He doesn’t have to call me Big Sam!”
The Bolton boss is dwarfed by 6ft 9in striker Yang Changpeng from Wuhan FC, Wanderers’ sister club in China.
Chinese Under-20 hitman Yang is spending a month at the Reebok with another of Wuhan’s most promising stars, Zhou Liao.
Yang, 17, is reckoned to be the tallest player in world football and is two inches higher than his idol, Liverpool and England beanpole Crouch.
Allardyce said: “This is not a trial because the lads have to be full internationals before we’d get work permits.
"It is a chance for us to have a look at them and for them to get a taste of life in the Premiership.
“Like Crouchie, Yang is not just a handful in the air. He’s very skilful with the ball at his feet.”
Yang, who hopes to meet Crouch, said: “We see the Premiership on TV at home. He’s my favourite player.
“My nickname at home is ‘Two Metres’ but people also call me Crouchie.”
Chris Sully, Bolton’s Academy director, said: “Yang discovered KFC, which isn’t something we’d recommend.
“We told him to eat more at home and now his landlord’s complaining he’s being eaten out of house and home.
“It takes a fair bit of food to fill that lad up.”
21 October 2006
FOOTBALL: PREDATOR - CHINESE SAVED BY THE COLONEL
IT'S clear that teenagers are the same the whole world over after Bolton's Chinese imports Yang Changpeng and Zhou Liao discovered the delights of KFC.
Apparently, the Colonel's fried chicken is the favourite food of the giant 6ft 9in Yang and Zhou.
"They had a little bit of a problem with the diet and accepting western food until they found KFC," said Bolton's academy director Chris Sulley.
"We wouldn't recommend it, but they're big lads and need filling up." Luckily for Yang and Zhou, there's a KFC right beside the Reebok.