“Tim, I need you to observe someone for me.”

In his office, Jurgen Klopp said to a white-haired old man sitting across from him.

As he spoke, he handed a photo to the old man across the desk.

Tim Kister, the white-haired old man, took the photo and looked at it. It showed a black-haired teenager in a white jersey.

“Jurgen, you called me back from Japan just for him?” Kister asked, a little strangely. “Doesn't the club have any available scouts?”

"Of course we do, but I think you're the most suitable." Klopp said, "You've been in Japan and South Korea for a long time and you understand East Asian football better. And I trust your judgment, I need your professional assessment. I've watched one of his games and noticed his strengths, but also a lot of weaknesses, so I've been hesitant. I hope you can use your professional skills to advise me. Most importantly… your wife is Chinese, right?”

Kister nodded.

"So you can speak a little Chinese, can't you?"

Kister glanced at the photo in his hand with renewed surprise.

"He's Chinese?"

"Yes."

Kister squinted at the Chinese teenager in the photo.

He originally thought the photo was of a Japanese or Korean kid.

He didn't expect to get a photo of a Chinese kid instead.

Since he knew East Asian football pretty well, he naturally knew what level Chinese football was at in East Asia.

He could understand Klopp being interested in Japanese and Korean kids, but Klopp's interest in a Chinese football teenager… he didn't know where that came from.

“A few days ago, a Chinese Under-17 youth team came to challenge our Under-17 youth team. I found out later that this team is not the Chinese national youth team; they're part of a TV reality show, and the players are selected from Chinese domestic club academies. This team has already played five games in Europe. Apart from the one against us, the other four were against the youth teams of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Bayern Munich. They didn't score a single goal and conceded thirty-seven.”

Hearing Klopp's words, Kister was not surprised. He nodded: "That's normal. That's the normal gap between Chinese and European football."

"Then guess what the final score was between us and them?" Klopp asked.

"How many goals did Bayern Munich win by?" Kister didn't answer the question, but instead asked.

"9:0."

"Then we can't be any worse than Bayern Munich, right? I guess it was 9:0 as well." Kister said, based on his understanding of Chinese football.

Klopp listened to Kister's answer and smiled without saying a word.

Seeing Klopp's expression, Kister was a little unsure. Was his guess too high or too low?

"10:0?"

Klopp still smiled without saying a word.

"12:0?"

Seeing that Klopp was still smiling, Kister spread his hands: "It can't be 6:0, that's too few..."

Before he could finish speaking, Klopp said: "5:3."

"Ah?!" Kister looked at Klopp in surprise.

"The Chinese teenagers scored three goals. I was on the sidelines at the time. And Gotze played in this game and played the whole match."

Seeing Kister open his mouth, Klopp knew what he wanted to ask, so he told him the answer in advance.

Hearing Klopp say this, Kister closed his mouth. Yes, he wanted to ask if Gotze played.

As a result, Gotze, the most talented player in the youth academy, played, and they still played like that. He had nothing to say.

"Do you know who orchestrated the Chinese team's three goals?"

Kister reacted and picked up the photo: "The person you want me to observe wouldn't be..."

Klopp nodded: "His name is Zhou Yi. He assisted on two goals in the game and scored one himself at the end."

"Then how do you explain the fact that the Chinese team didn't score in the previous four games? Is our youth team too weak?" Kister couldn't understand.

"Because that person didn't play a single minute in the previous four games."

Kister didn't continue to ask.

"From what I understand, this team will continue to play in other places. I want you to track and observe Zhou's performance. Only observe him, I don't want anyone else."

Hearing Klopp say this, Kister had another question: "What if we find someone better on their team in the process?"

Klopp shook his head: "There can't be anyone more talented than him. Even the number ten player who scored twice in the game is not as good as him."

"Okay, I'll go. Where are they going next?"

Klopp handed over another piece of paper with a map of Europe on it. Several cities were circled in red.

"London, Manchester, Liverpool, Milan, Barcelona. These are the cities they're going to next. Detailed team and schedule information is on the back."

Taking the paper and Zhou Yi's photo, Kister left Klopp's office.

Klopp is a first-team coach who values young players, as can be seen from his moves since he came to Dortmund.

As a youth scout, Kister is naturally happy that his first-team coach values youth training.

But the person in front of him…

Kister looked down at the Zhou Yi in the photo. His slender figure made the jersey on his body look particularly loose, as if the size was wrong and didn't fit well.

Does such a thin body really contain the talent that Jurgen Klopp is so fond of?

Even though Kister has seen many, many youth and teenage players, he is still a little skeptical.

※※※

On the first training session after the team arrived in London, Hao Dong announced a decision in front of everyone.

"...From now on, Zhou Yi is the team's organizational core."

Some of his teammates were surprised, but no one objected. More people chose to accept this decision.

After the last game against the Dortmund youth team, his teammates recognized Zhou Yi's level.

Admittedly, his physical fitness and skills were not the best on the team, and his overall level might still be at the bottom.

But there was one thing that everyone else didn't have, only he had.

That was his control over the team.

This point had already been proven in the game against the Dortmund youth team.

When the football reached his feet, it seemed to have a direction. Zhou Yi knew where to pass it. As his teammates, the game became simpler, just act according to Zhou Yi's passes.

In the last game against the Dortmund youth team, although they lost, everyone didn't feel too frustrated. On the contrary, many people felt that they had played well in the game.

Why did they play well?

Because Zhou Yi seemed to have been working with them for ten years. He knew the characteristics of each teammate very well. He would pass the ball ahead to those who were fast, and he would try not to pass the football to the right side of the body of players who favored the left foot. For those who would panic when faced with pressing, Zhou Yi would immediately open up an angle after passing the ball to signal them to pass the football back to him...

Playing like this would of course feel comfortable and would lead to good performance.

With this comparison, many people understood why they had lost the previous four games so miserably… because they were simply a mess, and no one could connect them!

In addition to announcing that Zhou Yi was the team's organizational core, Hao Dong also had the assistant coach take the other players to train, but he left Zhou Yi and He Ying behind.

"How does it feel to score three goals against the Dortmund youth team?" Hao Dong asked the two teenagers.

"It's a pity we still lost." He Ying said.

"I really wanted to win too." Zhou Yi said.

Hearing the two people's answers, Hao Dong laughed.

"So you're not satisfied with just scoring goals?"

"If we can win, I'd rather not score." He Ying said firmly.

"I want both victory and goals, ha!" Zhou Yi's answer was in line with his style.

"I want to win too." Hao Dong said. "But winning is not easy, so we have to be fully prepared. You two are the ones who scored in the last game and are the team's offensive firepower guarantee. So I hope you two can have more contact and cooperation. Zhou Yi, you played very cleverly in the frontcourt. He Ying, you have outstanding scoring ability and comprehensive skills. If you can cooperate, I believe... victory is not so far away."

"No problem, coach!" As soon as Hao Dong finished speaking, Zhou Yi nodded and replied. "He Ying and I have been roommates for so long, there's no problem with our understanding. Didn't you see my cooperation with him in the last game?"

Hao Dong smiled and then said: "But we still have to do targeted training."

He Ying looked at Zhou Yi, then nodded and said, "Okay."

"Very good!" Hao Dong clapped his hands, "Go train."

Looking at the backs of Zhou Yi and He Ying running to join the main group, Hao Dong didn't really know if his bet this time was the right one.

Hopefully it won't put too much pressure on them?