July 10, 2014, Wolfsburg club in Lower Saxony, northwest Germany.
In the office, Dieter Heijing, the head coach of Wolfsburg for more than a year, is selecting opponents for the new season's warm-up match behind closed doors.
Suddenly, there was a 'bang!' sound, and the office door was pushed open hard and hit the wall hard.
"Dieter, I think you'd better go to the training ground and see for yourself! He's really great!" After the visitor rushed into the office, he pressed his hands on the desk, panting, his face slightly red, and seemed to be particularly excited, "God
, I can’t believe they gave us a genius!”
"We picked up a treasure!" After the words fell, the visitor emphasized the sentence.
Hearing the hasty words of the visitor, Dieter Heijing was stunned for a moment, frowned, glanced back and forth from bottom to top, and said at a loss of whether to laugh or cry: "Eddie, Kevin is a genius, this is not a consensus we have reached long ago.
?"
Eddie was stunned when he heard Dieter Heijing's words, then waved his hands quickly and said repeatedly: "No, no, no, man, I'm not talking about Kevin, I'm talking about the gift, the gift, that Chinese player, do you still have an impression?
?"
This time it was Dieter Heijing's turn to be stunned, his brows furrowed and his face full of confusion.
Seeing Heijin's expression of amnesia, Eddie reminded: "His name is Chu!"
Hearing this, Dieter Heijing slapped his head and remembered.
As soon as the summer transfer window opened in June, Wolfsburg immediately activated the buyout clause in Kevin De Bruyne's loan contract.
Continuous negotiations finally finalized the specific matters of the transfer, but in the end there was a dispute over the transfer fee of 800,000 yuan.
To this end, Dieter Heijing and club director Allofs personally traveled to London twice.
But Chelsea was so tough on the £800,000 difference that it almost caused De Bruyne's transfer to collapse.
In the end, Dieter Heijing and Allofs pinched their noses and agreed, forcing another 800,000 pounds from the transfer budget to successfully buy De Bruyne.
Although they paid an extra 800,000 pounds, Chelsea also gave them a 19-year-old central defender who was a product of their own youth training.
But in Dieter Heijing's view, Chelsea are clearly cleaning out the failed and defective products produced in their own youth academy.
He has seen this method of bundling and selling his own youth training products many times.
This kind of player is usually the kind of player who would be a pity to discard but cannot be reused.
Not long after, Dieter Heijing, whose curiosity was aroused by his assistant coach Eddie, came to the training ground and silently watched the players training on the field.
Among the crowd of blond and blue-eyed people on the field, a man with a somewhat thin figure, short buzzcut hair, a thin and long face, and a black-haired East Asian face with three-dimensional features stood out particularly conspicuously.
"This is Chu's personal information!"
Seeing Dieter Heijing observing, Eddie handed over the folder in his hand.
【Name:chu zheng】
【Date of Birth:1995/06/01】
【Age:19】
【Height:6'0】(182cm)
【Weight:68kg】
【Nationality:Chinese】
【……】
Dieter Heijing's eyes were wide open, but the more he looked, the deeper his frown deepened, and he felt a little disappointed.
Because this is not the physical data that a central defender should have at all, it is really a bit bad.
[Pass: D+]
[Attack:E-]
[Defense: B+]
[Speed:A+]
[Bounce: B+]
[Outbreak:B-]
[Ball control: D-]
[Shoot: E+]
[Visual field: D-]
【……】
But when he saw the Chelsea Youth Academy's ratings of Chu Zheng's various abilities in the information, Dieter Heijing's brows relaxed a little.
To be honest, it's not bad, very typical defensive center back template data.
But the two shortcomings of height and weight are too fatal.
The growth peak at the age of 19 has passed. Even if the bones have not closed yet, he can grow to 185cm at most, but this height is not enough for a central defender.
There’s also weight, which is even more deadly!
Because some players are genetically determined to be unable to gain a lot of muscle mass.
And a strong body is precisely the most powerful weapon for a central defender.
Thinking of this, Dieter Heijing felt a little regretful. There was indeed a reason why Chelsea forced the sale of this player in disguise.
This is a little guy with extremely obvious advantages and disadvantages.
At least from the data point of view, it is far from reaching the standard of genius in Eddie's words.
But he has been working with Eddie for more than a year, and he knows this guy's personality and vision very well.
If he hadn't discovered something, he would never have said that, so there is definitely something special about this player.
On the training ground, another assistant coach Olaf is taking the players for sprint training.
Chu Zheng stood at the back of the crowd. Next to him was De Bruyne, his good friend from Chelsea.
"Chu, the coach is watching from the side. You have to perform well and try to leave a good impression!" De Bruyne said in a low voice.
Chu Zheng nodded, and when he smiled, his charming peach blossom eyes were full of excitement.
Before being sold by Chelsea, Chu Zheng thought he would be kicked out.
But I never expected that I would eventually leave London, where I had stayed for nearly seven years, in this way.
But now that he thinks about it, he feels very lucky.
If he were not used as a gift, he would most likely be loaned or sold to some lower leagues.
Soon it was the turn of Chu Zheng and De Bruyne.
The two stood in front of the pole, stepped forward and bent down in a sprinting posture.
Beep!
Chu Zheng immediately jumped out and instantly opened up more than half of De Bruyne's body on the right side.
On the sidelines of the training ground, Dieter Black Gold's eyes lit up and he said with a little surprise: "The explosive power is great, and the ability to accelerate instantaneously and continuously is also very good!"
"Chu's physical examination report shows that his muscles are naturally equipped with strong explosive power and endurance, which is why his speed is not slower than some speed forwards." Eddie nodded next to him, "But that's not the most important thing!"
Hearing this, Dieter Heijing's curiosity was once again aroused. He wanted to know what Eddie had discovered that led him to be so optimistic about this player.
On the field, the distance of thirty meters was reached in the blink of an eye. Looking at the pole in front of him, Chu Zheng began to slow down and was ready to circle the pole.
But because his speed was so fast, his body tilted severely to the right when turning.
Just as he was about to roll over, Chu Zheng pressed his right hand heavily on the soft turf. The strength in his waist, abdomen, core and legs exploded at the same time, and he rushed forward again.
On the other side, De Bruyne was much better. His excellent balance helped him quickly get around the pole, leading Chu Zheng by more than one meter.
But this small distance soon allowed Chu Zheng, who continued to accelerate, to catch up and overtake him.
In this scene, the Wolfsburg players behind the pole were a little stunned.
"Holy shit! This kid is so fast!"
"Hell, he's a centre-back!!"
"Hey! Ivica, Chu is much faster than you!"
"Hell, he's only 19 years old!" Wolfsburg's head forward Olic said angrily.
"So you admit that you are old, right?"
"Fuck! Nardo, I will definitely use my speed to eat you alive in the next match!"
"Look! You are a 35-year-old guy!"
"Hahaha!" All the players burst into laughter.
Chu Zheng didn't understand much German, but after De Bruyne's translation, he knew that these teammates were praising him, and he also laughed.
This is one of his few strengths!
In the Chelsea youth academy, only a few naughty little carrots Tomori, Odoi and Mount can challenge him.
At the same time, in the office of the sporting director at the Cobham training base in North London, Chelsea technical director Emenalo, sporting director Marina Granovskaya, and team coach Jose Mourinho were discussing
The transfers of Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona and Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea.
“Dong dong dong!!!”
Just as the meeting was about to end, there was a sudden knock on the office door.
"come in!"
Before Marina finished speaking, the office door was quickly pushed open with force and hit the wall with a loud bang.
"Marina, I need an explanation!"
The person who came had a very aggressive tone, and the look on his unshaven face was particularly angry, and coupled with the bald head that could be used as a mirror, he looked particularly fierce.
"Neal?"
Marina looked at the youth training director Neil Bass in front of her with a stunned look on his face. When she looked carefully, she saw that this guy was actually wearing a hospital gown under his coat.
Emenalo and Mourinho also looked surprised, wondering what the fuss was about.
"Why did you sell Chu!!"
"Tell me! Why did you sell Chu!!!"
Neil Bass didn't answer the question, his face was gloomy, and his cheeks clenched loudly. It was obvious that he was suppressing the anger in his heart.
As soon as this question was asked, the three people present were even more confused.
“This is the result of a double evaluation by the club’s manpower and computers!”
"I know you have a good relationship with Chu, but I'm sorry, Neil, Chu has not fulfilled his talent, and his growth has not met the expectations we set before." Emenalo said with a frown.
Mourinho next to him was still confused. The sale of youth training players was not within his authority, not to mention that this sounded like a player whose training had failed.
But now he was curious about what kind of player could make the youth training director so angry that he came back from the hospital right after the operation.
"bullshit!!!"
Neil Bass suddenly raised his voice, startling the three of them.
"Ouch! Hiss!!!"
As soon as Neil Bass roared, he put his hands on his buttocks and started moaning. Mourinho and the three of them suddenly had weird expressions on their faces.
"He is a genius. Give me another year and I will be able to tap out his talent. You don't know what we missed." Neil Bass covered his buttocks and sat down slowly on the sofa with a look on his face.
of annoyance and regret.
Hearing this, Emenaro looked unhappy and said: "Neal, I'm sorry, from Chu's various data, all I can see is mediocrity."
"Although his defense is very good, his other abilities are very average, even bad. I don't think the team needs a central defender who can't accurately play the ball forward!" Emenalo shook his head and said seriously.
These words choked Neil Bass.
"Is there any video of his game?"
At this moment, Mourinho, whose curiosity was successfully aroused, suddenly spoke.
Marina nodded, then turned on the computer and reached out to turn the screen on the table.
The picture shows Chu Zheng’s defensive highlights at Chelsea U19.
At first, Mourinho's eyes lit up when he saw Chu Zheng's several precise advances and wonderful clearances, but soon Mourinho frowned.
Because he found that Chu Zheng's ability to play the ball forward and control the ball at his feet was a bit poor.
What he needs is a central defender who has strong control of the ball at his feet, a broad vision, and can directly cross the opponent's midfield to intercept and send forward through balls and long passes.
Rather than this kind of pure defensive center back.
Neil Bass, who was sitting aside, saw that the famous Mourinho had not noticed after watching him for so long, and there was a trace of helplessness in his eyes.
It's not Mourinho's fault. He and Chu Zheng have been together for five years, and it was only recently that he suddenly discovered that the little bastard has a very terrifying hidden talent.
As a result, before he could go to the hospital for a hemorrhoidectomy, his beloved disciple was treated as a gift and he was so angry that he almost exploded.
"Wait!!" Suddenly, Mourinho was startled and raised his voice to stop.
Marina was stunned for a moment and looked at Mourinho doubtfully.
"Change the angle, I need a bird's-eye view of the stadium!" Mourinho's voice started to sound a little anxious, as if he was eager to verify a certain conjecture.
Marina nodded and opened another video with a flick of her finger.
Although it is a different video, it is the same game from a different viewing angle.
In the overhead shot, Chu Zheng used a fierce and precise slide tackle to keep the ball at his feet behind his own side, then quickly stood up, then turned around and kicked the ball out, but it hit the defensive player and bounced out.
The sideline.
"Hiss!" Mourinho suddenly took a breath after reading it five times.