That night, as soon as Lin Quan lay down on his bed after returning home, he heard the system's voice:
[Body modification begins!] [Time required: eight hours!]
Before Lin Quan had any time to think, a wave of exhaustion hit him, and he immediately fell into a deep sleep.
He slept for eight hours straight. When he woke up, he felt refreshed and full of energy.
Had the system's body modification been completed?
Lin Quan looked himself over. His height hadn't changed.
After measuring himself, he was still 1.72 meters tall.
He had worried that the system's modification would make him as short as Messi, but it seemed he had worried for nothing.
However, Messi's sharp dribbling and breakthrough ability had a great deal to do with his height.
Messi's stride frequency was incredibly fast, and coupled with his natural feel for the ball, it allowed him to touch the ball faster and more often than others.
Thus, in the same amount of time, others could only make two movements, while he could complete three.
By changing his rhythm, Messi could get past most defenders.
That was what made Messi so formidable: he took changes in rhythm to the extreme.
One trick was enough to conquer the world, yet there was nothing anyone could do about him.
You knew he was going to get past you, but your body couldn't keep up with your brain, leading to the famous scene where Boateng tripped over himself.
That was why Lin Quan had been worried that growing taller would affect skills such as his dribbling and breakthroughs.
Would a 1.72-meter Messi still be Messi?
No, he had to go test it on the pitch!
Lin Quan excitedly hugged his football, rode his bicycle, and rushed toward the football field.
"What is that kid doing up so early? Training with the youth team doesn't start until nine-thirty, and it isn't even six-thirty yet!"
Watching Lin Quan's retreating figure speed away, Sera asked Guardiola in confusion.
Guardiola fell into thought, remembering his conversation with Lin Quan yesterday.
The boy had grown up and had ideas of his own. Training so seriously at a time like this was probably preparation for leaving Barca.
Thinking of this, Guardiola decided to use his connections to help Lin Quan find a suitable team.
If he truly wanted to leave Barca, then at the very least, Guardiola would send him to a better team. He couldn't let the move delay his career.
Lin Quan had arrived very early. Other than the security guard at the gate, there was no one else in the Training Base.
After greeting the guard, Lin Quan eagerly rushed onto the training pitch and immediately began practicing with the ball.
He really wanted to experience what Messi-style football felt like.
Before touching the ball, Lin Quan hadn't noticed anything unusual.
But the moment the ball reached his feet, he immediately felt the difference.
He could clearly feel that his stride frequency was much faster than usual. If he had only been able to take two steps per second before,
then now, he could take at least three, perhaps even four steps per second!
Besides his faster stride frequency, he could also clearly feel that his touch had improved tremendously.
Once he had the ball, it seemed as though it stuck to his feet. Every touch allowed him to precisely control it, never letting it stray more than half a meter from his body!
As a midfielder, Lin Quan understood better than anyone what that distance meant!
The reason Messi was so difficult to dispossess while dribbling
was, first, because his touch frequency was so fast that he could almost touch the ball with every step, always nudging it away before an opponent could reach it.
Second, his feel for the ball was exceptional. He controlled the distance between the ball and his body perfectly every time, making it extremely difficult for defenders to win it from him within that range.
Therefore, there was only one best way to deal with Messi: don't let the ball reach his feet!
After testing things out, Lin Quan was overjoyed.
That damn system had actually been reliable for once. It had truly copied Messi's attributes onto him!
Next, he tried several of Messi's signature dribbling moves, such as flicking the ball over opponents, inside-and-outside cuts, controlling the ball before turning, Fried Meatball, and consecutive shooting feints.
These moves were not exclusive to Messi, but because of his excellent feel for the ball and rapid touch frequency, they posed a much greater threat in his hands than when used by other players.
"Hey, Lin, why did you come so early?"
After Lin Quan had practiced for an hour, gone to the cafeteria for breakfast, and returned to the changing room for a shower, Deulofeu and the others finally arrived.
Seeing Lin Quan practicing alone on the pitch, Deulofeu was rather surprised.
This guy hadn't seemed particularly hardworking in his memory. Why had he come so early today?
Judging by how drenched in sweat he was, he had clearly been training for quite some time.
"I want to play for the first team!"
Lin Quan answered Deulofeu's question with great seriousness.
"Huh? You're not joking, are you? You're only sixteen, not even seventeen yet. How could someone your age possibly establish himself in the first team?"
Deulofeu had come on as a substitute in the eleventh round of last season's La Liga, when Barca crushed Mallorca 5–0.
However, by the time he came on, the score was already 4–0. Messi had scored three goals in the first thirty minutes, killing off any suspense early.
That was why Guardiola had sent him on to experience the atmosphere and give a young player some experience.
Yet in those few dozen minutes on the pitch, he had directly felt the enormous gap in strength between the first team and the youth team.
It made Deulofeu deeply realize that his own ability was still lacking.
He still needed to keep working hard and improve his football skills and overall strength. Otherwise, he would never establish himself in the first team.
Deulofeu was a year and a half older than Lin Quan, and he felt that even he couldn't establish himself in the first team.
Lin Quan was younger and even more slight in build, so he had even less chance.
"Of course I'm not joking. And I never said I had to establish myself at Barca!"
"You want to leave Barca?"
Deulofeu was startled. Players who came to La Masia dreamed of staying there, dreaming that one day they would step onto the Camp Nou pitch.
Yet Lin Quan, a born-and-bred Barcelona local, actually wanted to leave Barcelona. That shocked him greatly.
"Of course. If I don't leave Barca, how can I play for the first team? Besides, La Masia academy players are highly sought after elsewhere. I won't have to worry about finding a team that wants me!"
"I think you should consider it too, if you don't absolutely have to stay at Barca!"
Lin Quan vaguely remembered that Deulofeu had struggled greatly during his time at Barca, moving in and out several times before ultimately failing to make it.
So Lin Quan gave his friend a reminder. Whether Deulofeu listened or not was not something he could decide.
Just as some people dreamed from childhood of playing for Real Madrid, as Barca's results grew increasingly brilliant, many young players developed dreams of playing for Barca.
Deulofeu was one of them.
At that moment, the youth team coaches walked over and waved for the players to carry the equipment and prepare for that day's training.
Five days later, they would travel away to challenge league opponents Almeria.
Their opponents were currently seventh in the Segunda División League Table, while Barca's youth team was eighth.
Although there was only one place between them, the other side had 14 more Points and was considerably stronger.
However, the team had already lost two in a row. In the round before last, they had even suffered a crushing 4–1 defeat to Celta, bringing shame upon the Barca club.
Thus, the club gave them a strict order: no matter what, they had to beat Almeria and end the two-match losing streak.
This put tremendous pressure on the youth team coaching staff, and they attached enormous importance to the upcoming match.
Therefore, they planned to hold an internal training match and bring the players in the best form to the away fixture.
They had held such training matches many times before. As the team's starting defensive midfielder, Lin Quan would usually wear the blue bib that signified the starters.
But today, the assistant coach handed him a yellow bib meant for substitutes.
What did that mean?
Lin Quan looked toward youth team Head Coach Enrique, only to see him speaking ingratiatingly with club president Rosell.
Was Rosell behind this?
Before you continue