Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 31: 31. Starter!

Inside the Bayer Leverkusen training ground.

The midday sun was scorching, and the Bayer Leverkusen players, taking advantage of head coach Sascha Lewandowski not being around, secretly ran to a shady spot to cool off.

Only Lance remained under the sun, with head coach Sami Hyypi? holding a stopwatch beside him.

”Accelerate, accelerate, faster!!!”

”Faster!!”

”Very good, stop, now jog slowly for two laps.”

Seeing Lance sweating profusely under the sun, his teammates looked on with sympathy.

”What is he doing?”

”The coaching staff is conducting a comprehensive physical fitness evaluation for him.”

”Ah? That’s so tough... When I was 16, I was still just messing around in the youth academy.”

”That’s why you’re still so bad. Lance has already scored in 3 consecutive matches.”

”No way, Lance is a genius.”

”No, no, no, he’s actually a diligent player.”

From the first day he entered the base, Captain Simon Rolfes always saw Lance arrive first and leave last.

Now he’s even increasing his training plan.

The coaching staff is practically not treating him like a human!

If Lance perfectly executes the coaching staff’s plan, his training volume will be more than everyone else’s.

It almost reaches the physical limit of a 16-year-old player, and even slightly exceeds it.

It’s a huge test for Lance’s body and mind.

Even adult players can’t handle such a crazy plan, so why should Lance endure it?

After observing this week, Simon Rolfes already had an answer.

It seems the coaching staff truly intends to make this young man a regular, treating him as a first-team starter, or even a core player!

”I really don’t know if the coaching staff is aggressive or completely insane.”

Lance, who was pitied by everyone, was at this moment enjoying the torment, in pain but happy.

It is indeed difficult for an average person to stick to this training plan.

But Lance is not content with just getting by in the first team.

A 16-year-old player, occasionally coming on as a substitute, playing for 20 minutes and ending the match, with no regard for wins or losses.

He could also earn a weekly salary of 10,000 euros, go to nightclubs after matches every week to dance and pick up girls, and spend nights with various types of supermodels and hot girls.

After the season, he could go on vacation, find a sunny beach to relax, and occasionally attend a pool party.

With Lance’s looks, he could completely avoid working hard and just lie flat.

Years later, even if he still hadn’t become a first-team regular in a top European league, he would already be far ahead of many Chinese players studying abroad.

He could easily find a lower-mid-tier team to retire in, occasionally perform well in a few matches, and periodically have a highlight performance to boost his popularity.

If he had the chance to join a powerhouse, such as Manchester United, he could enjoy a high salary.

A weekly salary of hundreds of thousands of euros would be enough for Lance to live quite comfortably.

With both fame and fortune, regardless of achievements or championships, as long as he had the status of a powerhouse player, he could go to Hollywood, or to mainland China to flirt with a female celebrity, create some scandals with female celebrities to increase exposure, accept all kinds of commercial collaborations, and take the opportunity to make another fortune.

If one female celebrity wasn’t enough, he could even be a playboy and flirt with several, becoming a regular on trending topics.

At that time, he could also open a Weibo account in China, and occasionally participate in variety shows to gain some presence.

After retirement, he could transition into a football short video blogger, easily gaining millions of followers.

Even live streaming for money could earn him a fortune.

He could enjoy luxurious cars and beautiful women every day, live a high-class life, and completely indulge in debauchery.

What about effort, what about achievements, what about honors?

Does it matter?

Without pursuit, there is naturally no pressure, and he wouldn’t have to bear any burden.

Enjoying life every day is a hundred times better than the pain of working hard for a season and getting nothing, right?

Lance could completely do this and knew he could live even more freely.

But!

Lance chose a more difficult path, a path of pursuing glory, a path of pursuing the spirit of football.

A purer path.

The goal of this path is only one—to become stronger.

Cup champion, League champion, Champions League champion, Intercontinental Cup champion, World Cup champion, Ballon d’Or...

Lance wants them all!

One is not enough, he wants to pursue more!

Even Kaká, as strong as he was, only has 1 Champions League title and 1 Ballon d’Or to date.

After experiencing glory, he was tormented by the pain of injuries.

Only those as strong as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or even surpassing these two, can possibly realize Lance’s ultimate dream.

But in a world of billions of people, 300 million registered players, 0.2% professional players, there is only 1 Messi and 1 Cristiano Ronaldo.

The path to becoming Messi and Ronaldo, and surpassing Messi and Ronaldo, is as difficult as ascending to heaven!

Even with the system’s help, Lance might not be able to obtain enough honors.

Even someone as strong as Harry Kane, after so many years in his professional career, how many championships can he win?

Therefore, Lance must challenge his limits!

”Ah ah ah ah ah—”

Driven by the desire to become stronger, Lance did not jog slowly to rest on the track but maintained an accelerating sprint, furiously completing two laps.

Head coach Sami Hyypi? was stunned on the spot:

”This child...”

...

Breathlessly finishing a day’s training, Lance didn’t even have time to have the club’s physiotherapist massage and relax his muscles.

He just briefly soaked in a cold water pool, and after relieving muscle fatigue in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, he quickly packed his things to go to school for tutoring. After tutoring, he still had a lot of accumulated homework and experimental projects for the evening.

Although Lance didn’t have many recreational activities, his leisure life was quite fulfilling.

”Lance, wait.”

”Coach?”

Before leaving, just as he got on his bike, Lance was suddenly called by head coach Sascha Lewandowski.

”Did you see today’s squad list? Any thoughts?”

”What list? Sorry, I didn’t pay attention.”

His teammates were indeed gathered earlier, discussing the squad list for the next two matches.

Lance was just eager to catch up on his studies, so he immediately went into the hyperbaric oxygen chamber and didn’t bother to participate.

Now he still wasn’t clear about his specific match arrangements.

”Oh, it’s okay, you can check it in your email. I just want you to be mentally prepared, you’ll be starting in the next Cup match.”

”Okay, thank you, Coach... Wait, starting?”

A look of surprise finally appeared in Lance’s eyes.

Originally, head coach Sascha Lewandowski was a bit disappointed; he had carefully prepared a starting spot for Lance, and this kid didn’t feel anything?

Seeing Lance’s reaction, Sascha smiled for once.

That’s right! That’s the reaction a young player should have!

Many times, Sascha thought Lance was an old pro in his 30s.

”Yes, I’ve seen all the physical fitness coach’s reports recently, and your physical condition is enough to support 90 minutes of play... Although for 120 minutes of extra time, you might struggle...”

”I can do 120 minutes too!”

”Don’t force it.” Sascha waved his hand helplessly to stop him.

If Lance were to play for a full 120 minutes, the young man’s willpower would be fine, but he’d be dragging cramping legs. That’s too prone to injuries.

”In short, the match the day after tomorrow won’t be easy, and the mindset for starting and substituting is also different. I just wanted to give you a heads-up to prevent you from getting nervous.”

”Coach, when have you ever seen me nervous?”

Ordinary people do get nervous.

But the passive aura that comes with the Nagi Seishiro Template allows Lance to maintain sufficient calmness and rationality at all times.

Every time he gets emotional or nervous, a strange white-haired figure would appear in his mind.

What kind of anime character is that?

Lance almost went through Japanese anime from the 1980s all the way to the latest July new releases like ”Danganronpa,” ”Blood Lad,” ”Silver Spoon,” ”Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club”...

There was no character named ”Nagi Seishiro,” and he had never seen a similar white-haired character.

It was truly odd.

”Very good, as long as you’re not nervous. RB Leipzig, although they are a 3. Liga team, I’ve watched their matches, and they are not to be underestimated! We must give it our all.”

”RB Leipzig?”

Lance paused slightly!

That name sounds very familiar!

A team that will soon be promoted to the Bundesliga and cause a storm in the Bundesliga!