A chance – no matter how slim – in the biggest league in world football was spurned as was the offer of European competition in Istanbul.

Besiktas started the season in the Uefa Champions League qualifiers and then had a shot in the Uefa Europa League qualifiers.

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They are currently second in the Turkish Superlig – level on points with leaders Galatasaray and third placed Fenerbahce – just as Espanyol are second in the Segunda Division.

The side may have slipped to six points behind leaders Mallorca and level with Almeria, who have a game in hand, in third but they still have a good chance to come back up at the first opportunity.

If Espanyol are doing fine despite the recent blip, the same cannot be said for Wu, who has been criticised this season.

“Criticism is very normal. I was criticised even before I played in a foreign league. So I know I can handle all these pressures,” Wu told iqiyi.com in a recent interview.

“There are fans who like me and there are doubters. I will keep proving myself through better performances on the pitch.”

But he can’t do that if he is not playing.

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He sat on the bench in their 1-1 draw with Lugo on Monday night, and it’s somewhere he is getting used to, having only started seven of their 24 games this season.

Since appearing for the second half against Logrones on December 13, Wu has not played more than 16 minutes in any of the six subsequent games. In two of them – against UD Las Palmas and Rayo Vallecano – he got less than 10 minutes, before nothing more than splinters against Lugo.

His two goals and two assists in 19 games do not tell the whole story – half of each came in the opening day’s 3-0 win over Albacete last September and the other half came in a win over Sporting Gijon on December 6.

“I haven’t been in the best form recently. I haven’t been able to contribute too much for the team when I’ve been on the pitch. But I will keep trying,” Wu wrote on his personal blog this month.

It’s not even his fault. Wu tested positive for Covid-19, along with his wife, in March – the “toughest time in 2020” he told iqiyi.com – and the four goals he scored after coming back from that were not enough to keep the side in La Liga.

“The toughest time in 2020 for me was when I tested positive for the virus,” Wu said.

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On the pitch has been tough, too – a far cry from reaching the Europa League and seventh place in La Liga in his first season after joining midway through.

The arrival of Vicente Moreno last August means that Wu has now played under three managers in two years in Spain.

Moreno appears to trust him less than predecessors Francisco Rufete, who took the club down, and Abelardo, who was in charge when Wu arrived from Shanghai SIPG.

While the ownership of the club, China’s Rastar Group and chairman Chen Yansheng may have influenced his signing and swelled talk of a marketing ploy, they have not influenced his playing this season when he could have bid them hasta la vista when they went down.

The irony is that Wu is being punished for his loyalty to the club that took a chance on him from the Chinese Super League. He even took a pay cut to stay with them, one that has turned into a pay cut to sit on the bench.

If he really wanted to do that he could have done it with Wolves against some of the best in the world, or with title-chasing Besiktas in Turkey, who should soon return to the Uefa Champions League.

Espanyol play Mallorca in a top-of-the-table clash on Valentine’s Day and it is hard to picture anything other than more heartbreak for Wu and his fans.

They would love to be proved wrong.