Chapter 1 The Training Base

Zenit St. Petersburg's training base in Manchester, borrowed for their preparation for the UEFA Cup final, was called the "Carrington Training Base," but it must be clarified that this was not Manchester United's Carrington Training Base, but Manchester City's. Although the two were a stone's throw away, they should never be confused.

How close were Manchester United's Carrington and Manchester City's Carrington?

Sun Jihai once again kicked the football high into the sky during training, straight into the clouds, disappearing from sight. The then-head coach Kevin Keegan said unhappily, "Go to Manchester United to pick up the ball!"

See, it was that close, just the distance of a long kick.

However, compared to the infinitely glamorous and well-known neighbors, Manchester City's Carrington training base seemed a bit dilapidated and low-key.

The team's current situation in the Premier League was not good either. After former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra acquired the team last year, he splashed money around, preparing to imitate Chelsea owner Abramovich.

Who would have thought that he would be deeply involved in lawsuits and wanted by the Thai government, forcing him into exile. As for the team he acquired, he naturally had no intention to manage it. In addition, his overseas accounts were frozen, and he couldn't provide any money to support the team.

So the dilapidated state of the training ground further highlighted the team's current predicament.

Zenit was only borrowing Manchester City's training base, not their dormitories. The team usually stayed in a hotel in the city, between the City of Manchester Stadium and the Carrington training base.

Every day, they took a bus to Carrington for training, had lunch at the training base, and then took the bus back to the hotel after training.

This routine would continue until August 13th. On August 13th, they would go to the City of Manchester Stadium for field adaptation training, and the pre-match press conference would also be held at that time.

Manchester City Club lent the training base to Zenit, but that didn't mean they had found another place for themselves. In fact, only one training ground was used by Zenit, which did not affect the normal training of Manchester City Club's various teams.

That is to say, the two teams were training under the same roof.

The Zenit players got off the bus and had to pass the periphery of Manchester City's first team training ground to reach their training ground—the two were separated only by a chain-link fence. The distance was quite close, close enough for Manchester City's players to look at them with a little curiosity, and they also curiously looked at Manchester City's players and this training base.

Chen Hero's understanding of Manchester City was limited to the fact that he knew there was a Chinese compatriot playing for this team—Sun Jihai's name was well-known in Chinese football circles. Before him, he was the most successful Chinese player playing abroad.

Of course, now this title might have to be ceded slightly. In China, there were already voices saying that although Chen Hero had only appeared in their field of vision for less than two seasons, he was already the most successful Chinese player playing abroad. At least Sun Jihai had not won the best scorer in the league he played in, and had not scored eleven goals in the UEFA Cup...

※※※

"Hey, Sun." teammate Dunne (richard_dunne) put his arm around Sun Jihai's neck and pointed to the training ground next door. "Look at that person, is he from your country?"

Sun Jihai looked in the direction of his gesture, the target was easy to find, he almost immediately saw the big black-haired guy.

He nodded: "That's right, Richard, he's Chinese, just like me."

In fact, even without looking, Sun Jihai knew who the other party was talking about. Chen Hero, a kid who has been very popular in the Chinese media recently. He plays football in the Russian league and is very good at scoring goals. His specialty is scoring with his head, and you can tell that from his physique.

Sun Jihai didn't pay much attention to the domestic media, he knew these things about Chen Hero because his agent would often nag him about this person. But he knew about this person because of the UEFA Cup.

This kid performed quite well in the UEFA Cup, and the goal against Everton was reported by the English media. Scoring a goal in the UEFA Cup is no big deal, even he, a defender, had scored before. But being able to score continuously was amazing. Entering 2008, Sun Jihai found that there were gradually more and more news about this kid in the European media.

Until half a month ago, he staged a hat-trick in the semi-final against Bayern Munich, shocking the whole of Europe. He then realized that this kid was so awesome.

But such an awesome kid has never been favored by the Chinese Football Association. This made him a little strange.

Wasn't Chinese football promoting the Olympic strategy? They had recruited almost all eligible outstanding young players into the national Olympic team, so why hadn't they recruited Chen Hero? Logically speaking, he was also an eligible player...

What Sun Jihai didn't know was that Chen Hero's name wasn't even registered with the Chinese Football Association... So if he wanted to play for the country, he would have to go through a lot of procedures, which was quite troublesome. Moreover, there was another factor that made the Chinese Football Association feel hesitant to recruit Chen Hero - the tattoo on this kid's entire back!

In the past, the Chinese Football Association had regulations stipulating that players with tattoos and dyed hair were not allowed to be selected for the national team. Now this rule has been relaxed somewhat, and players with a little tattoo on their arms and hair that is not pure black have begun to appear in the national teams. But a tattoo as large as Chen Hero's was too eye-catching.

In today's China, there is still a relatively deep-rooted concept—tattoos are only done by hooligans, rascals, and gangsters. If you, as a player, have a tattoo, then aren't you a hooligan, rascals, and gangster? Wouldn't that be openly tarnishing the image of the Chinese national team and splashing dirty water on Chinese football?

Of course, everyone knows what the Chinese players are like... It's just that the superficial stuff still needs to be taken into account.

Dunne patted Sun Jihai on the shoulder: "I heard he's very good, he's already caught up with Alan Shearer on the current UEFA Cup scorer list! That must be good news for your national team!"

Sun Jihai gave a wry smile: "He hasn't been selected for any national team yet."

It was Dunne's turn to be surprised: "Why is that?"

Sun Jihai shook his head helplessly: "I don't know..."

From the bottom of his heart, he certainly hoped that such an outstanding forward could become his teammate, serve the country, and win glory for the country or something.

But based on his understanding of the Chinese football circle and his personal experience in the national team, he knew very well that with Chen Hero's personality, it would be... difficult to survive in the national team.

※※※

Manchester City players were sizing up Zenit's players during training breaks, and Zenit's players were also sizing up the other side.

Chen Hero found Sun Jihai in the crowd.

In the past, he could only watch him on TV, and listen to his teammates in the youth team bragging about how Wang Yongjun from the first team had spoken to Sun Jihai in the national team. At that time, this name symbolized the Chinese national team and represented a height that he could not reach at all.

Now, this person who could only be looked up to in the past was only separated from him by a chain-link fence.

Fate is so wonderful.

Those who bragged about their brother's relationship with Sun Jihai in front of him back then would never have imagined that he would be able to stage a hat-trick when facing Kahn, Lucio, Demichelis, and van Bommel, right? They would never have imagined that his name could be put together with legendary superstars like Alan Shearer, who were many levels higher than Sun Jihai, right?

"Alright, stop looking, stop looking! What's so good about it? You're not here to visit and travel!" Assistant coach Poter's voice rang out. "Prepare for training—!!"

※※※

Sun Jihai couldn't help but cast his gaze toward the training ground next door, then focus on that tall compatriot.

He couldn't suppress his curiosity.

His understanding of this person came from the media or from other people's mouths. He heard that he was good at scoring goals, that he was performing well, that he was in excellent form…

He had never seen him in person, not even a broadcast of his match.

He didn't know this person's playing style, how he scored goals.

So he was curious.

In the training ground next door, Zenit was practicing set-piece tactics.

He found that Chen Hero was the absolute core of the set-piece tactics. No matter what the tactic, they always had to send the ball to his head. And his performance was very eye-catching, as expected. He could always easily head the ball into the goal.

It could be seen that his header was very outstanding, which was the same as what he knew.

And contrary to what he thought, this person's personality was very lively and unrestrained, and he got along very well with his teammates. Unlike ordinary Chinese players, he was an oddity. He had seen many Chinese players, who were all big shots in domestic football clubs, but when they went abroad, they were like rookies who had never seen the world, silent and difficult to integrate into the team. Those methods that allowed them to thrive in domestic clubs were completely useless in foreign clubs.

He didn't know how this Chen Hero was able to get along with his teammates. He was now able to joke and chat with his teammates, but that was something he had earned after struggling alone in England for nearly ten years.

What an oddball!

When Sun Jihai finished training, Zenit's training was still in progress. He had already planned to watch the live broadcast of the UEFA Cup final at home on Wednesday night.

Just to cheer for his compatriot. There were not many Chinese players who could continue to stay in Europe now. His contract was expiring in June this year, the club was unwilling to renew his contract, and he didn't want to go back. He still wanted to try his luck with other teams.

It was not easy to get by...

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a burst of cheers from the training ground next door, and turned his head to look. Chen Hero had scored another goal in the team's training match.

Well, no. At least this kid was doing better than all of them...

Naples... a Serie A team... He had worked so hard but couldn't get Manchester City to renew his contract, but this kid had already transferred to the Serie A team Naples in a high-profile manner.

He probably didn't need his support.

Just take a look at where he was better than them? Why was he doing better than all of them.

※※※

ps, the first volume is coming to an end. Counting this UEFA Cup final, there are two more matches to go.

In the new volume, Chen Hero will go to the new map of Italy to open up new territories. What kind of shock will this player with a unique personality bring to Italian football?

At the same time, Naples will also be the place where he is better known throughout Europe. Let's see how this giant bear from the north stirs up Europe!

Also, monthly passes and recommendation tickets!