The next morning.
The first-team training ground.
Leo Kang and Son Heung-min were doing strength training.
Brandt came over and asked, "Leo, you're not going back to Barcelona, are you? It'll be so boring in the dorm if I'm there by myself!"
Leo nodded.
"Then I heard you haven't renewed your contract with the club either?"
"Did the club sack Schmidt for your sake?"
"Did you come here to train at five in the morning again?"
Brandt kept firing off questions, curiosity getting the better of him.
Leo smiled, but there was no way he could explain.
Schmidt's dismissal had absolutely nothing to do with him.
How could a player get the club to sack a head coach?
This was the Bundesliga.
Not the Premier League.
Son Heung-min patted Brandt on the head. "Get warmed up. The new head coach will be here soon."
Leo had just finished a drill.
A system notification sounded softly.
[Physical Contact: 79.9 → 80!]
[Stamina: 79.9 → 80!]
[When an individual attribute exceeds 80, it takes longer to improve through training.]
In an instant.
His body seemed to undergo a qualitative leap.
The slight fatigue from his morning training vanished!
As they spoke,
they heard the steady clack of leather shoes on the concrete floor.
An elderly man with a shock of wild hair, dressed in a sharp suit, walked over.
A young assistant coach followed behind him.
Leo smiled. Wasn't that Coach Topp from the youth team?
"Beep!"
At the sound of the whistle,
the players gathered in front of them.
Everyone knew the new head coach was a legendary figure at Bayer Leverkusen!
The Triple Runner-up King!
Bundesliga runner-up!
German Cup runner-up!
Champions League runner-up!
But a series of off-field scandals had marred the end of his coaching career. After failing to maintain his reputation while coaching the national team, he had drifted from place to place before eventually returning to coach Bayer Leverkusen's youth team.
His résumé was on a level Schmidt couldn't match.
Topp straightened his tie and announced loudly, "I'm pleased to be your interim head coach from now on!"
The players immediately applauded.
The assistant coach adjusted his glasses. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Dino. Get your training bibs on—we're about to start an intrasquad scrimmage!"
One by one, names were called.
Leo was named to Team A's starting lineup.
Çalhanoğlu and BellArabi led Team B, which was made up mostly of substitutes.
At the assistant coach's whistle,
the scrimmage began!
Team B had possession.
Çalhanoğlu had just received a pass from a teammate
when Son Heung-min and Kießling swarmed him.
It seemed that everyone had learned how to shut down Çalhanoğlu at this stage of his career, thanks to Van Gaal and Magath's "tutelage."
After winning the ball,
Kramer immediately passed it to Leo.
What followed
left old Coach Topp and assistant coach Dino impressed.
Leo knew each of his teammates' strengths inside out.
Most of the time, his passes found his teammates' preferred foot with perfect comfort.
He always found the right space, and his positioning guided his teammates toward the best passing options.
With him setting the tempo, Team A played flowing, fluid attacking football.
They forced Team B steadily backward.
"Boss, Leo's a lot better than he was with the youth team!"
"No, no—he even looks a little better than he did at Old Trafford!"
Leo received Son Heung-min's pass in the heart of Team B's half.
BellArabi charged in to mark him tightly.
His explosive speed ranked among the top five in Europe right now. Chasing down a Chinese player should have been easy!
Just as he was about to kick the ball,
thump!
Leo turned sideways and knocked him over!
Everyone was stunned.
Knocking over the skinny Herrera would have been normal.
But overpowering BellArabi, tall and muscular as he was, was incredible!
The key was that Leo didn't look like some hulking muscleman!
The game continued without interruption.
Leo used the momentum to send a lofted pass forward.
The ball sailed over the still-dazed defender
and dropped into the penalty area.
It struck Kießling on the head
and bounced into the goal!
His teammates stood stunned for a moment before exchanging high fives with Leo.
Captain Bender exclaimed, "Leo! Did you learn which foot we favor by watching our training matches?"
Kießling patted his forehead. "You learned my head!"
Everyone burst out laughing.
Çalhanoğlu looked displeased.
BellArabi, meanwhile, was still trying to figure out how Leo had knocked him over. It seemed like more than a simple contest of strength.
The scrimmage continued.
Team B restarted from the center circle.
Çalhanoğlu began imitating Leo, making a proper effort of it.
His passing technique was actually quite good.
But his vision and awareness were terrible!
His passes posed little threat and couldn't launch quick attacks.
Under his direction, his Team B teammates struggled to play comfortably.
Before long,
their midfield began to collapse.
In the second half of the scrimmage,
Leo and Çalhanoğlu switched sides.
Team B's players gradually began to find their rhythm, looking like a completely different team from the first half.
At last,
when the assistant coach blew the whistle to end the scrimmage,
old Coach Topp already knew the answer.
"Van Gaal and Magath have figured out Çalhanoğlu's style. He's better suited to weaker teams with a less crowded midfield. Leo is the core of our team's transition between defense and attack."
"Boss, can't the two of them play together?"
"No. Çalhanoğlu needs the ball too much. He'll slow down Leo's attacks!"
"Çalhanoğlu may be better than Leo in a lot of ways, but his vision, awareness, game-reading ability, and physicality are miles behind!"
"Çalhanoğlu is Bayer Leverkusen's record signing. His value—"
"Bayer Leverkusen isn't some selling club like Porto or Monaco! If we lose another match, we'll both be out of a job!"
Topp and Dino left the training ground, preparing to hold their first coaching staff meeting.
Çalhanoğlu sat on the grass,
his emotions in turmoil.
He was becoming aware of his own problems: slow pace, poor turning ability, weak physicality, and a lack of ability to carry the ball forward with his passes.
Before,
when Schmidt was still in charge, he could mobilize the whole team to serve and protect him.
But that had also created the hidden risk of the team collapsing.
Watching BellArabi ingratiating himself with Leo in the distance,
Çalhanoğlu knew he couldn't bring himself to flatter Leo.
Looking across Europe's top five leagues,
Serie A seemed like the best fit for his style!
Three days later.
The Bundesliga summer transfer window officially closed!
The second leg of the Champions League qualifier arrived as scheduled.
Bayer Leverkusen hosted Manchester United.
The importance of this match went without saying.
It would decide which of the two teams made it into the Champions League proper!
Van Gaal was in a foul mood.
Before traveling to Germany, he had raged at the Manchester United scouts in his office:
"Are you all useless? The summer window is closed and you still couldn't get in touch with that Chinese player? Damn it, his release clause was only two million euros! You missed the best chance to bring him back to Manchester United!"
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