Biography
Famously made his debut in the Dundee Derby in November 2001 and was sent off to make an immediate impact in Scottish Football, even if for the wrong reasons.
Fan arrived with a huge reputation from his own country being rated the finest footballer ever to come out of his native China for whom he had played 109 times before his arrival at Dens. Not, unfortunately, that Dundee fans had all that much chance to fully appreciate his talents because he was only at Dens for six months.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on which way you looked at it, the punishment of a one match ban for the early bath in his debut was academic given that he had to immediately head back to China, because of Shanghai's progress to the final of the National games.
Even in the 18 games that he was limited to as a Dundee player, it was clear that he was more than just a defender, particularly given that he found the net three times.
In fact, during Shanghai Shenhua's championship-winning season in 1995, he was among the divisional top scorers with 15 goals to his credit.
Fan's arrival in England in 1998 smashed the transfer record for a Chinese player when he joined English First Division side Crystal Palace for £700,000.
At Selhurst Park, Fan played in midfield as well as in his more familiar central defence position. However, it was the constant international call-ups back to his homeland (23 in less than three years) that influenced, then Palace boss, Steve Bruce, to transfer list him at the start of the 2001- 02 season, even though he had just finished the season as Palace Supporter's Player of the season.
Aston Villa and Fulham were quoted to have been interested in acquiring his services, but when he signed for Dundee just after his country had qualified for next year's World Cup, Fan intimated that the chance to play regularly in Scotland before the forthcoming World Cup finals in Japan and Korea was more important than any potential move to an English Premiership club.
And with the player free of any international commitments until the following March he did just that, appearing in seventeen consecutive games, scoring three times.
However, with China's demands for his availability in their preparation for the World Cup Finals in Japan and Korea was the catalyst for his return to China.
Initially, that was on loan to newly promoted Cosco Shanghai making his debut in a derby win over his former club, Shenhua SVA.
China were knocked out in the first round with Fan only playing one game due to injury. China didn't do too well but had a lot of promising stars.
Cosco wanted to keep the tall defender for another few months and, although Fan at the time said, he would like to return to Dens to see out his contract which expired in 2003, the then 32-year old was never did, making that loan move a permanent one, and so the sun set on Dundee's brief Chinese connection.
