Chapter 149 Kagawa Shinji Has Arrived

Although it was a training camp, there was still scheduled time each week for journalists to ask questions. This time, Zhou Yi was selected to participate in the mid-week press conference with head coach Klopp.

Coinciding with Borussia Dortmund's official announcement of signing Kagawa Shinji, who played the same position as Zhou Yi, these two young players became the hottest topics for reporters at this press conference.

A Chinese reporter asked Klopp, "Are you worried about Kagawa Shinji overlapping with Zhou Yi's position?"

Klopp shook his head. "I'm not worried. The two of them have different playing styles, and their roles on the team are also different. Furthermore, Zhou Yi has a very wide range of movement. Although both he and Kagawa Shinji are attacking midfielders, their positions do not overlap."

Another reporter asked him, "Is this because you're not confident in Zhou Yi's stamina?"

"We are participating in the Champions League this season, so strengthening the team's roster and supplementing our strength is a very normal choice, having multiple high-level players in the same position," Klopp said, denying the reporter's speculation.

Next, a reporter threw the question to Zhou Yi: "Zhou Yi, are you worried about the threat Kagawa Shinji poses to you?"

Zhou Yi smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm not worried."

The answer was simple, but it showed that he was full of confidence.

The Chinese reporters felt somewhat relieved to see Zhou Yi's confidence, but they still wanted to clarify: "Do you think you can coexist with Kagawa Shinji?"

Faced with this question, Zhou Yi spread his hands. "This... I haven't even met him yet, nor have I trained or played with him. How can I know if we can coexist?"

The reporters realized that they were being a little too hasty.

How could they say whether they could coexist when the person hadn't even arrived yet?

Through this press conference, the Chinese media witnessed Zhou Yi's confidence, which was a good thing. With Zhou Yi confident and unafraid of competition, they were less anxious.

Now that Kagawa Shinji hadn't arrived at the team yet, one question was on everyone's mind – how should Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji get along within the team?

A Chinese, a Japanese, the same position, rivals.

It was simply too intriguing.

※※※

For Zhou Yi, this question was not complicated at all – he would interact with Kagawa Shinji the same way he interacted with his other teammates.

Kagawa Shinji was just another teammate, nothing more.

As for the question of coexisting with Kagawa Shinji, he wasn't worried either, because he felt that whether they could coexist was something Kagawa Shinji should consider, not himself. If Kagawa Shinji couldn't coexist with him, and he himself was in excellent form, Klopp would have no reason to replace him, right?

So, he should just follow his own pace.

Now, Zhou Yi's long passes had improved significantly compared to when he started long pass training last season.

In the last game of last season, he almost completed a beautiful assist with a long pass, but Barrios wasted it.

After more than two months of training every night, Zhou Yi's long pass performance in the virtual space was getting better and better.

At the same time, as his stamina improved, his range of movement on the field further increased, and the chances of him using long passes also increased a lot. He fully experienced the joy of finding a teammate dozens of meters away with an accurate long pass.

It was like a cruise missile, hitting wherever he aimed!

Now, when he retreated to the defensive line and passed the ball back and forth with the defenders, if he wanted to push forward, he no longer needed to pass back and forth with the midfield teammates, pushing forward layer by layer. Although that was stable, it was too slow, and the opponent could quickly retreat and organize their defense. That way, when Dortmund's attack advanced to the frontcourt, they would have to start a positional battle again.

Although Zhou Yi still had excellent situation analysis skills in positional battles, wouldn't it be better if he could use a simpler and faster way to end the battle?

Now, Zhou Yi had a new weapon. When passing the ball in the backcourt, he could launch a long pass fast break at any time. As long as he saw an opening in front, he could immediately send the ball up with a long pass of more than forty meters, catching the opponent off guard.

Moreover, having long passes also made Zhou Yi's offensive methods more varied, making it harder for opponents to defend – he could pass long or short, so how would the opponent know what he would do next?

It was precisely because of the improvement in his strength that Zhou Yi was full of confidence and not afraid of any challenges.

Besides, if the starting position was retained only because no one challenged him, wouldn't that mean he was actually quite weak?

※※※

Amidst the doubts, worries, and curiosities of the Chinese media and fans, Kagawa Shinji finally arrived at Borussia Dortmund's training camp in Austria.

Accompanying him was a massive Japanese media reporting team of no less than fifty people.

When they appeared outside the training base, they immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"Wow, what a spectacle!" one of the Chinese reporters exclaimed. "He's got a huge entourage!"

"In terms of entrance, he's already won against Zhou Yi!" someone joked.

"It's a pity we can't go into the locker room. I'd love to see the scene when the two of them meet..." one reporter lamented missing such a big news story.

"I say, comrades, should we wear the national flag on our chests from now on, so we don't get mistaken for Japanese people?"

"How could that be? Japanese people are so sneaky, they look different from Chinese people at a glance!"

"To foreigners, how could they tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese?"

"Ah, that's true... but I don't think we need to worry too much. We came first, they came later, if anyone gets mistaken, it'll be them being mistaken for Chinese!"

A group of Chinese reporters watched the excitement and discussed amongst themselves.

Subsequently, Kagawa Shinji entered the training base, and the Japanese reporters were blocked outside, just like the Chinese reporters, but they were still eagerly craning their necks to look inside the training base.

Seeing the Japanese reporters like this, the Chinese reporters suddenly thought of how they looked when they rushed to the training base after learning that Zhou Yi had been promoted to the first team, standing outside the training base.

The hostility they had previously held towards them suddenly lessened – because everyone was the same, they could completely understand the feelings of these Japanese reporters.

※※※

So, what was the scene like when Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji met in the locker room?

When Kagawa Shinji, accompanied by his translator Junpei Yamamori and led by assistant coach Buvac, arrived in the locker room, the players who were chatting all quieted down and turned to look at Kagawa Shinji.

"Hi, guys, I'm bringing you a new teammate. Japanese player, Kagawa Shinji!" Assistant coach Buvac said concisely, getting straight to the point without any unnecessary words.

Captain Kehl took the lead in stepping forward and extending his hand to Kagawa Shinji: "Hello, I'm Sebastian Kehl, the team's captain. You can come to me with any questions you have."

After listening to Junpei Yamamori's translation, Kagawa Shinji nodded repeatedly and bowed slightly, shaking Kehl's hand.

"Hey, Zhou Yi. I know how to distinguish between Chinese and Japanese people now," Mark said softly next to Zhou Yi.

"How to distinguish?" Zhou Yi asked curiously.

"The ones who always like to nod and bow when they talk are Japanese..."

"Ha..." Zhou Yi covered his mouth and laughed, "You're very observant!"

Chinese people really don't like to nod and bow constantly when they talk. But he didn't know why there was such a difference.

While the two were talking, Kehl began to introduce the teammates to Kagawa Shinji one by one. When Kagawa Shinji met each teammate and greeted them, he would nod and bow slightly, looking very polite.

But Mark had a different perspective: "Hey, do you think Japanese people's backs will be okay if they always bow like that?"

"This..." Zhou Yi was stumped, he really didn't know if the proportion of people with herniated discs was high among Japanese people.

Just as they were talking, Kehl led Kagawa Shinji to Mark and Zhou Yi.

"This is Mark, Mark Wagner, brought up from the second team to train with the team," Kehl introduced.

After Junpei Yamamori finished translating, Kagawa also shook Mark's hand and bowed slightly, saying in Japanese: "Hello, I'm Kagawa Shinji, please take care of me!"

There was no change in his attitude just because Mark was a player who was transferred from the second team to train with the team.

Next, it was Zhou Yi's turn.

"This is..."

Kehl hadn't finished speaking when Kagawa Shinji preemptively asked: "This must be Zhou-san!"

"Eh?" Zhou Yi was very surprised, "You know me?"

Not only him, but Kehl and the others were also very surprised, Kagawa Shinji knew Zhou Yi?

Götze even whispered to Mark: "They know each other?"

Mark shook his head with a confused look: "I don't know..."

"Hey, what's so strange about that," Grosskreutz said with a 'I knew it' expression, "They're a Chinese and a Japanese, so close, isn't it normal for them to know each other?"

Just as everyone was wondering, Kagawa Shinji spoke a string of Japanese, and then Junpei Yamamori translated it into German to explain to Zhou Yi: "When I was in Japan, I often heard Kister-san mention you..."

Zhou Yi didn't expect Kagawa Shinji to know Kister: "You know Tim?"

"Yes, I know him, he strongly advised me to join Borussia Dortmund. He also often mentioned Zhou-san to me, saying that you are the most amazing young man he has ever seen!" Kagawa Shinji said with a smile, it could be seen that he and Kister had a good relationship.

This made Zhou Yi feel instantly closer to this Japanese player, because they were both friends with the same person.

"Ha, you flatter me. How is Tim doing?"

"Very well, he also asked me to send you his regards, saying that he is sorry that he can't return to Germany to see you because of work reasons." Saying that, Kagawa Shinji took a step back and bowed to Zhou Yi, which was a bigger angle than before. Obviously, he was doing this on behalf of Tim Kister.

Zhou Yi quickly waved his hand: "No need, no need."

Kehl didn't expect Kagawa Shinji and Zhou Yi to actually start chatting, so he coughed and said to Kagawa Shinji, "Well, we'll be next..."

Kagawa Shinji then reacted and quickly apologized to Kehl, then said to Zhou Yi, "I'll go first..."

Zhou Yi waved his hand: "You go ahead, we'll talk later."

Kagawa Shinji bowed slightly to Zhou Yi again, then followed Kehl to the next teammate.

The gunpowder-filled meeting scene that the Chinese reporters outside the training base had guessed and worried about seemed to have a completely different style...

They probably never imagined that there would be a bond between Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji through the same person.