Moukandjo: Cameroon captain joins China's Beijing Renhe
The scorer of seven goals in 10 games last season with JS Suning, Benjamin Moukandjo now joins CSL rivals Beijing Renhe on loan.
Cameroon captain Benjamin Moukandjo has joined Chinese Super League side Beijing Renhe on a one-year loan deal from rivals Jiangsu Suning, the club announced on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old, who joined JS Suning last summer from French side Lorient, will occupy Renhe’s final foreign player slot and will play alongside former Atlético Madrid midfielder Augusto Fernández.
The striker’s departure will allow Suning to recruit the Ghanaian forward Richmond Boakye from Red Star Belgrade.
A Cameroonian in China
Moukandjo started his career at KSA Yaoundé, joining the club’s youth team in 1998. Nine years later, in 2007, the forward moved to Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais.
He ended up playing nine years in France for a number of teams, namely Entente SSG, Nimes Olympique, AS Monaco, AS Nancy-Lorraine, Stade Reims and FC Lorient.
In the two seasons he played for Lorient, Moukandjo was the club's top scorer in both campaigns, netting a total of 26 goals in 56 games.
He moved to China after the Breton team were relegated to Ligue 2 last season.
In his first season in Chinese football, the forward scored seven goals in 10 matches with Suning.
Moukandjo made his international debut for the Cameroon national football team on June 4 2011, starting in a 0-0 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying draw against Senegal.
The following year, he hit his first international goal against Guinea-Bissau.
He was a crucial member of the Cameroon team that won the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title in Gabon, allowing the Indomitable Lions to participate in last summer’s Confederations Cup in Russia.
Overall, the striker has scored seven goals in 44 appearances for Cameroon.
Moukandjo is only the second Cameroonian to play in the CSL, along with 2017 AFCON best player Christian Bassogog, who wears the jersey of Henan Jianye.