Homestay

Klaus Fischer was a seasoned veteran. He could tell that Guardiola thought highly of Lin Quan and recognized his ability.

He believed that, given Guardiola's character, he would not lie.

So Lin Quan's ability should have been decent. But being capable did not necessarily mean he was a good fit.

Werder Bremen's poor results were mainly due to their emphasis on attack.

When Head Coach Thomas Schaaf's 4-4-2 formation attacked, both full-backs pushed forward, and even the center-backs joined the attack.

This left too many players crowded in the final third and their rear exposed.

Once their opponents launched a counterattack, it was easy to break through their defense and create one-on-one chances.

In last season's Bundesliga, Werder Bremen had conceded the most one-on-one chances in the league.

That was hardly something to be proud of!

To solve this problem, Werder Bremen needed a powerful defensive midfielder, especially one with outstanding defensive ability and a talent for interceptions.

Ideally, someone like Makelele or Vieira. Of course, that was impossible. Players of that caliber would never join Werder Bremen.

So they could only search for suitable prospects among the young players of Giant Clubs and bring them in on loan.

Yet Barca had given them a deep-lying playmaker, leaving everyone at Bremen somewhat at a loss.

With De Bruyne already on loan from Chelsea, the team's playmaker should have been an attacking midfielder, while the defensive midfielder only needed to focus on defending rather than getting overly involved in attack.

Therefore, Klaus and the others felt that Lin Quan would probably struggle to fit into Werder Bremen's tactical system.

So he did not mention Lin Quan's tactical role in the team, playing time, or any other matters involving the team's tactics after joining Werder Bremen.

He merely assured Guardiola that the club would take good care of Lin Quan, putting their minds at ease.

A cash-strapped small-to-mid-sized club like Werder Bremen often had to rely on loan players to carry the team. If they ruined their reputation, no one would likely want to work with them in the future.

Therefore, Guardiola had complete faith in Klaus's promise.

Then, he discussed Lin Quan's living arrangements with the club.

The club offered two options. The first was for Lin Quan to live with the club's young players.

The second was to place him with a die-hard club supporter as a homestay student.

Guardiola respected Lin Quan's choice and agreed to the second option.

So Klaus had sporting director Essien drive them to the host family's home near the stadium.

The family consisted of four people: a husband and wife in their late thirties.

The husband was named William Victor and worked as a distributor for a local beer merchant.

The wife was Anna Victor, a civil servant who worked at City Hall.

This was a typical upper-middle-class German family. The couple's combined annual income was around one hundred thousand euros. They earned well and enjoyed a certain social standing.

They had two adorable blond, blue-eyed children. Their daughter, Angel, was twelve, about the same age as Guardiola's eldest daughter, while their son, Greene, was ten and still in elementary school.

All four were die-hard Werder Bremen supporters. Whenever Werder Bremen played at home, they almost never missed a match, and the entire family went together.

The couple was around the same age as Guardiola, and Lin Quan was now a Werder Bremen player.

They hit it off as soon as they met, and Guardiola and Sera were very satisfied with the host family.

Before leaving, Guardiola warmly gave Greene a football bearing his personal autograph.

In return, William's family gave Guardiola a barrel of pure grain beer that he had been saving.

To adapt to the team as quickly as possible, Lin Quan chose not to go skiing in Switzerland with Guardiola and the others. Instead, he remained in Bremen and began training on his own before the team's preseason camp started.

There was a huge gap in intensity between youth-team matches and Bundesliga matches. If he approached the Bundesliga with the mindset of playing youth football, he would definitely get torn apart.

So before the league began, he still had much work to do.

For example, he needed to improve his fitness reserves so that he would have enough stamina to adapt to the intensity of Bundesliga matches.

He also needed to strengthen his physical ability in challenges so he would not go down at the slightest touch.

In addition, he needed to watch recordings of the team's matches from the past few seasons and study their tactical style so that he could better integrate into the team's system.

Lin Quan was not too worried about Klaus's concerns.

Although he had played as a defensive midfielder in Barca's youth team, after copying peak Messi's attributes, he could play many positions.

That included winger, second striker, attacking midfielder, and even filling in as a center forward.

Of course, returning to his old trade as a deep-lying playmaker would not be a problem either.

After joining PSG, the older Messi had most often played as a playmaking hub.

Therefore, his responsibilities did not conflict with De Bruyne's. The task of organizing and linking play could be handed entirely to De Bruyne.

He, meanwhile, could take on the role of the finisher for the final strike.

If De Bruyne was specifically targeted and contained by the opposition, Lin Quan could also drop deeper to take over the job of organizing the attack, forming a double attacking-midfield setup.

Of course, none of this was his decision to make. What he needed to do was prove to the Head Coach that he was capable of playing those positions.

The host family's home was very close to the team's Training Base, less than two kilometers away.

He was still too young to get a driver's license, and there was no need to drive such a short distance anyway.

So Lin Quan spent two hundred euros on a bicycle to use as his transportation to and from training.

That evening, Anna prepared a lavish dinner at home to welcome Lin Quan.

"Lin, don't feel constrained here. Just treat this place like your own home!"

Anna smiled as she poured Lin Quan a glass of fruit juice. Since he was underage, he could not drink alcohol.

Besides, drinking was inappropriate for professional players and could affect their competitive condition.

"Thank you, Mrs. Anna!"

Lin Quan politely thanked her and accepted the juice.

William poured himself a beer and picked up the conversation.

"Werder Bremen has always been very tolerant of young players. The team's captain, Fritz, is a very upright fellow. With him around, no one in the team will bully you."

At this point, William's gaze dimmed slightly, and he sighed.

"It's a pity that Wiese left."

The Wiese William mentioned was Tim Wiese, Werder Bremen's starting goalkeeper last season.

He had been hailed as the successor to the Lion King Kahn, an unruly yet fiercely passionate goalkeeper.

Such a person could easily become a team's spiritual leader, and that was precisely the role Wiese had played in Bremen.

Wiese was highly capable, and after serving Werder Bremen for so long and making tremendous contributions to the club, he was deeply loved by the fans.

His departure left many supporters deeply disappointed.

William realized that his mood had affected everyone, so he stopped pursuing the subject. Instead, he raised his glass and offered Lin Quan his blessing.

"Lin, may you establish yourself in the team soon and become our pride as soon as possible!"