Most Premier League fans would struggle to conjure vivid memories of former Manchester City defender Sun Jihai. The Chinese international is a figure of a bygone era.
When he arrived in Manchester in 2002 he found a team, managed by Kevin Keegan, about to embark on a fifth consecutive season in a different division to the last. The Cityzens were in a state of flux.
But after Jihai had made the final of his 151 appearances, he waved goodbye to a club only months away from the takeover that would transform their destiny.
However, the fullback is in the rare position of not losing too much sleep over the riches that descended on one half of Manchester on account of his ventures after retirement in 2016.
The 46-year-old co-founded a sports data company, HaiQiu Sports [HQ] later that year and has made millions of his own.
Before moving to City, Jihai had a brief spell on loan with then First Division Crystal Palace and became the first Chinese footballer to play professionally on these shores.
'I changed the British fans’ image of Chinese players.' He told The Times in 2017. 'I let them see what we have instead of the traditional view. I thank the fans. The support I received from fans was one of the biggest affirmations that I had during my time in the UK.'
City purchased the defender for £2m from Dalian Shide before he continued to make history as the first Chinese player in the Premier League, as well as the first scorer from the nation.
His achievements controversially saw him inducted into the National Football Museum's hall of fame in 2015. A move some at the time described as a blatant attempt to curry favour with the visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping.
By that point Jihai was less than a year away from hanging up his boots and starting the company that would become far more successful than anything he did during his playing days.
The former defender's business provides sports media and technology. This also led to him starting a talk show where he promoted his social media app MiaoHi, which connects celebrities to fans and includes a match prediction tool.
Jihai received investment from China Media Capital, who had already purchased a 13 per cent stake in City Football Group. The app reportedly has more than 400 million users and was used by China's football team to stream content during their unsuccessful 2018 World Cup bid.
'I was thinking about creating the company in November 2015 and the company was formed in February 2016 - the decision was taken quite quickly.' He told The Daily Star in 2017.
'It would be rather difficult for your average footballer to enter the technology sector. I was fortunate to have friends and partners who know about technology and other similar areas.
'Talk to different friends who have the capability, not just on the financial side, but also on the business side. When you know more and learn more about the market then perhaps you can figure out something interesting to do.
'But as an athlete you need to have a team of people. Success in the commercial world is really difficult to achieve by yourself. The team is very important.'
Jihai's net worth has been estimated to be in excess of £20m thanks to his extraordinary business venture, though he remains connected to the game.
After leaving City in 2008 - his last game was the infamous 8-1 defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside - he spent a season with Sheffield United before returning to China.
There, he turned out for Chengdu Blades, Guizhou Renhe, Chongqing Lifan and Beijin Rehne before calling it quits. Those years spent back playing domestically would likely have helped him secure the position as the vice-chair of the football association in the Xinjing region.
He also returned to the national team set up as assistant manager for China's final two qualification matches for the 2022 World Cup.
'One of my dreams is to create a coaching education programme for football,' he told The Times. 'It’s hard to do that now while I prepare for a different life but in the future I hope I can do something for China in football in a more direct way.'
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