Gao Lin's Choice

Seeing so many of his Youth National Team teammates successfully head abroad, Lin Feng and Feng Xiaoting were both very happy.

To make it easier for everyone to stay in touch and communicate, the two created a QQ Group and added all the teammates who had successfully secured moves abroad.

Once the group was set up, Lin Feng casually sent a message:

"Newbie checking in, please take care of me, Big Shots!"

"The Big Shot is pretending to be a newbie again!"

"Exactly, you're the one with the highest Market Value in our group, how can you call yourself a newbie!"

"Hehe, you can't look at it that way. I was born in '88, you're all older than me, and I joined the team last. Whether it's by age or seniority, shouldn't I be the newbie?"

Everyone was speechless; it really is true that comparing yourself to others only leads to frustration. This kid was the youngest on the team and the last to join, yet he was doing the best out of all of them.

"By the way, where's Big Head? How come I don't see him?"

In the Youth National Team, Gao Lin was affectionately called Big Head by his teammates because his head looked quite large.

However, in the National team, that nickname belonged to Li Weifeng, so everyone only used it in private.

"Big Head's situation is a bit complicated. I've added him as a friend, let me pull him in and let him explain it himself!"

Soon, someone with the nickname 'I'm a Pro at Flying Planes' was pulled into the QQ Group by Chen Tao.

Lin Feng: "???"

Feng Xiaoting: "???"

Zhao Xuri: "???"

Seeing this nickname, everyone sent a string of question marks in unison.

I'm a Pro at Flying Planes: "Newbie reporting for duty, you may all rise, my subjects!"

Cui Peng couldn't help but ask in the group:

"Old Gao, what is the meaning of this nickname of yours?"

I'm a Pro at Flying Planes: "It doesn't mean anything else, it's exactly what it says. As someone with experience, you should definitely understand!"

Cui Peng hurriedly issued a triple denial: "Don't talk nonsense, it's not me, I didn't do it!"

I'm a Pro at Flying Planes: "Hehe, don't explain. Explaining is just covering up, and covering up is just a disguised admission of the truth."

Chen Tao didn't want to watch Gao Lin act the fool in the group anymore, so he interrupted their conversation and asked Gao Lin directly:

"Big Head, how is your transfer progressing? It's already mid-July, and the new season training camps in Europe are about to start. Everyone else's transfers are basically done, why haven't you had any movement at all?"

Due to the vast geographical span, the temperatures and climates vary greatly across different regions, so the start times for the domestic league differ significantly from the Big Five Leagues.

The new season for the Big Five Leagues usually begins in late August and runs until the following May.

The new season for the Chinese Super League usually starts in March and ends in November.

In March, the weather across the country warms up and the temperature difference between regions begins to shrink, avoiding the extreme gaps where the south might be twenty or thirty degrees while the north is still ten or twenty degrees below zero.

Ending the league in November also takes this into account; after all, in the northern winter, temperatures of twenty or thirty degrees below zero are common. Playing soccer on outdoor fields in such weather would be truly life-threatening.

It is precisely because of this that when domestic players go abroad, many choose to do so in January, when both the domestic league and the European leagues are in their off-seasons.

Because in July and August, the Chinese Super League is entering its final sprint phase, and many teams are unwilling to let players go easily for the sake of stable results, creating significant obstacles for players looking to go abroad.

The transfer obstacles Shenyang Ginde set for Chen Tao were partly due to this reason.

The reason why the transfers of the other young players from the Youth National Team went so smoothly was mainly because most of them had not yet secured a starting position at their respective clubs and were not of high importance to the team.

Originally, Gao Lin fell into the second category; he was not highly valued at Shenhua and had been playing in the youth team.

But after the Youth World Cup, Shenhua saw Gao Lin's outstanding performance and decided to promote him to the First Team.

In this situation, facing offers from foreign clubs, Shenhua's attitude became hard to predict.

Gao Lin sent a crying emoji: "The club's negotiations with the team that wanted me fell through. I can't go abroad!"

Feng Xiaoting: "It's that serious? Which foreign team was interested in you? How much were they willing to offer?"

Cui Peng: "Don't worry yet, there's still over a month left before the transfer window closes. Hang in there, there's still hope!"

Zhao Xuri: "That's right, everyone saw your performance at the Youth World Cup. Even Zhu Ting and Mao Biao managed to go abroad, you definitely won't be left without a club!"

Zhu Ting, Mao Biao: "Zhao Ritian, are you being polite?"

I'm a Pro at Flying Planes: "It's said to be a Relegation Battle Team in Ligue 1. Their forward is injured, and they urgently need a forward to fill the gap."

When everyone heard it was a Ligue 1 team, they all tagged Cui Peng.

Among the current Youth National Team members, only Cui Peng had joined Ligue 1, and he had gone to a team ranked near the top.

Cui Peng: "Old Gao, don't worry yet. Tell me about the situation with that Ligue 1 team first, and I'll help you analyze it."

In the Youth National Team, Cui Peng and Gao Lin had a great relationship; they were birds of a feather and got along very well.

It's no wonder that in that Olympic team back then, they were the first two to be kicked off the squad.

I'm a Pro at Flying Planes: "That team seems to be from some island, called Ajaccio or something!?"

Cui Peng: "Ajaccio? They are a team from Corsica. They had 45 points in the league last season, only 4 points above the relegation zone. If it weren't for two consecutive wins in the last two rounds, they would have likely been relegated."

It was clear that Cui Peng had done his homework after joining Ligue 1, as he obviously knew much more about the league than the others.

After providing the introduction, Cui Peng added:

"Ajaccio's financial situation isn't great, so the transfer fee they're offering probably won't be very high, right?"

At the mention of this, Gao Lin flew into a rage: "It's not just 'not high'—they only offered a transfer fee of 900,000 Euro. Shenhua thought the other side was intentionally trying to humiliate them!"

Gao Lin was, after all, a starting Forward for the Youth National Team, and his performance at the Youth World Cup had been quite eye-catching.

Although he couldn't compare to Lin Feng, Chen Tao, or Feng Xiaoting, he felt that he shouldn't be valued lower than Zhu Ting.

Zhu Ting hadn't even played as many minutes as him at the Youth World Cup, yet Hamburg had offered a transfer fee of 1.5 million Euro for him.

While Hamburg wasn't a top-tier team, they were at least in the upper-middle of the league and didn't have to worry about a Relegation Battle Team status, whereas this garbage team that had its eye on him?

Not only was the location remote and the transfer fee low, but the most critical issue was that this team was under immense pressure to avoid relegation.

If they weren't careful, the team could very easily be relegated from Ligue 1 to Ligue 2.

Ligue 1 was already the weakest of the Big Five Leagues, and if he really got relegated to Ligue 2, he would be better off staying in the Chinese Super League!

After hearing Gao Lin's words, everyone fell silent.

His situation was indeed very complicated; it was clear that not only was Shenhua dissatisfied with the transfer fee, but Gao Lin himself was not very happy with this team.

Furthermore, there was a drawback to playing for a Relegation Battle Team: they valued results above all else and wouldn't give newcomers much time or patience to adapt.

Once Gao Lin's performance in the league faltered, it was highly likely that the Head Coach would freeze him out and discard him entirely.

In that case, he would truly be at a massive loss.

Lin Feng asked curiously: "Are there any other teams in contact with you?"

Given Gao Lin's performance, there should be more than one team interested in him.

After all, even someone like Mao Biao, who spent his time on the bench, had successfully managed to Study Abroad; Gao Lin had at least started a few matches, so he should be receiving even more attention.

"There are, but they're all from the second-tier leagues of the Big Five, like the Spanish Segunda División, the English Championship, or the German 2. Bundesliga."

Based on Lin Feng's understanding of Gao Lin, if he had to choose between these second-tier leagues and a Ligue 1 Relegation Battle Team, he would most likely choose the Ligue 1 team.

After all, this guy cared most about his pride; joining a team in the Big Five Leagues was much more prestigious than joining a team in their second-tier leagues.

"Brother Feng, you have to save me! You've been abroad for a long time and have wide connections; you're the only one I can count on now!"

Seeing Lin Feng take the initiative to ask, Gao Lin seized the opportunity and immediately began begging Lin Feng for help.

Lin Feng pondered for a moment; his connections were mainly concentrated in the German leagues, and there happened to be a team in the Bundesliga with unlimited future potential but currently in poor form: The Hornets, Borussia Dortmund.