When Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji returned to the team and started training, Klopp was slightly relieved that at least Zhou Yi's physical fitness wasn't as bad as he had imagined. His physical condition was still quite good.

Zhou Yi explained that he had rested well at home for a whole day yesterday, doing nothing at all. He hadn't even left the house, just stayed at home.

What Zhou Yi didn't say was that he owed it to Cortana for cleaning up the house for him, otherwise he would have had to spend at least half a day doing housework.

After immersing himself in Borussia Dortmund's preparations for the match against Schalke 04, Zhou Yi found that there were no changes in Schalke 04's lineup. Yang Muge didn't suddenly appear in Borussia Dortmund's opponent list like Sun Pan.

Unlike Sun Pan, he continued to work hard in Schalke 04's U19 team.

And not only Yang Muge, but also Guo Nu and He Ying were the same.

It's not easy to stand out in the youth training camp of a wealthy club.

The vast majority of wealthy clubs would rather trust the big stars they spent a lot of money to buy than give young players from the youth training camp a chance. Because young players from the youth training camp mean a lack of experience and instability, it is really difficult to trust the results of the first team to them. Unless it is absolutely necessary, who would want to form a group of young boys?

Even in Barcelona, which values youth training, the same problem exists. Barcelona's youth training camp has cultivated many excellent players, but they can't play in the first team, and the composition of the first team is very stable. Even if they occasionally get to play some games in the first team, it is difficult to get stable playing time.

So, if you want to get stable playing time, you may have to choose to be loaned out in the end.

In this regard, Sun Pan is actually lucky. Although at first it seemed like he wasn't valued much.

But now, I believe Chelsea will definitely not ignore him.

Although Offenbach Kickers, where he plays, was eliminated by Schalke 04 in the quarter-finals of the German Cup, Sun Pan's performance was still very good. If it weren't for him in that game, Offenbach Kickers might have gone home at the end of the ninety minutes of the game, but they finally persisted until extra time, and then were defeated by Schalke 04 in extra time.

At the same time, in the 3. Liga, Offenbach Kickers' ranking has also risen all the way, currently ranking third in the league, with a chance to rise to the 2. Bundesliga. This is naturally also related to Sun Pan—after that German Cup game against Borussia Dortmund, Sun Pan became the team's main goalkeeper, whether it was in cup games or league games, he had never been rotated out.

If this performance continues, when he returns to Chelsea again after the end of his loan period this season, he will definitely be highly valued. By then, his life trajectory will be completely different from before.

So in fact, Zhou Yi felt that if you can't play in a wealthy club, choosing to be loaned out is also a good way out. At this time, face and dignity are actually not important. Being able to continue playing is the most important thing.

This is also why he chose Borussia Dortmund in the first place. Although Barcelona and Arsenal both value youth training and have high youth training levels, their first teams are also full of superstars. It is not a matter of a day or two for youth team players to break out in such a first team. They often need to wait patiently for many years.

And for Zhou Yi, time is the most precious.

Maybe those people can afford to wait, but he can't.

So he chose to take a shortcut.

Loan is also one of the shortcuts.

※※※

Schalke 04's performance this season is indeed very bad. Twenty rounds of the league have passed, and Schalke 04 ranks eleventh. This is simply a huge failure for a team that ranked third in the league last season.

The only consolation is that their performance in the Champions League is still good, and they qualified for the knockout stage in first place in the group.

But this may be the reason why they performed poorly in the league. Many German teams, except for Bayern Munich, often perform unstable when fighting on two fronts. Either give up the Champions League or give up the league.

Such teams not only appear in Germany, but are also common in the Spanish, English, and Italian leagues.

To put it bluntly, it is related to the fact that these teams do not often participate in Champions League matches, lack experience, and their team-building ideas.

Because neither Schalke 04 nor Borussia Dortmund can guarantee that they can steadily participate in the Champions League every season. They may be able to participate this season, but they may not be able to participate next season—and this probability is very high. So they have no way and no need to maintain a large lineup that can cope with both the domestic league and the Champions League for a long time.

That would increase the team's financial burden. Although the financial situation of other Bundesliga teams is healthy, they are not rich at all, except for Bayern Munich. When it comes to burning money, they can never burn more than Bayern Munich.

In the entire Bundesliga, only Bayern Munich has such strong financial resources to support them in introducing various stars every season, until the bench can no longer fit them... Oh no, if the bench can't fit them, there are still seats in the stands!

And if other teams play like this... Borussia Dortmund is the most recent lesson!

Borussia Dortmund won the Bundesliga title for two consecutive years in 1995 and 1996, and won the Champions League title and the Toyota Cup title in 1997. In 1998, they became a member of the European giants G14 alliance. Borussia Dortmund had become the second wealthy team in Germany, which made Borussia Dortmund's management believe that they could compete with Bayern Munich.

In 2000, the club was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and Borussia Dortmund became the first listed club in Germany.

Continuous success has led Borussia Dortmund to continue to expand. The specific manifestation is to spend huge sums of money to buy various big-name stars and offer them high salaries. For example, the Brazilian striker Amoroso they bought at the time cost 25 million euros in transfer fees, which set a transfer fee record for German clubs at that time.

With such a large investment, the team's results are not satisfactory.

In addition to winning the league title the following year, they won nothing else.

For German clubs like Borussia Dortmund, they cannot rely on investment from Middle Eastern and Russian tycoons to obtain large sums of money. Their income and expenditure must be balanced. Poor performance will directly affect their economic income.

The large number of high-paid stars that Borussia Dortmund bought before not only failed to help the team achieve excellent results, but their salaries became a heavy burden that overwhelmed Borussia Dortmund.

In 2005, the club even went to the brink of bankruptcy, with debts as high as 125 million pounds. From the continuous glory in the mid-nineties to the brink of bankruptcy today, Borussia Dortmund only took less than ten years.

In the end, the club had to sell off those high-paid stars and formulated a very strict financial policy, imposing almost harsh restrictions on player salaries.

Because of the reduction in investment, it is difficult for the club to attract talented stars, so the team's performance is getting worse and worse.

2005 to 2008 were the most difficult times for Borussia Dortmund.

Until 2008, Klopp came to coach this team.

Until now, Borussia Dortmund's financial situation has not fundamentally improved.

From Borussia Dortmund's case, you can see the dilemma of German teams.

The persistent pursuit of financial health leads to their lack of competitiveness in Europe. If they want to go all out to achieve results in the Champions League, they have to give up the league.

It is not uncommon for a team to play in the Champions League last season and be relegated next season.

Although Schalke 04 was not relegated, their performance in the league was really unacceptable.

He is now facing huge pressure and may be dismissed at any time.

In the group, Zhou Yi and his friends often discuss European football and give pointers to various teams.

As the Revierderby is approaching, Schalke 04 is of course the focus of discussion.

Sun Pan opened a betting pool in the group, betting on when Schalke 04's current coach, Magath, would be dismissed.

"One week later!" Zhou Yi said firmly.

"Why are you so sure?" Sun Pan asked.

"Because he will be dismissed for being swept by Borussia Dortmund in a season," Zhou Yi replied.

"Are you trying to say that you are sure to win?"

"I'm also helping Lao Yang," Zhou Yi said.

"What does it have to do with me?" Yang Muge was surprised.

"Of course it has something to do with you, Lao Yang," Zhou Yi said. "After Magath is dismissed, Schalke 04 will definitely experience a process of change, and this process of change contains many opportunities. This may be your opportunity. What if the new coach who comes is one who values youth training? Like our Klopp. Or what if he wants to draw some players from the youth team to the first team to put pressure on those stars? Anyway, it's always a good thing."

"What Zhou Yi said also makes sense..." He Ying expressed his agreement. "If Magath is not dismissed, the probability of Schalke 04 changing is much smaller."

"So, does that mean that if Schalke 04's performance is not good, it is actually a good thing for Lao Yang? Because the team's performance is unstable, young players have a chance to stand out?" Sun Pan asked rhetorically.

Guo Nu's eyes lit up when he saw it next to him: "Does that mean I also have a chance?!"

Inter Milan's performance this season is also really hard to say is good, especially the first half of the season under Benitez was simply terrible and aroused public indignation.

"Lao Guo, are you still in the youth team?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Of course."

"Then you have no chance, because you have already missed the best opportunity." Zhou Yi sent a hand-spreading expression. "Benitez was dismissed before the winter break, but you are still in the youth team, alas..."

"Damn it!" Guo Nu realized that Zhou Yi was making fun of him again.

Zhou Yi said again: "So Lao Yang, for your own future, you have to cheer for me in this game, hoping that I can help Borussia Dortmund defeat Schalke 04!"

"..." Yang Muge was speechless.

Sun Pan sent a rolling eyes expression: "Damn it, you've been paving the way for so long just for this sentence! The heart of a midfielder is really dirty!"

Zhou Yi: "Lao Yang, Pan Pan is calling you a scheming bitch."

Sun Pan: "The heart of an organizing midfielder is really dirty!"