More than 40 million people watched Wu Lei's Espanyol debut in China LaLiga 177,000 watched on television in Spain

Wu Lei has been at Espanyol for less than two weeks, playing just 12 minutes in his side's 2-2 draw away Villarreal, yet his impact at the Catalan side has already been monumental.

In Sunday's early kick-off, 40 million people in China watched the forward make his debut against Villarreal, compared to just 177,000 in Spain.

An interesting match to compare is Wednesday night's Clasico at the Camp Nou, which attracted 10 million viewers.

The effect of Wu Lei's cameo with Los Blanquiazules can be shown by the fact that Espanyol had just over seven million people watch their 17 matches from the start of the season in August to the end of December.

It should be remembered that the 27-year-old's presentation reached 350 million people in China, too.

With regard to playing, Wu Lei is pushing to be included in Rubi's line-up for the must-win game against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday at the RCDE Stadium, and he has undergone extra physical work in training, along with Facundo Ferreyra, another of Espanyol's new signings.

The third player that arrived in January, Alfa Semedo, missed Wednesday's training session as he settled some bureaucratic issues back in Portugal that prohibited him from being in squad against Villarreal, but he returned to training on Thursday with the issue sorted and he is available to face Rayo.