Auxerre Signs Teen Prodigy Wei Xiangxin to Five-Year Deal

AJ Auxerre have pinned a bold part of their future on an 18-year-old from Guangdong.

Chinese forward Wei Xiangxin has officially signed a five-year contract with the Ligue 1 club, completing a move long in the making and stepping into one of Europe’s most demanding environments after turning professional.

Auxerre, who finished 15th in France’s top flight last season and only just dodged the relegation play-offs, are not in a position to hand out long contracts lightly. So the length of the deal is a clear statement: they see Wei as a project worth committing to.

“AJ Auxerre is very proud to announce the arrival of Xiangxin Wei. A great hope of Chinese football, he has signed a five-year contract and will wear number 49,” the club said in their announcement.

The move has been on the horizon for months. Last November, Auxerre revealed they had reached an agreement with Chinese Super League side Meizhou Hakka, confirming that Wei would sign his first professional deal once he became an adult. The forward had already spent three weeks on trial with the French club, long enough for the coaching staff to decide he was more than just a marketing play.

Auxerre also made it clear they were investing in development, not a quick fix. In a statement released last year, the club promised to design long-term training plans tailored to Wei’s specific characteristics and needs, expressing their expectation that he could chase “higher career goals” in the years ahead.

The numbers at youth level explain the excitement. For China’s under-17 national team, Wei struck nine goals in just 12 appearances between 2024 and 2025, a prolific return that underlined his potential as a penalty-box threat.

His early senior career has been more modest, as is often the case for teenagers thrown into professional football. Across two seasons with Meizhou Hakka, spanning two different divisions, he scored one league goal in 28 appearances. Meizhou struggled badly, winning only five of 30 matches and dropping into China League One last November. Wei did, however, add another goal in this year’s Chinese FA Cup, a reminder that he can still find the net in tough circumstances.

Now comes a very different challenge. A club fighting to cement its Ligue 1 status has turned to a teenager from a relegated side in China and handed him the No. 49 shirt and five years to grow into it.

For Auxerre, it is a calculated gamble on upside. For Wei Xiangxin, it is the doorway to Europe – and the start of a career that will now be judged under a far brighter spotlight.