His international team-mate, and ex-captain of the international side, Du Wei, managed only forty-five minutes in Celtic's first team during his six month stint in Glasgow but the present Chinese international captain Zheng Zhi, who prefers the same nickname, ZZ, as his hero Zinedine Zidane, is confident that he can make a more positive impression in the SPL.
"I know Du Wei spent half a season at Celtic." said the midfielder. "But he didn't make a lot of appearances. Maybe there were some reasons for that, I don't know. I am here to play football and I would like to get more opportunities. When he was at Celtic I talked to him a bit about the club. But now he is playing in the Chinese Premier League and we don't talk a lot because that is a fair distance from here. The Chinese people expected him to make it at Celtic - but he didn't get a lot of appearances and a lot of his Chinese fans were left disappointed."
"The most important thing for me is to get familiar with my team-mates." said Celtic's new number 27. "How do they play football and what is their style? I think I will mainly stay in the midfield area. We had a few matches against West Brom in the Championship and Tony Mowbray must have been impressed with the job I did at Charlton. He brought me to Celtic because I can be a utility player. I want to bring that versatility and experience to the team so I can fit in as quickly as possible. Celtic are a great club. I feel delighted to be here."
Free agent Zheng signed a one-year deal and the club have the option of extending that for a further 12 months. The player was mystified when the Scottish media attempted to draw comparisons between himself and the dearly departed Shunsuke Nakamura and quickly dismissed that line of questioning. He admitted that he may need two or three weeks training before he's ready for the rigours involved in Scotland's top flight and in the Europa League.
"I know Nakamura had good success with Celtic, but I don't want to be compared with anyone else." he stated. "I would like to have my own style and I will do my best to help Celtic. I played three matches with the Chinese national team in the summer and I spent a lot of time training with my home town club Liaoning. It could take two to three weeks to get my fitness up, but it all really depends on how things are going."
Boss Tony Mowbray re-iterated that ZZ was signed purely on what he brings to the club as a player rather than as a commodity that will appeal to a market containing almost a fifth of the world's population. "It was totally a football decision." said Mowbray. "I don't think he is here to sell jerseys in Asia. With all due respect to some of the commercial people at our club, I don't think they'd ever heard of him. If there is a commercial side, then good. But I don't think we will be selling a billion Celtic shirts in China. I don't think many of us are sitting here thinking 'Wow, we've landed on a pot of gold here'."
The fact that the manager seriously attempted to sign Zheng whilst he was the boss at West Brom would seem to confirm that Mowbray only has eyes for the midfielder's footballing abilities and after just one training session at Lennoxtown Mogga's already impressed at the way ZZ has slotted in beside his first choice midfield. "We came pretty close to signing him for West Brom." recalled the boss. "We agreed a fee of £2million I think. He's here because he's technically and athletically good enough. There was a bit of evidence yesterday, with his boots on, that he will work very well with Scott Brown, Landry N'Guemo and people like that. I think he can also be a scoring threat. His touch is excellent, his passing weight is good and decision making excellent."