I Am Scouted by Real Madrid-Chapter 405 - 54: Holidays and Geniuses

After defeating Valencia, Real Madrid only had one league game left to play before January, after which they could enjoy a happy holiday period. In the final game of 2009 before entering 2010, Real Madrid crushed their opponent 8-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

On December 20, 2009, this day was destined to be memorable for Zaragoza fans. In the first half, the team was crushed 5-0 by Real Madrid, and in the second half, substitutes like Parejo and Benzema went all out, directly gifting their esteemed members an 8-0 victory!

At the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, some fans even began chanting Pellegrini’s name, expressing their satisfaction and excitement about the team’s performance in this match!

After this match, Real Madrid also had more than 10 days of holiday. The next league match was on January 4, 2010, the next King’s Cup match on January 7, 2010, and the next Champions League match in February 2010.

Every player has their own holiday life to live, and Chen Zhong was no exception. During this period, most of his club teammates were striving for the 2010 World Cup, but Chen Zhong couldn’t integrate into such a life because they had already been knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers early.

During this time, perhaps to prevent Chen Zhong from feeling lonely, former and current teammates would contact him by phone, and even some countries hoped Chen Zhong would give up his Chinese nationality to represent their nation, which Chen Zhong politely refused.

"Chen, do you know Schalke 04?"

"Someone called Hao from your country joined their team."

"He became the first player to join them in their century-long history, and recently there have been many of your compatriots in Europe." Pimenta told Chen Zhong about the changes in Chen Zhong over the past three years over the phone.

Once considered a football desert, China has gradually produced some talented players, like Wu, who is now playing in the Barcelona Youth Team and seeking a loan.

He’s been considered by some as the "Chinese Inzaghi." This player has a distinctive personal style, showing a keen insight into positioning during attacks, often cutting behind the defense to get one-on-one chances, and he’s gained some fame in the Barcelona Youth Team.

Able to score over 20 goals in a single season, despite having many issues, he holds promise in the eyes of the Barcelona Club, who believe he can contribute to the first team in the future.

Besides Wu, Zhang at the Chelsea Club also gained the appreciation of then-head coach Ancelotti, who thought Zhang’s physical attributes were excellent. Though he was lacking as a central defender, at fullback, he showed some "Ramos" quality.

Unfortunately, due to work permit issues, Zhang found it difficult to play for Chelsea’s first team. Chelsea was considering loaning Zhang out during the winter transfer window, and the Milan Club in Serie A was quite interested. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

And at Bayern Munich, Robben also mentioned a person called "Da Lei" in a call. It’s said that originally, Da Lei intended to go to the Chelsea Club, but in the end, Bayern Munich snatched him up, believing Da Lei shows some of Neuer’s qualities.

It’s precisely because of the emergence of such "geniuses" that many fans back home feel like geniuses are blooming everywhere.

To some extent, this has diluted Chen Zhong’s weight in the minds of domestic fans.

Besides these pioneers, news occasionally appears of young players being picked by some clubs in various domestic large or small competitions due to their talent, leading the country to have to start cooling the fervor for "football."

Recently, there have been some messages encouraging everyone to be rational, and that studying is the best path.

During this period, Chen Zhong also accepted some interviews, where reporters once again asked about national team matters. Chen Zhong reiterated his views on warm-up and friendly matches and called for standardized arrangements for these in the country.

Facing the cameras, Chen Zhong said, "For players playing abroad, I think the primary goal should be to secure their position at the club and be able to play high-quality matches."

This statement was actually quite normal, as many Chinese players’ paths abroad were affected by constant travel, and many clubs began to reconsider whether to sign players from China because of these issues.

Chen Zhong’s words also caused some public opinion impact domestically.

Some supporters thought Chen Zhong was correct, while others considered him "selfish," citing examples of Chen Zhong’s predecessors who "opposed" for the national team and club.

The holiday time quickly passed. Besides training, giving interviews, and participating in advertisements, Chen Zhong also interacted with young players in the Sports City.

Among them, a few players left a deep impression on him.

The first one was Jose Luis San Martin Mato, simply called "Joselu."

He was a young man who could appear as a role player in La Liga. He was tall, with a crew cut, but his body seemed a bit thin.

On the pitch, he didn’t seem clumsy but rather had a certain lightness. After training, Joselu consulted Chen Zhong, asking how he could serve the first team.