Chapter 1 Klopp's Decision

Klopp took his glasses off his nose, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes in thought.

He had just finished reading the latest scouting report Tim Kister had sent him from Milan, in email format.

This had become a fixed arrangement for Klopp in the past few weeks.

Although he hadn't watched Zhou Yi's games since the match against the Dortmund youth team, Kister's detailed scouting reports made it seem like he was there at every game.

Through these reports, he knew that Zhou Yi was performing impressively in England, with both assists and goals.

But in Italy, Zhou Yi's performance wasn't as outstanding.

On one hand, his physical condition was a factor. The four games in England had exhausted Zhou Yi's stamina, and in consecutive matches, his stamina supply couldn't keep up.

On the other hand, the general environment of Italian football was a factor. Faced with Italian teams skilled in tactics, the Chinese team, pieced together hastily, was trying to teach its grandmother to suck eggs.

Now, only the final match against the Barcelona youth team remained.

But what concerned Klopp even more was another matter Kister mentioned in the scouting report.

Kister had mentioned more than once in his scouting reports that he had spotted people who looked like scouts at the edge of the field, and as the matches progressed, there were more and more of them.

What did this mean?

It meant that Zhou Yi might have already attracted the attention of other clubs.

After all, the opponents of this Chinese team were all clubs that valued youth training. Since he could see the talent Zhou Yi displayed in the matches, there was no reason why other clubs couldn't see it too.

Now Dortmund was facing competition…

So Kister reminded Klopp in his latest scouting report that if the club was interested in this Chinese player, they should act as soon as possible.

After all, Dortmund didn't have any advantages among the opponents the Chinese team was challenging.

Kister was worried that Barcelona would take a fancy to Zhou Yi, and this was precisely what Klopp was most worried about.

He and Kister both believed that Zhou Yi's playing style was similar to Xavi's. If that was the case, as long as Barcelona also discovered Zhou Yi's talent, then Barcelona would be the most suitable destination for Zhou Yi. Once Barcelona made a move, it could be said that Dortmund would have no chance of winning.

Thinking of this, Klopp reopened his eyes and picked up the phone on his desk. He dialed Kister's number.

※※※

Tim Kister had just arrived in Barcelona and reached his hotel room. He hadn't even unpacked his suitcase when he received Klopp's call.

"Tim, do you think we should sign this boy?" Klopp didn't waste time with Kister asking about the weather or anything like that, but went straight to the point.

"Frankly, Jurgen, we should sign him as soon as possible!" After observing so many of Zhou Yi's games, Kister now had great admiration for Zhou Yi. Even in the games where Zhou Yi didn't perform well, he didn't change his opinion. "This kid... is someone who can create miracles!"

"Wow, you rate him even higher than I do..." Klopp was genuinely surprised.

"If you watched every game of his like I did, you would be the same as me, Jurgen. We actually can't invest much in him, but the final return... may far exceed what you and I imagine." Kister was already beginning to imagine Zhou Yi wearing the Dortmund yellow and black jersey.

"Okay, Tim, find an opportunity to contact him and ask him what he thinks about joining Dortmund. That's why I called you back from Japan, you can talk to him directly in Chinese!"

"Okay, I will contact him as soon as possible." Kister agreed readily.

After hanging up the phone, Kister sat on the bed and began to think about how to contact Zhou Yi.

He had followed Zhou Yi and the entire team, the production crew, from London to four cities, and had basically understood the schedule of this production crew.

Because they were filming a show, there were always cameras following them. But Kister didn't want to expose himself, he wanted to have private contact with Zhou Yi, without letting any opponents know that Dortmund was contacting Zhou Yi, which would paralyze the opponents.

※※※

On the first day of arriving in Barcelona, there was no training, no filming. After physical training in the hotel gym in the evening, Zhou Yi said goodbye to Sun Pan and the others and returned to his room.

Physical training was still effective. At least he hadn't had to have Sun Pan carry him back to the room in a long time.

But the price was that he had to rest in the gym for a long time before he could walk.

Back in the room, He Ying was quietly reading a book. Zhou Yi greeted him and then went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

As Zhou Yi continued to assist He Ying on the field, the relationship between the two became warmer than when they first met.

But He Ying still didn't know what Zhou Yi was busy with every night when he wasn't in the room, only returning close to bedtime. He didn't ask, and Zhou Yi didn't say.

He Ying wasn't very curious about this question now. Anyway, as long as Zhou Yi performed well on the field and could help him, then what he wanted to do in his spare time was his own freedom.

People need private space. If Zhou Yi didn't take the initiative to mention it, it must be that he didn't want to talk about it, so why should he ask?

Just like he also had some secrets that he wouldn't take the initiative to tell others.

Zhou Yi quickly finished his shower and went to bed. He wanted to enter the world of fifAoL3 as soon as possible.

Returning to Barcelona, his opponents would once again become the under-seventeen youth team of La Masia Football School.

Last time, until the match against the Dortmund youth team, he had been persistently dueling with them in the virtual space, wanting to defeat them, but he had never succeeded. Later, because he had to play in the matches and needed to understand his real opponents in reality, he began to put down his "grudge" with La Masia.

But the thorn in his heart had never been pulled out, even though he had helped the team defeat the Chelsea youth team, defeat the Liverpool youth team, and draw with the Manchester United youth team... that 0:12 thorn was still stuck in his heart.

He wanted to sprint one last time in this last week, striving to be able to defeat the Barcelona youth team in the virtual space.

In his eagerness to enter the virtual world, Zhou Yi's "special ability" to fall asleep in five minutes after lying down on the bed played a crucial role.

Soon he entered his dream and saw Chu Ling's smiling face again.

"Welcome to... Barcelona."

She didn't say "Welcome to the world of fifAoL3", which surprised Zhou Yi a little. But when he saw the surrounding situation clearly, he was even more surprised, because he found himself actually on the field of La Masia Football School!

That artificial turf field sandwiched between the Camp Nou stadium and La Masia Football School.

He could see the towering and majestic Camp Nou when he looked up, and he could also see the farmhouse-like two-story building of La Masia Football School when he looked back.

"It really is Barcelona..."

"As the last stop of this series, there still have to be some small benefits, doing this is to make you more immersive." Chu Ling explained with a smile, "Also, feel the turf under your feet, it's also artificial turf, completely consistent with the training ground of La Masia Football School."

Zhou Yi kicked it with his foot: "It really is."

Although he hadn't played in the last match against the Barcelona youth team, he had also visited this training ground and stepped on it. At that time, he was very surprised that the famous La Masia Football School only had one training ground, and it was artificial turf, so this training ground left a deep impression on him.

"Artificial turf is different from natural grass. Whether it's running, making movements, or the rolling and bouncing of the football, it's different. The last time you lost so badly was also related to the venue." Chu Ling said.

"I thought the joke about losing a game because the turf was bad was just made up." Zhou Yi said as he walked around the training ground.

He might be more familiar with artificial turf than his teammates, because the football field of Qingyang High School, where he was, was artificial turf. He had only played on three types of fields since he was a child. One was artificial turf, one was a bare yellow dirt field with no grass, and the other was... cement. They would also use basketball courts as football fields, playing small games of five-on-five, or four-on-four, three-on-three.

On the contrary, he had played the least on natural grass, and only came into contact with it after joining the team, when he was training in Beijing.

"People who make up jokes think it's a made-up reason, but it's not. The impact of the turf on the outcome of the game cannot be ignored. Especially the difference between artificial turf and natural grass," Chu Ling said.

"Okay, then let's have a game first!" Zhou Yi couldn't wait to play.

The scene hadn't changed, but in front of him appeared a group of players wearing Barcelona's home jerseys.

Zhou Yi only glanced at them and said in surprise: "They changed people?"

He had played against the Barcelona youth team no less than a hundred times, and the faces of the opponents were always the same. Zhou Yi had completely memorized them and was very familiar with them.

So he could see the difference at a glance. Some familiar faces were gone, replaced by strangers.

For example, Thiago, the midfield core of the previous team, was no longer there.

"This is the team you will be facing next, and the adjustments in personnel will also be reflected here."

"Some people... where did they go?"

"Thiago Alcântara has been transferred to Barcelona's first team for training," Chu Ling introduced.

"Barcelona... the first team?" Zhou Yi was very surprised. This kid, two months ago they were still their opponents, everyone was at the seventeen-year-old level, but two months later, when Zhou Yi finally gained a foothold in his own team, Thiago had already gone to the first team! That was a world completely belonging to adults! There were superstars like Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Henry, Eto'o... there!

This change... was too big, right?

Zhou Yi suddenly felt a little lost.

When he had just become a regular in this temporary army, the other person was already training alongside those world superstars. The road ahead of him... was actually still very long.

"What about the others?" Zhou Yi asked after recovering. "That Assulin."

Zhou Yi had a deep impression of him because this kid had brought a lot of trouble and pain to his team, not only in real games, but also in virtual games.

Assulin, with his delicate footwork and fast speed, was like a "Messi II". Chinese teenagers often had to have two or three people defend him, and they still might not be able to stop him.

But now he was no longer on this team either.

"Went to Barcelona B team."

Barcelona B team was actually the name of a reserve team in other leagues, and there was no strict age limit, unlike the youth team. Seventeen-year-olds could go, and it was also common for twenty-three-year-old players to play in it. It was a springboard to the first team, and if they performed well, they might be promoted to the first team as a result. Thiago had previously played in the B team, and now he had gone to the first team.

"What about Romeu?"

"Also went to the B team."

"Montoya?"

"B team."

Zhou Yi didn't ask anymore, he understood.

It must be that the Chinese team lost too badly in the first game, and Barcelona thought it was unnecessary to use the same lineup in the second game, so those players who performed well and went to the B team would not participate in this game.

"Damn, looking down on people!" Zhou Yi exclaimed, "Then let me teach them a lesson! Chu Ling, let the game begin!"