Luckily I came to Borussia Dortmund

August 9, 2013, 8:40 a.m.

Chen Anno stood at the entrance to the locker room at the Brackel training base.

Today was his first training session after joining Borussia Dortmund. As for the medical, that had already been done before he signed.

The reason he had not come in two or three hours early for extra training alone like he had at Sao Paulo was because, before he left Sao Paulo, Lucio had told him that when he had just arrived at a new club, he could not act too much like a lone wolf. It would make his new teammates think he was trying to show off.

Yesterday, Chen Anno had specifically asked Klopp about it. Borussia Dortmund's daily training started at nine, so he had only arrived twenty minutes early.

But even arriving only twenty minutes early, Chen Anno was still the first one there, because the locker room was still pitch-black inside, and even the lights had not been turned on.

Standing at the door, Chen Anno was just about to take out his phone to look for the light switch when someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder.

"Hello, are you Anno Chen?"

Chen Anno was startled by the voice that had appeared out of nowhere. He turned back and saw a middle-aged man with slightly curly long hair, dressed in a black tracksuit with Borussia Dortmund's yellow BVB logo on the chest.

Chen Anno quickly held out his hand. "Uh... yes, sir. Hello, I'm Anno Chen."

"Haha..." The middle-aged man was amused by this scene. "Hello, Anno. I'm Borussia Dortmund's assistant coach. My name is Zeljko Buvac, I'm Bosnian. You can call me Zeljko."

After shaking hands with Chen Anno, Buvac walked into the locker room and turned on the lights.

"Jurgen told me yesterday that you'd be coming back for training today, and even reminded me to come early. I didn't expect you to arrive even earlier than me."

"Come here, Anno. This is your locker." Buvac waved Chen Anno over, then pointed at a locker.

"I had them prepare your training kit and equipment for you yesterday. You can use them whenever you like."

Chen Anno looked at the name already pasted on the locker—Anno Chen—and his number, 10, above it.

"Thank you, Mr. Buvac." Chen Anno was still very touched by the club's thoughtful arrangements.

"Oh... right, have you had breakfast?" Buvac suddenly looked back.

"Uh..." Chen Anno scratched his head a little awkwardly. "Well... I still don't know where the cafeteria is."

"Ah... look at this mess. How about this, you change into your training kit first—the yellow top and black shorts. Once you're done, I'll take you to the cafeteria for breakfast."

"No need to rush. This morning's training session won't be too heavy. In the afternoon, we'll fly to FC Augsburg, because our first league match is away against FC Augsburg."

As Buvac was speaking, the first teammate finally walked in.

"Hey... good morning, Zeljko." The newcomer greeted Buvac first, then looked at Chen Anno, who was changing.

"Woo... you must be Anno Chen. I'm Sebastian Kehl. You can call me Sebastian or... captain. I watched your match against Bayern Munich. You're pretty good."

The newcomer was Borussia Dortmund's current captain, Sebastian Kehl, who had already been at Borussia Dortmund for eleven years.

Their hands clasped tightly together.

"Hello, Captain. Nice to meet you."

Hearing Chen Anno call him captain, Kehl's smile grew even wider. "Welcome to Borussia Dortmund, Anno."

After that, players arrived one after another.

Some looked in decent spirits, while others seemed as if they were not fully awake yet and were still yawning.

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There was Marco Reus, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels, and also players who, like Chen Anno, had just joined this season, such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and so on.

While resting yesterday, Chen Anno had already used his phone to look up his current Borussia Dortmund teammates. As a newcomer, he took the initiative to greet everyone.

With captain Kehl and assistant coach Buvac helping introduce him, most of his teammates' attitudes were quite friendly.

Of course, there were also some whose attitude carried a trace of arrogance.

Anyone who could play for a Bundesliga giant like Borussia Dortmund had grown up with the label of "genius," hadn't they? Having a bit of pride was perfectly normal.

No matter what their attitude was, Chen Anno always remained humble. During his two years back in China, he had long since developed his own way of dealing with people and the world.

That was, never let the thoughts in your heart show on your face.

Besides, this was competitive sport. In the end, you still had to do your talking on the pitch.

After changing into their gear, Chen Anno followed his teammates to the cafeteria for breakfast.

It had to be said that the food in Borussia Dortmund's cafeteria was quite abundant, and it tasted very good too.

Afterward, under captain Kehl's lead, everyone went to the gym and did some stretching on their own.

At 10:30 a.m., out on the outdoor training pitch, Chen Anno finally met Borussia Dortmund's head coach, Klopp.

"All right, lads. Today, our team has a new partner joining us. Anno, come to the front." Klopp looked at Chen Anno.

When Chen Anno came to his side, he patted Chen Anno on the shoulder. "I believe you've already introduced yourselves. Starting today, Anno is a member of our big family. From now on, all of us will train together, fight together, and win honors together."

Next, the players began warming up under assistant coach Buvac's lead.

Klopp stood on the sideline with his arms folded across his chest, alongside Kravietz.

"When we go to FC Augsburg this afternoon, do we need to bring Anno with us?" Kravietz looked at Klopp beside him.

"Of course! Anno missed our pre-match camp. If he wants to integrate faster, he has to come along and watch our tactics and his teammates' playing styles up close."

Klopp seemed to be in a very good mood. Although the outside world generally believed that letting Lewandowski go was a mistake, Klopp still firmly believed in his own view.

As long as Chen Anno could settle into the team quickly, combined with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whom he had already been quite optimistic about, Borussia Dortmund definitely had very high expectations for this season.

"Once Zeljko has finished warming them up, we'll run a thirty-minute seven-vs-seven training match and observe him first. Only then can I make adjustments and figure out how to help him integrate into the team as quickly as possible."

Kravietz nodded. In truth, he was curious too—what kind of sparks would fly between Chen Anno and this young Borussia Dortmund side that Klopp had personally drilled into shape?

After all, Kravietz had been the first to notice Chen Anno back then, and only afterward had he told Klopp about him.

His expectations for Chen Anno were definitely no lower than Klopp's.

"By the way, Jurgen, you've read Anno's physical test report, right?"

"Haha..." At the mention of that, the corners of Klopp's mouth lifted uncontrollably. "That kid gave me one hell of a surprise. How could I not have read it?"

"When I first saw the report, I even wondered if the equipment had malfunctioned! His speed, physique, and strength are nothing like those of a seventeen-year-old kid. If not for the bone-age test, I would definitely suspect he had lied about his age."

"And his feel for the ball, his balance, his creativity on the ball—my God! I truly can't imagine what a terrifying player Anno will become if we can fully develop him. He's simply the best gift God could have given to the sport of football!"

"Peter, do you know? Sometimes I wonder whether Ronaldo, at his peak, had numbers like Anno's. The day he truly grows into himself, he'll be an absolute nightmare for every team!"

Listening to Klopp's undisguised praise, Kravietz couldn't hide the smile on his face either. When he had seen that professional physical test report, his jaw had dropped just the same.

"Good thing Bayern Munich couldn't promise him playing time back then. Good thing Anno came to Borussia Dortmund."