Advocaat was worried that Chen Yingxiong would get too proud of himself after his outstanding performance in the first game. In fact, he had heard from assistant coach Porter that Denisov, Anyukov and Kerzakov had gone out drinking together.
So he originally decided to give Chen Yingxiong more training to distract him.
But he soon realized that he didn't need to do that... because Chen Yingxiong hadn't changed at all. He worked hard and seriously during normal training every day, and practised more after training... and more importantly, he heard that when the whole team was on holiday on Sunday, Hero came to the training ground with the translator to practice shooting! The training ground administrator didn't let him in at first, so he threatened to climb over the wall...
As a result, he practised for two hours in the morning and in the afternoon he did... a full three and a half hours!
Chen Yingxiong worked so hard that Advocaat couldn't find any reason to reprimand him...
Even though this kid went out drinking and came back drunk, at least... he still knew he had to train hard.
In Advocaat's mind, Chen Yingxiong's "crime" of going out to drink seemed insignificant...
…
After resuming training, Chen Yingxiong met Denisov, Anyukov and Kerzakov again. Although Martin Skrtel and Eric Hagen also had a good relationship with him, these three were the only real friends that Chen Yingxiong had in the team.
The three young people had the same interests and hobbies, a common language, similar personalities, were not boring, and were relatively outgoing. It was natural for them to hang out together.
"How was your vacation, guys!" Colonel Denisov asked the other three.
"Crazy!"
"It felt good."
Chen Yingxiong replied. "It couldn't be better!"
What he meant was that after AFK grinding his experience points, his experience points increased by another 2,000.
However, the other three people obviously understood it to mean something else.
The four of them laughed in unison, but their smiles looked somewhat lascivious...
Having friends in the first team would help him integrate more quickly. Even though Chen Yingxiong's current language level had not yet reached the point where he could communicate freely, he could still get along well with everyone.
…
Popovich noticed that there were suddenly a lot more media reporters outside the youth team training ground today - you know, the youth training camp of Zenit St. Petersburg was usually very quiet, so this was a bit odd.
The arrival of so many reporters made the players of the youth team very excited. Who doesn't want to be famous? Who doesn't want to be a big star.
Chen Yingxiong had become a role model for everyone. He was transferred to the first team after only one month in the youth team. He was in the first team for only two weeks before he started for the first team in the Super League and scored a crucial goal. This kid's fame curve was simply rising all the way, unstoppable...
It must have been Chen Yingxiong's fame that made the media realize that there were still talents to be discovered in the youth team!
The players of the youth team were happily imagining the next scene - after the training, they would be surrounded by reporters, who praised their performance in the youth league...
When the youth team training ended, reporters did indeed rush in, but they did not surround the players, but surrounded the head coach Popovich.
"Mr. Popovich! How did he end up at Zenit?"
"How long has he been in the youth team?"
"How did you fall in love with this player enough to recommend him to the first team?"
"…"
Popovich's head shook before he shouted. "Quiet! Everyone, be quiet!"
All the reporters became silent, and Popovich looked at them and asked. "Who are you even talking about?"
"Hero! Hero!"
"It's that Chinese player! He's about 1.9 meters tall..."
"Hero!"
"Like a bear..."
…
Popovich knew that Chen Yingxiong scored the day before yesterday, but he didn't expect that these reporters would come to him... The issue was that he didn't like reporters.
Seeing them, Popovich knew that Chen Yingxiong had become famous with one goal. He didn't intend to add more fuel to the flames though. He didn't know how Advocaat dealt with these reporters, but he had his own ways.
He raised his hands directly. "I'm sorry! I can only say that he is a very talented player! And he has the potential to become an excellent player. For the rest...you can go find Advocaat! He is now his head coach!"
The reporters cursed in their hearts. "Damn, he deserves to be a football coach! He is so skilled at passing the ball!"
Advocaat kicked the ball to Petzera, who was fired. If they hadn't been smart, they would have been tricked into going to the Czech Republic.
Now that they have come to the youth team, Popovich has kicked the ball to Advocaat again.
If we go to find Advocaat again, I guess Advocaat will have to kick the football to the Czech Republic again.
Many reporters backed off immediately. Now thinking back, they were too impatient - Chen Yingxiong had only scored one goal, but they were so enthusiastic about him. If he didn't perform well in the next game, wouldn't that be a slap in the face to themselves?
Forget it, I got carried away...
Most of the reporters left immediately, and only a few reporters continued to ask Popovich questions unwillingly.
"Can you at least tell us how Hero came to Zenit? Which Chinese club did Zenit bring him from?"
"No comment!" Popovich said firmly.
He didn't want to talk, and no one could force him to talk.
He had been the head of Zenit's youth team for four seasons and a coach for nine seasons. But Chen Yingxiong was definitely the most special player he had ever seen. His other abilities were very mediocre, but his header was unbelievable.
In addition, his personality also made people full of expectations for his future.
He didn't know how far Chen Yingxiong would go, because Chen Yingxiong had surprised him too many times.
He felt that all he could do was quietly watch Chen Yingxiong perform. He wasn't his coach anymore, after all
…
Of course, Chen Yingxiong didn't know that his goal caused Popovich to get harassed by media at the youth team training base.
His life was busy and simple now - he trained every day and then chatted with new friends and discussed where to go next time. Denisov and Anyukov often boasted to him about the fun places in St. Petersburg, which nightclubs had the best girls, things like this... Chen Yingxiong was envious.
He could only envy because there were many places he couldn't go - he had no money. It was really embarrassing to say that although he had already made one appearance in the first team and scored a goal for the team, Chen Yingxiong's current contract was still the one he signed when he first joined the team, with a weekly salary of 19,000 rubles, equivalent to 500 euros a week.
This salary was really low...
But at that time, Chen Yingxiong was just immersed in the joy of becoming a professional player and hadn't cared much about it.
What's more, the contract was printed in Russian... Neither Chen Yingxiong nor his father could read it. At that time, Borovikya explained to him how much he could earn a week. When they heard that he could earn 500 euros a week, which was equivalent to more than 5,000 yuan, Chen Yingxiong and Chen Tao thought it was good and didn't raise any objections to the weekly salary.
You have to know that 500 euros a week is 2,000 euros a month, which is equivalent to more than 20,000 yuan. How many people in China can find a job with a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan when they are 18 years old in 2006?
Why did Chen Tao train his son to play professional football? On the one hand, his son liked to play football. On the other hand, the Chinese professional league was very popular at that time. The newspapers were full of reports about professional football stars getting rich, living in villas, and driving luxury cars, which made everyone think that playing professional football could make a lot of money. Who would have thought that in 2006, when his son was about to become a professional player, the domestic football environment took a sharp turn for the worse... The media began to be filled with news about clubs owing wages, and players retiring and not being able to find a job.
Therefore, Chen Yingxiong and Chen Tao were very satisfied to be able to earn more than 20,000 yuan a month in Russia.
Of course, Chen Yingxiong didn't think so now, as his salary was the lowest in the first team.
This amount of money was enough to live, but it was still not enough to go out and have fun often. After all, he couldn't always ask Denisov and his friends to treat him, right? The last time he went out, it was Denisov who treated him. In order to celebrate Hero's first goal, the captain paid for the celebration, it made sense.
But you couldn't expect to be treated every time you went out.
Chen Yingxiong thought that after he scored more goals, he would definitely ask the club to change his contract!
…
Besides training and hanging out with the three members of Zenit St. Petersburg's party group, Chen Yingxiong was looking forward to one more thing this week.
That was the announcement of the starting lineup for the weekend league.
He was no longer looking forward to the long list because he felt there was no suspense.
Tekke was still recovering from his injury, and the team's situation was the same as last weekend. All three forwards would be selected for the roster, otherwise, there would be no substitutes.
Chen Yingxiong had worked very hard in this week's training, and Advocaat should be very satisfied with him. In addition, he had scored a goal in the last league game and was in good shape. Therefore, if there was no accident, Chen Yingxiong would definitely be selected for the shortlist.
The only suspense was the starting lineup - could he continue to start?
He cared a lot because Yesenin had told him that he had received a new task - to start for the first team twice in a row.