Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a month had gone by.
By late June, the day of the team's training camp was drawing closer.
Werder Bremen's preseason camp for the new season would begin on July 3. Before then, the players would gradually make their way from all over to report to the team.
The first to arrive was naturally Lin Quan himself. After all, he had already been training alone at the base for over a month.
Through this period of training, he had fully adapted to all of Boss Messi's peak abilities.
When he used Boss Messi's various signature moves in the future, they would no longer feel so awkward.
Not only that, he had grown another centimeter, reaching 173 centimeters.
His weight had also risen from 65 kilograms to 67 kilograms.
The increase in height and weight made his previously somewhat slender frame look noticeably stronger.
His ability to handle physical challenges had improved as well, and he had become better at holding onto the ball.
Whoosh!
With a crisp sound, the football traced a beautiful arc, sailed high over the wall, then dropped sharply and slipped into the upper-left corner of the goal.
That day, he arrived at the training ground early, only to find that someone had gotten there before him.
It was a young player around 1.8 meters tall with a head of blond hair.
The other player had not noticed Lin Quan's arrival and was still shooting away with his head down.
Lin Quan watched from the sideline and realized the man was practicing free kicks.
But rather than practicing, it looked more like he was venting his anger.
The way he struck each ball made it seem as though the football had wronged him.
Yet despite kicking with such force, his shots still flew accurately into the corners of the goal.
It had to be said that this guy's technique was exceptional.
By then, Lin Quan had already guessed his identity.
This should be the player loaned from Chelsea—Kevin De Bruyne.
Clap clap clap!
Lin Quan applauded the other man's splendid technique.
Hearing the applause, De Bruyne stopped and turned to look at him.
Seeing that Lin Quan wore the same training kit as him, he nodded at him as a greeting.
After greeting him, he went back to training with his head down, showing no intention of making small talk with Lin Quan.
Lin Quan knew De Bruyne was a quiet, introverted player, so he did not think much of it.
If he had enthusiastically run over to greet him after seeing him, Lin Quan would have suspected something was wrong with De Bruyne instead!
He had no intention of disturbing De Bruyne's training, so he went to the equipment room, took out some training gear, chose another section of the field, set up the equipment, and began practicing alone.
After training for around half an hour, Lin Quan sensed that someone seemed to be watching him.
So he glanced toward the sideline and found that De Bruyne had stopped training at some point and was standing there watching him practice.
When De Bruyne saw Lin Quan looking at him, his face reddened and he quickly turned his head away.
He felt as though he had been caught doing something bad, and was unexpectedly a little embarrassed.
"Something wrong?"
Seeing that this guy had actually blushed, Lin Quan could not help but find it amusing.
He had always heard that Dindin was shy, but he had not expected him to be shy to this extent.
"Cough, cough. No, nothing!"
De Bruyne said awkwardly. It was as if those words had taken tremendous courage, and he spoke them with great difficulty.
Getting him to say a full eight words was really no easy feat!
Seeing that the other man had nothing to say, Lin Quan simply ignored him and continued training.
But after he resumed his training, De Bruyne remained by the sideline and did not leave.
So Lin Quan had no choice but to stop again and repeat his earlier question:
"Are you sure nothing's wrong?"
De Bruyne could no longer say that nothing was wrong. After all, if there really was nothing, he would not have been standing here without leaving.
"Hello, my name is Kevin De Bruyne. Nice to meet you. Are you practicing dribbling past opponents?"
Lin Quan walked over, extended his hand, and shook De Bruyne's hand amicably.
"Hello, I'm Lin Quan. As you can see, I am indeed practicing my dribbling. What do you think? Interested in training together?"
De Bruyne played in the attacking midfield area, a position that required a certain level of dribbling and take-on ability. It was greatly helpful for shaking off defenders and finding better passing lanes.
At twenty-one, De Bruyne's technique was not yet as refined or polished as it would become later. His style was free and unrestrained, while his technique was somewhat rough around the edges, none of which suited Chelsea's requirements very well.
Unable to find a place at Chelsea, he had been forced out on loan and came to the Bundesliga to develop.
Bundesliga clubs, especially ordinary ones, were not particularly outstanding at marketing, and their revenues were not high.
Although they had one of Europe's best football markets, their commercial development still lagged far behind the Premier League and La Liga.
To control costs, lower- and mid-table Bundesliga teams generally did not spend much on wages and were more conservative in the transfer market.
That gave young players opportunities, allowing them to find a stage of their own here.
For De Bruyne, playing in the Bundesliga was certainly better than staying at Chelsea and warming the bench.
After experiencing the pain of joining a Giant Club only to be cast aside by one, De Bruyne had grown increasingly dissatisfied with his own ability.
He desperately wanted to improve as quickly as possible and prove himself on the pitch sooner rather than later.
He wanted those bastards at Chelsea to see that it was not that he lacked ability, but that Chelsea had never given him a chance.
Therefore, faced with Lin Quan's invitation, he gladly accepted.
Lin Quan did not know what De Bruyne was thinking. He had invited him to train together only because he wanted a sparring partner, so that he could further familiarize himself with Messi's various dribbling techniques in actual one-on-one contests.
The two immediately hit it off and began training against each other with great enthusiasm.
"You want to go first, or should I?"
Lin Quan held the ball and smiled at De Bruyne as he spoke.
Seeing the football at Lin Quan's feet, De Bruyne lowered his center of gravity slightly, positioned himself in front of the crucial area at the top of the penalty arc, and assumed a defensive stance.
De Bruyne's defensive ability was not particularly outstanding, but he still understood the basics of defending.
However, when defenders faced attackers one-on-one, they were in a passive position. The attacking side had at least two possible routes to break through.
Therefore, defenders could only choose to block the more dangerous route and force the opponent toward the other side.
De Bruyne chose to block the inside, leaving the outside, namely the wing, open to Lin Quan. This was the choice most defenders made when facing a winger's dribble.
De Bruyne intended to let Lin Quan try to sprint down the wing, but when he drove forward, he would make sure the ball went past but the man did not, using physical contact to disrupt his rhythm and stride and make him lose the ball.
There was nothing wrong with that strategy, but the problem was that Lin Quan would not obediently cooperate with him.
He dribbled forward vertically, watching De Bruyne's footwork.
De Bruyne kept his weight on his back foot, his body turned sideways as he prepared to chase back.
Suddenly, Lin Quan leaned forward and made a motion as though he was about to knock the ball ahead. Seeing his center of gravity shift, De Bruyne did not suspect a thing and immediately took a step back.
But Lin Quan suddenly dragged the ball to the right, using a simple body feint to get past De Bruyne.
De Bruyne froze where he stood. That way of beating a man was just too simple, as simple as eating and drinking.
But the problem was, how had he been beaten so easily by such a simple move, like a wooden post?
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