Man City cult hero Sun Jihai is now multi-millionaire business mogul worth £20million

Manchester City cult hero Sun Jihai is now a multi-millionaire worth £20million.

The Chinese ex-international footballer spent six years on the blue side of the city, making 130 appearances.

And he wrote himself into the history books, becoming the first player from the country to appear and score in the Premier League.

One of his most memorable appearances actually came in the 8-1 defeat the Cityzens suffered at home to Middlesbrough, a year before Arabian wealth arrived.

Jihai became one of several City players who were sent packing, heading to Sheffield United in 2008 before returning to China the following year.

While his footballing career did not hit Premier League-winning heights, he has reached the top off the pitch.

On the year of his retirement in 2016, the defender co-founded his own sports data company called HaiQui [HQ] Sports.

Starting the business during his year with Beijing Renhe, Jihai created a company aimed that provides sports media, technology and “datatainment”.

It combined a talk show featuring the man himself, a sports social media app called MiaoHi and a match prediction tool called Jihai App.

And he used the City connection to get some massive funding wishing months of setting up.

China Media Capital, which is valued at $60billion, put a “multi million dollar” investment behind the Maine Road hero the following December, alongside Tencent and the Yuan Xu Fund.

The company already had a link to the club after buying a 13% stake in City Football Group a year earlier at $400million.

Jihai’s big playing card in securing the investment was the MiaoHi app, a short-video sports social media platform that connects celebrities and fans.

With 2,000 celebrities on the database at the time, the app has now grown to a user base of 400million.

This was down to deals struck with China’s national football team to stream their content during they 2018 World Cup qualification campaign.

While the acquisition of SnapPlay from UK-based Fenway Games allowed HQ Sports to get into the Premier League market, using a vital 60-second betting game, and other European tournaments.

All of Jihai’s work has seen him get valued at more than £20million, according to PeopleWorthWiki .

But he told the Daily Star three years ago that it all happened fast, saying: “I was thinking about creating the company in November 2015 and the company was formed in February 2016 - the decision was taken quite quickly.”

Jihai continues to be a leading voice in Chinese football, sitting as vice chairman of the FA in the Xinjiang region.

While his legacy in the Premier League remains strong, earning a place in the National Football Museum for an "ambassadorial role" in raising the profile of English football in China.

The ex-City man's addition to the Hall of Fame came in the same week that Chinese president Xi Jinping made a state visit to the UK in 2015.

But the 43-year-old is not impressed with the influx of foreign managers that comes to the Super League.

Speaking after former West Brom boss Slaven Bilic was hired by Beijing Guoan, the ex-City man said: “Foreign coaches come to China for a very simple purpose: a pay check.”

“Otherwise what are they coming for? Do they want to improve the level of Chinese soccer? Then what have they done?”