A decade ago, England youth international Tyias Browning made his Everton debut against Liverpool at Anfield, a baptism of fire in one of British football’s fiercest derbies.
Fast forward and the defender has a new name and is currently playing at the Asian Cup in Qatar for China.
Now 29 and officially going by “Jiang Guangtai”, Browning retains the unmistakable accent of his home city of Liverpool despite his reinvention as a bedrock at the heart of China’s defence.
“Tyias is a top player and professional, very serious, with a big experience in football, and that is precious for our team,” China’s Serbian coach Aleksandar Jankovic said on Tuesday in Doha.
“He can match up in duels, intensity, strength, speed, everything.”
Browning’s unusual journey began in 2019 when he left his boyhood club Everton and joined Guangzhou Evergrande.
At the time Guangzhou were the most successful team in the Chinese Super League, which itself was throwing money at bringing internationals such as Oscar and Carlos Tevez to the country.
Italian defensive legend Fabio Cannavaro was Guangzhou’s coach.
After a protracted couple of years sorting out the paperwork, Browning — by this time Jiang — made his debut for his newly adopted country.
He followed in the footsteps of another former England youth international in Nico Yennaris, who made history in 2019 as China’s first naturalised footballer, part of a policy back then to help the country reach the World Cup for only the second time.
Now 30, former Arsenal reserve Yennaris, known in China as Li Ke, is not in Qatar.
Browning, who qualified to play for China because of his grandfather, last week spoke to Chinese media — in English — about his “excitement” at playing his first Asian Cup.
‘Precious role model’
Browning’s debut in the tournament did not exactly go as planned.
China, who have still only reached the World Cup once despite President Xi Jinping’s grand ambitions, were held 0-0 by competition newcomers Tajikistan.
China thought they had snatched an undeserved victory late on but Zhu Chenjie’s header from a corner was ruled out for offside following a VAR check with Browning loitering on the goal-line.
Had Browning’s career continued on its initial upward trajectory he might have been eyeing up the European Championship with England this summer, rather than sweating it out for a draw with Tajikistan.
He joined Everton aged 10, played for England up to under-21 level and made his club debut in 2014 as a substitute in the 1-1 derby draw at Anfield.
Browning made nine appearances for Everton but failed to establish himself. Loans to Preston and Sunderland followed, before he left the Goodison Park club in 2019.
Then came his China adventure and a Chinese league title with Guangzhou, the first major honour of his career.
He moved to Shanghai Port, where he plays with former Chelsea star Oscar, and won the Chinese Super League again last season.
Jankovic, whose side are under pressure to get their Asian Cup campaign back on track against Lebanon on Wednesday, said Browning was “precious” in helping China’s younger players.
“We have a lot of young defenders coming behind him so he’s a kind of role model for them,” he said.
“So his role is not only on the field, but also off it.”
