Chapter 25 Zheng Xin and Chinese Football

In an apartment in London, Zheng Xin is packing his things and putting the prepared clothes into the suitcase.

He will leave for Paris, France in three days.

Before he knew it, Zheng Xin has been working in London for eight years.

He was assigned to work in London after the 2002 World Cup. As a sports media practitioner, he welcomed batches of Chinese players in London during his eight years in London and watched them leave this land.

From Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai at the beginning, to the vigorous development of the planned youth training, players such as Yu Hao and Guo Liang were welcomed.

Unfortunately, they all failed to achieve enough success in this land.

Perhaps Sun Jihai, who wore the Manchester City captain's armband in the last farewell game, is the most successful Chinese player in the Premier League.

Looking back on the past eight years.

Zheng Xin shouted "Fan Zhiyi! Awesome!" at Crystal Palace's home stadium, Selhurst Park.

At Manchester City's home stadium, he shouted "Chinese Sun!" with tens of thousands of Manchester City fans.

But these have become memories after all!

After that, Yu Hao and Guo Liang left the Premier League stage after just two seasons and moved to other places.

After Guo Liang left West Ham United, Zheng Xin's work in London also came to an end.

He will go to Paris, France, to start a new career as a journalist.

And there must be much more exciting than London.

Chinese player Wang Yi is playing for Paris Saint-Germain, scoring 40 goals in a single season, helping Paris Saint-Germain to win the French Ligue 1 championship again.

The 23-year-old Wang Yi used his "golden right foot" to kick out the confidence of the Chinese people!

Of course, Wang Yi is not the only Chinese player who has performed well in Europe.

For example, the Chinese teenager Chen Man who is now playing for Porto in the Portuguese Super League.

Chen Man's name is slow, but this guy is a fast horse on the wing. Porto even said that when Chen Man runs at full speed, his speed is no less than Tottenham Hotspur's Bale.

It is this fast pace that makes the 18-year-old Chen Man sit firmly in the main position of Porto.

Speaking of which, Chen Man is still a product of the third batch of planned youth training.

Planned youth training is a project related to youth football training carried out by the General Administration of Sports and the Chinese Football Association after 2002.

In the context of marketization, the General Administration of Sports and the Chinese Football Association jointly control it.

Use hard indicators to continuously train a large number of young players, who are screened and sent abroad for further studies.

Today's planned youth training points are distributed in various European leagues, and these channels have also enabled a steady stream of Chinese teenagers to enter the top professional arena.

In terms of defenders, Liu Kairui, the iron defender who plays for Atletico Madrid in La Liga, announced that he has joined the Chinese nationality.

The 19-year-old Liu Kairui is a mixed-race.

His father is Chinese and his mother is Spanish.

Liu Kairui has shown amazing football talent since he was a child, and he has risen all the way from the Atletico Madrid youth training to the first team.

Now he has become a stable starting player at the age of 19.

The most gratifying thing is that when Liu Kairui became an adult at the age of 18, he resolutely chose Chinese nationality and gave up Spanish nationality.

This also injected a shot of adrenaline into the Chinese defense line.

Zheng Xin also asked Liu Kairui why he chose Chinese nationality.

Liu Kairui's response was simple. His father hoped that the Chinese team could go further in the World Cup, so he chose Chinese nationality to fulfill his father's wish.

After Liu Kairui chose Chinese nationality, the national team contacted him soon. Such a strong reinforcement is a booster for the Chinese team.

Atletico Madrid's iron guard!

This is a sweet spot in the eyes of many teams.

Wang Yi!

Chen Man!

Liu Kairui!

These three people correspond to center forward, wingers, and defenders respectively!

They can provide great help for the corresponding positions.

The only pity is that China has never had a so-called midfielder!

The appearance of Wang Yi broke the problem of the Chinese team's weak striker. A player who was killing all over the French Ligue 1 was capable enough to break this dilemma.

It often happens that the midfield can't keep up with Wang Yi's forward speed.

After all, compared with Wang Yi, a player who is active in the European arena, the rhythm of the game in the Chinese internal league is really a bit slower.

Although these players are very good, they still can't show Wang Yi's strongest side.

In the 2010 World Cup group match, Wang Yi scored two goals in the match between China and Denmark, but still could not turn the tide.

The overall gap cannot be made up by Wang Yi alone.

In this regard, Wang Yi also acted very sad after the game, and the fans felt distressed.

But there is no way!

At this stage, the Chinese team wants to break through and enter the knockout stage, they need many Wang Yi!

What Wang Yi needs is not a player who only knows how to rely on him, but a partner who can fight side by side with him!

Therefore, the appearance of Chen Man and Liu Kairui makes many people optimistic about their future.

"It's time to go!"

Zheng Xin stretched his body. He had lived in London for eight years, and suddenly he had to leave, and he was reluctant to leave.

Dingling Dingling!

The phone rang.

Zheng Xin picked up the phone and answered it.

"Laun, are you here to say goodbye to me?" Zheng Xin said with a smile.

Laun is a reporter for the London Sports Daily. Although he works in London, this guy is a Manchester City fan. They also met at the Manchester City Stadium and became good friends.

As media workers, they sometimes exchange information and have a good relationship.

"I think you can't leave!" Lawn's voice was full of playfulness.

Zheng Xin thought the other party was joking and said, "Give me a reason!"

"Maybe there is a reason!" Lawn laughed and said, "My friend who works in the Labor Bureau told me that a Chinese player passed the hearing of the "Special Talent Clause" yesterday and officially joined the Arsenal Club!"

Zheng Xin was stunned when he heard this.

"Are you sure?" Zheng Xin was a little unbelievable.

Lawn said, "That's a trustworthy friend, and he doesn't have to tell me such a lie, no need!"

Zheng Xin's heart suddenly shook!

A Chinese player joined Arsenal in the form of a special talent clause!

This is big news!

"Wait for me!"

After that, Zheng Xin clamped the phone with his head tilted, opened the packed suitcase with both hands, and rummaged around.

He took out a laptop from it, opened it quickly, and entered the Arsenal official website.

He began to quickly read the recent news.

If this really happened, the official website would definitely report it.

Sure enough, Zheng Xin found a notice in a corner.

The notice was very concise, and if Zheng Xin hadn't been looking for it, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

'On July 3, 2011, Arsenal Club signed a young Chinese player from Sporting CP for 800,000 euros! '

Seeing this, Zheng Xin's eyes suddenly widened!

It's true!

"Hey, I'll call you later!"

Zheng Xin said, and hung up the phone.

He immediately started typing desperately.

He first looked for the information of the young Chinese player on the Arsenal official website.

But apart from that sentence, there was no information.

This gave Zheng Xin a headache.

He could only take a roundabout tactic, trace the source, and run to the official website of Sporting CP.

After another round of searching, he finally found the lineup of last season.

Finally, he found it.

This is a green face, looking like he was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

[Name: Lekai]

[Age: 17]

[Player position: defender/left foot]

[Status; sold]

Zheng Xin stared blankly at the young face in the photo. A player who made Arsenal use the special talent clause was right under his nose, and he almost missed it.

Zheng Xin was a little annoyed, but also ignited a glimmer of hope.

He opened a match data website.

Here you can check the performance of all players under UEFA in each season.

When he found Lekai, he finally saw Lekai's data.

He participated in 25 games in total, which means that he was not stable at the beginning of the season, but gradually stabilized his starting position in the later period.

But the next data scared him.

80 steals?

What kind of efficiency is this?

Although Sporting CP is indeed a team good at defense, these 80 steals are a bit amazing.

An average of 2 steals per game, no wonder Wenger was tempted.

"No! I have to watch the game video!"

After that, Zheng Xin found the game video of Sporting CP last season, and he only watched Lekai's performance on the court.

Just looking at this, a whole night has passed.