While Klopp was working himself to the bone, Lin Feng was also pondering a question.
How could he use the advantages brought by being a Reborn person to help this China Youth Team, and the future National Football Team, become more competitive?
A fence needs three posts, and a good man needs three helpers.
Football was a team sport. No matter how strong an individual was, without a group of good teammates to work with, victory would still be difficult.
The National Football Team was simply too weak, and on top of that, it had the Football Association as a pig teammate.
If he did nothing, then even with him as an unknown variable, the National Football Team's future results probably would not improve by much.
This China Youth Team, hailed as the Platinum Generation, had many players who would become future internationals. Some of them would even serve the national team for more than a decade.
If he could help them improve their own abilities, then the National Football Team's combat strength would naturally rise along with them.
As for how to help these teammates improve, it was actually simple. He just needed to find ways to send them abroad and let them develop in high-level overseas leagues.
Japan and South Korea had both taken this path, and it had proven effective.
Outside of deeper issues such as reforming youth development, the league, and the Football Association system, it was also the only option with any chance of succeeding.
With that in mind, Lin Feng had figured out what he needed to do.
For many people in the China Youth Team, this was their first time coming to the Netherlands.
New to the place and unfamiliar with everything, they naturally treated Lin Feng, the local expert, as their guide.
Although Lin Feng lived in Germany, the Netherlands was close by, and he had visited plenty of times.
So he easily led his teammates around Amsterdam.
The areas they passed through had all been specifically chosen by Lin Feng. They were basically Amsterdam's most prosperous and beautiful districts.
As the capital of the old developed nation of the Netherlands, Amsterdam was extremely prosperous.
Before the 2008 financial crisis had erupted, Western Europe was still enjoying a blazing prosperity, nowhere near as chaotic and run-down as it would become twenty years later.
Aside from the few players who played for clubs in first-tier cities, when had the young China Youth Team players ever seen anything like this?
One by one, they were like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, completely dazzled by this extravagant, intoxicating world.
What a great place!
Since they had finally gotten the chance to come out here, they had to buy some gifts to bring back for family and friends, right?
So Lin Feng brought them to the most bustling shopping mall and used its dazzling array of goods to stimulate their urge to spend.
Sure enough, everyone stared wide-eyed. There was such a huge variety of things here, and many were not even available in China, such as the latest BlackBerry phones and PSP game consoles.
The group immediately began shopping like crazy, emptying their wallets and entering full-on buying mode.
Some spared no expense on branded handbags, watches, and high-end cosmetics. These things were much cheaper in Europe than in China, and if they brought them back and resold them, they might even make a small profit.
Some spent heavily on electronics, while others had unusual tastes and actually bought several sets of genuine Lego toys.
Lin Feng could only say, "Brother, you're unstoppable!"
Before coming to Europe for the Youth World Cup, rumors had circulated that the China Youth Team might go to the Clairefontaine training camp in Paris for training.
Paris in 2005 was not yet the chaotic city it would become in later years, with thieves everywhere, refugees and new immigrants flooding the streets, and strikes and demonstrations breaking out at every turn.
In people's minds, it was the capital of fashion, the capital of romance, and also a shopping paradise.
Influenced by this, many players' relatives and friends had asked them to help buy things on their behalf.
So the things these young China Youth Team players bought were not necessarily for themselves, except for that Lego guy.
After all, aside from the tiny handful who had already established themselves as first-team regulars, most of them were substitutes or still struggling in youth teams. They barely earned any money throughout the year.
How could they possibly have so much money to buy such expensive things?
Lin Feng had seen plenty of these things, and he had even seen better ones in the future, so he was not particularly interested.
He bought nothing for himself. He only spent one euro on the latest sports newspaper and began browsing the newest news from the Football World.
Most of the newspaper's content concerned transfers in European football that summer.
Major transfer stories filled the front pages, such as Real Madrid star and Barcelona traitor Figo joining Inter Milan, and European Best Young Player Ramos transferring to Real Madrid.
It was only after flipping several more pages that he found a report on the Youth World Cup tucked away in an inconspicuous spot.
<Eastern Dragon Defeats German War Machine, Young Star Stuns the World!>
Lin Feng immediately spotted the handsome picture of himself accompanying the article and silently gave the Dutch a thumbs-up.
That photography was top-notch!
After reading it carefully, he found that the Dutch had been quite generous, writing plenty of praise for him.
Of course, Kaka was mentioned most often. The Dutch repeatedly compared him with Kaka, and some commentators even felt he was a younger version of Kaka. If he could one day reach Kaka's current heights, his future would be limitless.
However, compared with another young player who also had a picture in the paper, the Dutch praise for him was clearly much less enthusiastic.
<Barcelona Prodigy Shines at Youth World Cup, Pampas Eagle Becomes Top Favorite to Win!>
In their report on Messi and the Argentina team, the Dutch used virtually every flattering phrase imaginable, praising Messi to the skies.
Terms like Peerless genius and future King of football had all been thrown around.
La Masia had been founded by the Dutchman Cruyff, so the Dutch naturally felt a sense of pride and affinity toward a genius who had emerged from its Youth Academy.
Given that, it was no surprise that their praise was so blatant.
Looking at the photograph of Messi raising both hands to the sky in celebration of his goal, Lin Feng took a deep breath.
Being born into the same era as players like Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo was the sorrow of many outstanding players, because it was hard for them to stand out.
But at the same time, wasn't it also an opportunity?
Competing with the very best would only keep pushing him, making him stronger and stronger!
Just thinking about such a scene was enough to make his blood boil!
Although Klopp had given the team a day off, everyone was unfortunately short on cash.
After only half a day of shopping, most of them had spent all the money on them.
In the end, Chen Tao even had to pay for lunch.
Chen Tao had at least secured a starting position at Shenyang Ginde and earned an annual salary of around 400,000 yuan, so he could afford one meal.
But even for him, the meal hurt.
"Damn it, more than ten thousand for one meal? Why don't they just rob us?"
Looking at his deflated wallet, even Chen Tao started wailing.
"Exactly! With that much money, back in my hometown we could throw dozens of banquet tables and feed everyone for three days and three nights!"
Hao Junmin, who came from the countryside, nodded repeatedly, feeling that this meal had been terribly overpriced.
"Europe's cost of living is so high. Does that mean they earn a lot from work too?"
Someone asked curiously.
"Of course. Otherwise, how could they afford such high expenses?"
Dong Fangzhuo, who was playing in Belgium, casually replied.
"Brother Dong, what's your annual salary at Manchester United?"
The moment Dong Fangzhuo spoke, Lin Feng had an idea and casually asked a question.
Everyone was extremely interested in this question. Their whispers instantly stopped, and all eyes turned toward him. They pricked up their ears, afraid of missing a single word.
"Ahem, it's not that much. I'm a newcomer, and I haven't played for the team yet, so Manchester United doesn't pay me much. My weekly wage is only around 5,000 to 6,000 Pound Sterling!"
The moment he said that, the crowd erupted.
Someone began counting on their fingers.
Five or six thousand a week—wouldn't that be an annual salary of 300,000 pounds?
At the time, the exchange rate between the pound and the yuan was roughly 1 to 14.
Converted into yuan, an annual salary of 300,000 pounds came to a staggering 4.2 million yuan!
Dong Fangzhuo's salary was actually that high?
PS: To be honest, before I started writing this book, I was actually very nervous.
In football novels, the National Football Team was a major minefield that many people did not dare touch.
The reason was simple: the National Football Team was simply too bad, so bad that many people had become utterly disappointed in it and could not help swearing whenever it was mentioned.
But just as I said in the novel, no matter how bad the National Football Team was, it was still our own child. Deep down, everyone still hoped it could get better.
Ever since I started watching football in 2008, the National Football Team had truly disappointed me again and again. Like everyone else, I had cursed it out, lamented its misfortune and raged at its failure to improve, and sworn never to watch it again.
But whenever I occasionally saw news about a National Football Team match, I still could not help secretly opening the livestream to watch.
After watching, I could not help wanting to slap myself twice: Why am I such a masochist?
But after seeing the National Football Team narrowly survive during the World Cup Qualifiers and miraculously retain hope of advancing,
my feelings toward the National Football Team slowly began to change.
This National Football Team was undoubtedly the weakest one I had seen in all my years of watching football.
But its mentality and spirit might have been the best of any National Football Team in the past decade.
Their fighting spirit, their hunger for victory, and their implementation and execution of the coach's tactical arrangements were all the best the National Football Team had shown in recent years.
If the stronger National Football Team during the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers had possessed this kind of mentality and spirit, perhaps we would not have been spectators at the Russia World Cup.
The National Football Team was still very poor at present, but I felt that the overall environment was improving.
There were still plenty of people criticizing the National Football Team. After all, it was the nation's spittoon—anyone could take a shot at it.
But more and more people were willing to realistically, fairly, and objectively look at the National Football Team's shortcomings and weaknesses, and speak a fair word for it.
And after the National Football Team had sunk to rock bottom, it had finally recognized its own strength and no longer clung to unrealistic fantasies.
The National Football Team was currently at the level of a third-rate, perhaps even fourth-rate, team in Asia. Yet after recognizing that reality, it could instead adopt tactics better suited to its own strength and no longer play in such an awkward, uncomfortable manner as before.
More importantly, as the Youth Training Players from the Money Football era gradually matured, the performances of the China Youth Team and youth national team in international competitions had begun to recover.
That gave me hope.
Keep it up, Chinese football!
Before you continue