It was a sunny afternoon, and it was rare in England to see such a scorching sun.
Countless citizens took to the streets, spread a tablecloth on the lawn of the park, drank afternoon tea, or read a famous book, enjoying this rare comfort.
In the Staplewood training base, Jack and Keegan stood on the sidelines. Next to them stood a thin man with a mustache wearing a sturdy suit.
His name is Vincent Berg, and he is the person in charge of Southampton's transfer market.
Whoosh!
A strong wind blew.
On such a sunny day, it is obviously unreasonable to have such strong winds.
"No, this thing must be broken, do it again!" Vincent Berg shook his head.
"Bell, go run again!" Jack, who was holding a stopwatch, ordered.
"OK."
Bell, who looked green, had no right to refuse. On the contrary, he also wanted to show more of himself in front of these three people.
Bell stretched while strolling back to the starting point of his sprint.
Bend down and strike a pose.
"Get ready~~~Run!!!"
With a wave of Jack's right hand, Bell immediately rushed out like an arrow off the string.
one two three four five six seven eight nine ten...
In another ten breaths, Bell's figure sprinted past the three of them again.
"It's incredible. He can actually run faster than Theo!"
Looking at 10.87 appearing on the stopwatch, the three of them opened their mouths in surprise.
"Bell, you run again." This time it was Keegan who ordered.
"Yes, coach."
Bell turned around and returned to the starting point just like before.
Whoosh!
Another gust of wind.
10.91,10.87,10.98,10.76,10.89.
After running five times in a row, Bell's 100-meter speed was all under 11 seconds.
"Bell is as fast as Theo!" Jack said proudly.
After recording the fifth time, Bell, who had sprinted five times in a row, was also a little out of breath.
His thin face turned red from running accelerating, and with his two outstretched ears, he looked more like a monkey.
"Mr. Keegan, we are recruiting football players, not sprint champions..." Vincenberger reminded.
"Mr. Borg, I only brought him to you after testing his professional skills." At this point, Keegan coughed slightly, "I dare say that he is definitely a talented player and his future His achievements are definitely no worse than Theo’s.”
Vincenberger touched his mustache and said meaningfully: "Mr. Keegan, this is how you recommended Theo to me at the beginning of the season, but where is he now?"
Keegan touched his nose awkwardly, he expected that the other party would mention this.
At the beginning, I was patting my chest to ensure that the little tiger had great potential. It turned out that he was a genius, but he left after playing for half a season, leaving Keegan with such a mess.
"But didn't the club also make a lot of transfer fees?"
Hearing Jack's interruption, Vincenberger's expression immediately turned bad.
Keegan glared at his assistant coach. Although he was scolding him on the surface, he was actually very happy in his heart.
Yes, I guarantee that Walcott is right, but it was the club that agreed to sell him.
So many wealthy clubs were interested in Little Tiger, and finally Southampton sold him to Arsenal, the lowest bidder and the "poorest". What else could it be if it wasn't greed for money?
After the contract is signed, the little tiger is getting better and better, and his performance is getting better and better... At this time, it is too late to raise the price!
In order to ease the embarrassment, Keegan said to Jack: "Please take out all the other data of Bell and show it to Mr. Borg. I also have a video of his training. Would you like Mr. Borg to come to the office and take a look?" See?"
"Well, let's watch while we walk." Vincenberger nodded, turned around and walked straight towards the office building.
After all three people left, Bell stood alone on the sidelines, like a little monkey being thrown up.
.....
"How's it going, Great Sage? How's your score?"
As soon as Bell's figure appeared in the gym, Wang Xiaodong saw him at a glance.
"Don't mention it, the person in charge doesn't seem to be very satisfied with me." Bell looked frustrated. He is not a person who can observe what is happening. But even so, he could tell from Vincenberger's proud face that the other party didn't care about him at all.
Think about it, there are so many famous forwards in the Premier League who have to promote a newcomer from the second team without poaching them. Even if the fans know this, they won't agree!
"You, you are just too thin! Who would be willing to sign you if you look so bad?"
Don’t blame Wang Xiaodong for complaining, Bell is indeed too thin at this age.
He is 1.85 meters tall, the same height as Wang Xiaodong, but he is nearly 20 pounds lighter than Wang Xiaodong.
Wang Xiaodong also has a streamlined body shape, but under his uniform he is full of hard muscles.
In his eyes, Bell's little arms were no different from the roasted lamb legs sold in barbecue restaurants.
"I can't believe that you are so thin, but how can you run so fast?" Wang Xiaodong complained, pointing to the dumbbells not far away, "For someone like you, all the muscles in the body need to be trained, so that you can win." Buyers are happy.”
In fact, Bell left a very good impression on Keegan.
Since Bell and Walcott are both fast players, Keegan will inevitably compare the data of Bell and Little Tiger together.
Speaking of pure 100-meter sprint, Little Tiger's 100-meter speed is indeed a little faster than Bell. However, this difference of a few tenths is not reflected at all in the game.
But Bell is far superior to Little Tiger in terms of long-term sprints.
Whether it is the number of sprints or the duration of sprints, Bell's statistics are one step higher than the little tiger.
And even though the two are the same age, Bell also has an advantage that little tigers can never compare with, and that is height.
Little Tiger is 1.76 meters tall and Bell is 1.85 meters tall. They are close to ten centimeters apart. This gap cannot be bridged.
Both of them can improve their skills, exercise their bodies, and gain experience... However, these ten centimeters may become a chasm in the end, a chasm that the little tiger will never be able to cross.
So even though Bell is as thin as a monkey now, Keegan decided to keep him in the team no matter what after the preliminary test.
Little Tiger can be famous in Southampton, so why can't Bale, who is more talented than him?
What Bell lacks now is an opportunity and a stage to show himself.
As long as he doesn't have stage fright and is motivated, sooner or later he will be like the little tiger and become famous throughout England.
"What are you looking at? Why have you never seen such a big dick?" Seeing Bell still sitting there in a daze, Wang Xiaodong shouted loudly: "Mr. Keegan told me that he wants me to be your physical trainer. From now on, I will be responsible for all your strength training, you don’t know what this means, right?”
"But, but..." Bell looked like he was hesitating to speak.
"Worrying about the contract? That's nothing!" Wang Xiaodong curled his lips, "The worst case scenario is to sign a six-month 'newbie contract' first. When you become famous, it will be Southampton that you regret. Do you know that? Money is nothing. ?When you become famous and win the League Cup Golden Boot or something like me, what will happen then?"
"If you are worried, I can introduce my agent to you. Although that guy is a bit greedy for money, his business ability is quite good."
"Okay, I understand." Bell nodded, and Wang Xiaodong's enlightenment finally opened up his heart.
Since Keegan has asked Wang Xiaodong to train him from now on, it means that Bell will be able to join the team and train with the team soon.
As for the contract, there is not much to say.
Even if he plays for Southampton for half a season in vain, as long as Bell seizes the opportunity to stand out, Southampton will probably be the first party to respond and ask for a salary increase and a contract.
It is gold and will shine wherever it goes.
And Bell is simply 24K pure gold!
"Dong, how do I practice this thing? How much weight do I need to bear?" Bell found a piece of fitness equipment and sat down, looking helpless.
Coming to Southampton, he was the younger brother among younger brothers.
The scene when Wang Xiaodong helped him out in the second team was still vivid in his mind. Only by Wang Xiaodong's side could he feel safe.
"Fake, you are really a country bumpkin!"
Wang Xiaodong cursed and pressed the pause switch, and the water rushing inside the cabin slowly stopped.
He stretched out his hands and jumped out of the water tank.
This is a new type of underwater treadmill, the latest one introduced by the club, and the only one in the entire gym.
Athletes soak their lower bodies in water and run on rolling belts, which is said to protect their knee joints and help them lose weight quickly.
At first, everyone in the club lined up to use it, until one day Wang Xiaodong peed in the water in front of everyone, and everyone stopped approaching this weird guy who looked like a laundry bucket.
This underwater treadmill naturally became Wang Xiaodong's personal belongings.
The wet shoes soaked the gym floor, but Wang Xiaodong didn't care.
He walked to Bell, adjusted the weights, and then ordered: "Grab this pole, straighten your back, and pull hard."
Bell did have both hands on the pole, but he didn't move.
"Pull!"
"how?"
"It's so light and you can't pull it?"
Bell turned his head in embarrassment, glanced at Wang Xiaodong's swimming trunks and said: "Dong, please keep it away from me, I'm a little scared..."
...
Wang Xiaodong, who returned to the team early, did not stop training even if he came back as he said when he criticized Jack. On the contrary, Wang Xiaodong was the most active member of the team.
After losing two games in a row, Southampton will face the first leg of the League Cup semi-finals.
The Saints' opponent is Wigan Athletic from the northwest county of Greater Manchester.
After winning ten consecutive games in the 2002-03 season and losing only four games throughout the season, Wigan Athletic won the Second Division Championship with a total score of 100 points and was promoted to League One after six years.
After arriving in League One, this small team located between Liverpool and Manchester defeated Crystal Palace 5-0 at home in early November and once ranked first in League One.
Unfortunately, English League One only finished seventh in its first year, falling just one place short of qualifying for the promotion play-offs.
After disdainful efforts, Wigan Athletic finally succeeded in promotion to the Premier League in the 2004-06 season by finishing second in the Championship. This season is also the team’s first time competing in the Premier League.
Throughout the history of Wigan Athletic, apart from a few low-level promotions, there are no other honors.
As for the regional league championship trophy won decades ago, it is not worth mentioning.
Southampton was able to meet a "weak team" like Wigan in the semi-finals, which can be regarded as luck.
In fact, apart from Southampton, the remaining three semi-finals of the League Cup are all Premier League teams.
For Wigan Athletic, it is also a very lucky thing to compete with Southampton for a place in the League Cup final.
According to the rules of the League Cup, the semi-finals will be divided into two rounds, home and away. The score of the two games will also depend on the number of away goals.
So even if it's the semi-finals, the League Cup still doesn't attract much attention.
On the afternoon of January 18, before the game started, a van made a beautiful side-dive and parked on the street corner outside the JJB Stadium.
Two well-traveled reporters stepped out of the van with camera equipment, revealing Asian faces.
When Li Tie and Sun Jihai joined the Premier League, CCTV briefly purchased some of the Premier League broadcast rights from ESPN.
However, due to the need to take care of the interests of local stations, ESPN has set too many restrictions on CCTV.
Some strong dialogues and exciting games cannot be broadcast live, and many games "collide" with Serie A and Bundesliga. In addition, Li Tie is always injured and Sun Jihai does not score often, so CCTV will no longer broadcast it from the second year on. Premier League.
Domestic fans who want to know about the Premier League trends and the situation of Li Tie and Sun Jihai in the Premier League can only wait eagerly for World Football every Monday.
Even when Tianzu's host Duan Quan was explaining the Premier League, it was difficult to obtain relevant video materials and he always read newspapers.
The Premier League is not widely spread in China, let alone the English Championship.
But this time, Zhang Wei and Liu Jia paid for themselves and flew to England.
Out of the keenness of sports journalists, the two of them decided to do something big!
There is no airtight wall in this world. Wang Xiaodong's rejection of the Football Association was revealed by the staff the next day.
In particular, Wang's father's curses on the phone made the Football Association leaders lose face.
In addition, the National Youth League was also actively preparing for the game. In desperation, the leaders of the Football Association had no choice but to come forward and announce the recruitment of the National Youth League. Wang Xiaodong's name was not included.
In other words, Wang Xiaodong lost the election.
Although not many details were revealed at the press conference, some people still learned through the grapevine that the reason why Wang Xiaodong did not answer the call was entirely due to a stalemate with the Football Association.
So, does Wang Xiaodong have this ability? Is he really as good as the media said? Two reporters, Zhang and Liu, plan to come to the English Championship in person, interview the fans in person, take some video materials, and get some first-hand information. Let the information go back and let the fans judge for themselves.
It would be even more profitable if we could interview big figures like Wang Xiaodong or Keegan.
Outside the JJB Stadium, fans from both sides have begun to enter with tickets.
Liu Jia hugged the camera she secretly "snatched" from the company and followed Zhang Wei. The two used the press credentials forged by the copy agency to sneak in.
"Viagra, do you think we can make it this time? Before we came out, I and the leader made sure that if Wang Xiaodong was a substitute or couldn't play at all, then we would be completely doomed!"
"Why are you panicking?" Zhang Wei rolled his eyes at his partner, "Didn't I come here to protect my wealth? Now that we're here, you want to give up? How about the round-trip air ticket? Who do you want to pay for it?"
"No, I'm just a little flustered." Liu Jia kept shaking his head, "Viagra, you see Li Tie and Sun Jihai are so good, but they still can't play much football. Dong Fangzhuo was rented out as soon as he arrived at Manchester United. I don’t know where this Wang Xiaodong came from. Is he really that capable? What I mean is that if we really can’t do it, we can go to Manchester or Liverpool. We can also find Li Tie or Sun Jihai who are useful. ah!"
"It's useless!" Zhang Wei waved his hand directly, "The exposure of these two people is enough. Every issue of World Football talks about the situation of Everton and Manchester City. Even if these two people are not included in the squad, they don't forget to mention it. , you won’t be able to sell them for much money at all if you get their interview materials!”
"We have cut off our retreat now. Even if Wang Xiaodong doesn't even make the roster today, we still have to interview him and ask him a few questions. If this kid is a little more dazed, we might as well ask him some sensitive questions. It’s okay to talk about his fight with the Football Association, do you understand?”
"Okay Viagra, I understand." Liu Jia nodded. He wouldn't think of this unless it was a last resort.
Just as the two people were cautiously squeezing into the press area, a series of shouts suddenly sounded in the stadium.
"DONG,DONG,DONG,DONG!!!"
The fans' chants were sonorous, powerful and rhythmic, and just listening to them was inspiring and exciting.
"What are they shouting?" Liu Jia, who had just arrived, asked curiously.
"Who knows?!" Zhang Wei was also confused, "Maybe the fans are looking forward to a salute before the game!"
