In the next ten days or so, Chu Zheng, except for going back to his hometown to visit his grandparents, spent the rest of the time either staying at home or going to the store to help.
But since the CCT5 interview, Chu Zheng's reputation in China has increased a lot.
The most obvious manifestation is that when Chu Zheng is walking on the streets in China, fans will occasionally come over to ask for autographs.
But his fame is still very limited, far from the level of support that some celebrities have.
During this period, I also had a phone call with Mario.
It was related to Chelsea. Mourinho personally found Mario and wanted to bring Chu Zheng back to Stamford Bridge.
But Chu Zheng refused. On this point, he and Mario agreed very much.
That is that Chelsea is not suitable for him now. If he goes there, he will probably be a water dispenser manager and will not be able to play games.
After New Year's Day, at 10 a.m. on January 5, the Chu Zheng family appeared at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
Chu Zheng actually received the summons for winter training from Wolfsburg on the 2nd, but he just found an excuse to have a cold and stayed at home for a few more days.
“Take good care of yourself out there!”
"Don't always work so hard during the competition, but learn to care about yourself!"
"I know, Mom!"
"..."
Listening to Su Ping's soft words, Chu Zheng also felt his mother's reluctance.
Chu Zheng also wanted to stay for the New Year, but the Bundesliga match waited for no one.
And the opening game of the second half of the league is Wolfsburg's home game against Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich.
Winning or losing this game is likely to play a decisive role in the Bundesliga championship this season.
Not long after, the airport announced that passengers flying from Chengdu to Berlin, Germany, were ready to board the plane, and Chu Zheng grabbed his suitcase and walked towards the security checkpoint.
"Uncle!! I'm waiting for you to get fat!!"
Lin Mengmeng was held in Chu Ling's arms and was desperately waving her chubby little hands towards Chu Zheng.
"Okay!" Chu Zheng turned around and waved his hand.
After passing the security check, Chu Zheng entered the waiting room. Before his butt was warmed up, his phone rang.
Taking out his mobile phone from the pocket of his black woolen coat, Chu Zheng connected it with a swipe of his finger and asked with a smile: "How do you feel about changing to a new environment?
Niu Benben went back to Germany at the end of December.
This guy is not as laid-back as Chu Zheng. He has to transfer to Red Bull Leipzig in the winter window, and has a lot of things waiting for him including a physical examination and signing a contract.
"Hey, you have been in Germany for half a year, and you still don't know the character of these German guys. They almost only play with their friends!"
"Don't worry, it won't be long before they fall to my sugar-coated shells, and they will all have to kneel down and call daddy!"
"Bah, I'm not talking to you about this, I'm telling you something!"
"It's like this. My dad called me just now. He said that someone took your mobile phone number from him. It was probably some random request!"
"My dad said that if I can help, I will help you, and we will form a good relationship. If I can't help you, I will hide!" Niu Benben said in a warning tone, "The water is a bit deep here!"
"Haha!" Chu Zheng grinned, "Zhang Xizhe, right?"
"Push on the street, you can guess this?!" came the exclamation of Niu Benben from the microphone.
"Nonsense, I've already called you!" Chu Zheng laughed at Niu Benben and said, "Don't worry, I know how to handle it!"
"Okay! As long as you know what's going on!"
"..."
After a while, Chu Zheng hung up the phone and fell into deep thought.
There were two people who called him yesterday, one was Zhang Xizhe. They didn't chat for long, and they seemed to know each other.
The other one was a small leader of the Football Association. Chu Zheng didn't know him. That guy spoke in an official tone.
When things go out, we must unite and help each other, you are all the hope of Chinese football, etc. The official saying has been a lot.
On the surface, it sounded like he didn't mention any requests, but inside and outside his words, he hinted that Chu Zheng wanted to help Zhang Xizhe gain a foothold in Wolfsburg.
Chu Zheng neither agreed nor refused.
As a compatriot, Chu Zheng will definitely help Zhang Xizhe integrate into the team and establish friendly relationships with his teammates to prevent him from being completely isolated due to language, personality and other reasons.
But that's all.
As a teammate, Chu Zheng can't do anything, can't do anything, and has no ability to help.
He has just established himself in Wolfsburg, and Chu Zheng thinks he doesn't have the ability yet.
Only 11 players can play in a football match, while the first team of a professional club often has more than 20 players.
what to do!
compete!
Everything is based on strength and status first.
Zhang Xizhe plays as an attacking midfielder and attacking midfielder.
And Wolfsburg currently has no shortage of attacking midfielders.
To be honest, even if Chu Zheng doesn't know that Zhang Xizhe will eventually return to China because he has no ball to play for, he is still not optimistic about Zhang Xizhe's prospects in Wolfsburg.
Because he knows how strong De Bruyne and Perisic are. These are two players who are fully capable of occupying the absolute main positions in wealthy clubs, and they are now on the rise.
And Arnold, Hunt, Caligiuri and Vierinha are not good either.
However, Zhang Xizhe wants to compete with them.
Therefore, from the perspective of Chu Zheng, who has some knowledge of Zhang Xizhe, this is simply a hellishly difficult start.
In addition, before returning to China, Dieter Heijin asked him to learn about Zhang Xizhe, so Chu Zheng knew an inside story.
That is Zhang Xizhe's transfer. As the head coach of Wolfsburg, Dieter Heijing was not involved in the entire process.
Wolfsburg's top management didn't even ask Dieter Heijing's opinion on whether he wanted the player, and just signed the contract and stuffed the player in.
Wolfsburg really needs a midfielder and backfield player to strengthen the depth of the bench to cope with the fierce European competition and league in the second half of the season, but there is absolutely no need for another attacking midfielder to add to the cake.
This is a transfer born out of commercial cooperation from beginning to end.
Maybe Zhang Xizhe had no choice at all, Chu Zheng thought.
So no matter how you look at it, Chu Zheng doesn't think Zhang Xizhe's coming to Wolfsburg is a correct decision.
But he will help whoever he can!
On January 6, Chu Zheng showed up at Wolfsburg Club at 7 o'clock in the morning.
Compared with before, Chu Zheng got up two hours later today.
There is no way, the winter in Germany is too cold, and this severe cold weather and environment will increase the risk of training injuries.
Chu Zheng himself didn't dare to mess around. If he got frostbite or strained, and lost his position as the main force, he would have no time to cry.
This is also the reason why major Bundesliga clubs go abroad for winter training every year.
No club dares to stay in Germany for winter training, otherwise it will be filled with wounded soldiers.
In a few days, Chu Zheng will also go with the team to Cape Town, South Africa for a week of winter training.
Even the warm-up matches were played against two local teams.
After changing clothes from the locker room, Chu Zheng did not go to the training ground for ball training. Instead, he dove into the gym. He needed to warm up his body.
But when he arrived at the gym, he realized that he was not the first person.
Chu Zheng pushed the door open and saw a man with a slightly thin body and naked upper body, who was very focused on doing back and straight training.
Seeing Zhang Xizhe, Chu Zheng did not go up to say hello immediately, but silently did some stretching movements aside.
Seven or eight minutes later, Chu Zheng saw Zhang Xizhe stop, so he walked over carrying a bottle of water.
Zhang Xizhe heard the footsteps and looked back. His eyes suddenly lit up and a smile appeared on his face, saying: "Chu Zheng!"
"Brother Zhang!" Chu Zheng smiled and handed over the water, "How have you been feeling these days?"
"It's a bit bad!" Zhang Xizhe took the water with a bitter smile, "It's very different from what I imagined."
"Take your time! It was the same for me at the beginning. It needs a process of getting used to it slowly." Chu Zheng didn't know what the difference was that Zhang Xizhe said, so he could only comfort him.
However, when Zhang Xizhe talked about his experience of training with the team these days, Chu Zheng realized the seriousness of the problem.
After slowly describing his feelings over the past few days, Zhang Xizhe looked disappointed and said, "Don't you think it's a bit ridiculous!"
Before coming to Germany, although Zhang Xizhe was not confident, he was somewhat confident.
However, the reality is cruel.
The first training session at Wolfsburg gave Zhang Xizhe a ridiculous feeling that he couldn't play football.
Over the next few days, this feeling became stronger and stronger.
So much so that he occasionally couldn't help but wonder if he really couldn't play football.
In domestic training from childhood to adulthood, the coach would tell him how to run, how to pass, and how to cooperate with his teammates.
But when he came to Wolfsburg, no one told him how to play.
So much so that he had no idea what he should do on the court, and sometimes he couldn't even keep up with his teammates.
And the personal skills he has always been proud of are basically useless in such a fast-paced and high-intensity game.
This huge sense of gap made him extremely confused.
Chu Zheng was also a little stunned. He didn't expect the problem to be so serious.
But he probably knows what Zhang Xizhe’s problem is.
It lies in the youth training models at home and abroad.
Although Chu Zheng has not participated in domestic youth training, he knows something about it.
Domestic youth training teaches many fixed routines.
But this is not the case abroad, especially for youth teams. What they fear most is that players have rigid minds.
So when Chu Zheng was training at Chelsea, he had to use his own brain to think about how to run on the field.
Do you want the coach to hold your hand and teach you slowly and quietly how to move, how to pass the ball, and how to cooperate with your teammates?
I want to eat shit!
What they want is the players' thinking, what they want is the players' understanding of the game and learning to think for themselves.
There was also tactical training, which was so complicated that Chu Zheng, who had just arrived in England, had the idea of quitting training.
It's so complex and so detailed that it's shocking.
Sometimes a simple goal kick has countless tactical changes.
Another point is that there are a lot of games for foreign youth training.
Chu Zheng had to play games every week, and he was trained in this comprehensive environment.
Later, Chu Zheng understood the purpose of the large number of matches played by the England echelon.
The purpose is to allow young players to seamlessly connect step by step.
For a player who has come out of such a sophisticated youth training system, when he actually steps onto the professional field, you will find that you cannot tell that he is a young player who has just stepped out of the youth training camp.
Thinking of this, Chu Zheng didn't know how to comfort Zhang Xizhe.
This is the collision of two different youth training systems.
There is no other way but to rely on Zhang Xizhe to adapt and integrate as soon as possible.
On January 10, the entire Wolfsburg team flew to Cape Town, South Africa's second largest city, to begin a week-long winter training.