Alex Jojo said local Premier League footballers were united in wanting a Hong Kong club to enter mainland Chinese competitions, as he prepared to play across the border in the annual Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup.

Defender Jojo, one of six senior players in a primarily under-23 Hong Kong squad for Wednesday’s first leg in Guangzhou, could soon become the latest prominent figure to leave Eastern, where he is on a season’s loan from Swedish team IK Oddevold.

The Post has been told the 25-year-old had received an attractive offer from a Chinese Super League club.

Jojo acknowledged that it had been “really tough” for Eastern to lose young Hong Kong pair Jesse Yu Joy-yin and Ng Yu-hei to China League One clubs this month.

Before playing on the mainland this week, however, he said he hoped one of the city’s leading clubs could become a Chinese league fixture.

“The Hong Kong league is not improving and I think the best way for more local players to compete [with quality opponents] is for a team to join the Chinese league,” Jojo said.