Hong Kong star trained with PSG and Ajax but is living his dream in the city
France-born winger becoming important figure for city coach Ashley Westwood following debut this year
After training with the France national youth team, and attending camps at Paris Saint-Germain and Ajax, Raphael Merkies thought moving to Hong Kong in 2016 would wreck his football dream.
Nine years later, as an increasingly important figure for the representative team, the Paris-born winger said coming to the city was the making of him.
Merkies said it was an easy decision to obtain a passport last year. He made his city team debut in January’s Hong Kong-Guangdong Cup, then secured a transfer from Southern to four-time Chinese Super League champions Shandong Taishan the following month. He is set to add to his three caps at the forthcoming East Asian Championship finals in South Korea.
“My mum was a bit more hesitant about me naturalising, because the French passport is very strong,” Merkies said. “But I had no doubts, and she accepted my decision quite quickly once I’d explained how the passport would help my football.
“My first target was to represent Hong Kong. It’s where I grew up and started my career. I want to pay back the trust of the coach, and the support of the fans and Hong Kong.”
Merkies had a trial with the France youth teams at the federation’s Clairefontaine headquarters around the age of 10.