Chapter 003: Failed Trip to Blackburn

After making the decision, the next day, Wang Li set off for Blackburn with a letter of introduction from the football school's coach Tom Stephen.

Tom Stephen was a famous English football star when he was young. After retiring, he became a coach and had strong connections. When Wang Li left the football school, he felt sorry for this talented kid, so he wrote him a letter of introduction. This allowed Wang Li to smoothly go to various small and medium-sized clubs for trials. However, Wang Li did not have much communication skills, so this letter of introduction could not bring him success.

Wang Li was very grateful for the precious treasure left to him by the previous owner of his body, which made things much easier for him. Without this letter of introduction, his request for a trial would have been difficult to get the approval of various youth teams.

Blackburn is a municipality in Lancashire, England. It is located in the Pennines Hills of Lancashire, about 32 kilometers northwest of Manchester, with a population of about 170,000.

Although it is just a town, it has its own pride, which is Blackburn Rovers football team.

Blackburn Rovers Football Club was founded in 1875 and was a founding member of the Football League in 1888. It has used Ewood Park as its home ground since 1890.

In the 2000-2001 season, Blackburn Rovers successfully won promotion to the Premier League, and in their first season back in the Premier League (2001-02) they finished 10th and won the League Cup for the first time in Blackburn Rovers' history. Under Graeme Souness's leadership, Blackburn Rovers continued to improve in the 2002-03 season, finishing 6th and qualifying for the UEFA Cup for two consecutive years.

It can be said that although the current Blackburn Rovers team cannot dominate the whole of England, it is also in its heyday.

After Wang Li arrived, he showed the letter of recommendation to the guard and asked to meet the youth team head coach Spoelstra.

After meeting the young coach in his forties, he explained the purpose of this trip.

Spoelstra looked down on players like Wang Li who came to the trial with a recommendation letter from someone. He believed that the talented players in Arsenal Football School had already been picked up by the Arsenal youth team, so he was not very optimistic about this very thin Oriental man.

But he still had to give face to Tom Stephen, so he just found a staff member and took Wang Li to do some basic tests.

Wang Li also noticed the arrogance in Spoelstra's eyes. Even if he could join the Blackburn youth team, he would definitely not be taken seriously if he trained under such a coach. It seemed that this trip to Blackburn would end in failure.

But he still followed the staff to take the test, as he also wanted to see the extent of his abilities.

The clubs in the English Premier League do have a strong foundation. Even for Blackburn Rovers, which is at the bottom of the table, the physical and endurance tests are very formal and scientific.

After more than two hours of testing, Wang Li was already sweating profusely. He participated in the physical test, endurance test, shuttle run with the ball and speed test respectively. However, he also knew that among these tests, only the shuttle run with the ball had good data, and the others were just barely qualified.

However, he was not upset because he did not show much strength. He hated Spoelstra very much. No matter who was not valued, they would have such emotions. Just by looking at the expression of this young coach, he had some understanding of the current state of the entire Blackburn Club.

Maybe last year's sixth place in the Premier League has eroded their ambition, maybe Blackburn's young players do have some quality, maybe...

No matter what the result is, Wang Li has decided to try other clubs. With his strength, it doesn't matter where he goes.

Sure enough, when the staff member handed Wang Li's report card to Spo Gert, he just glanced at it and said something to him.

The staff member came back and said to Wang Li: "Although your results are good, the Blackburn youth team's frontcourt is already very crowded, so there is no need to add any forwards." After saying that, he looked at him apologetically, then turned and walked back.

Wang Li didn't say anything about it, just spread his hands indifferently, and walked towards the gate of Blackburn Club. He still had to find a hotel and then continue his "trial training journey" tomorrow...

Spoelstra walked back and forth on a small football field, occasionally directing the training of the players on the field.

After the staff member came back and explained to him, he smiled and said, "Alex, don't pay attention to this kind of player next time. He hasn't even been selected for the Arsenal youth team. What level can he be at... The geniuses in those youth football schools have already been picked up by Arsenal..."

Alex nodded with a puzzled look on his face, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Then Coach Gert, the test data of the player just now is indeed very good, especially the speed of his dribbling and running back, which almost exceeds the average level of the main forwards in the Premier League. Why don't you let him have a try?" He had wanted to ask this question for a long time. After the test, he thought that Blackburn would have another genius joining, but the result was not what he expected.

Spo Gert frowned slightly and took a look at the test score sheet in his hand.

"100m speed 11.37 seconds, 25m dribbling back and forth 2 times, time 15.07 seconds..."

These are indeed genius data. His 100-meter speed is nothing special, but he only took 15 seconds to dribble the ball 100 meters in a 25-meter turn. You know, the data of his youth team's talented forward Cruz Omar is only more than 19 seconds.

However, in order to maintain his prestige, he still said firmly: "There are many geniuses like this, there is nothing strange about it. If he comes again, give him a chance." He raised his head and slowly walked towards the center of the court.

Alex was stunned, looking at Spo Gert's back and muttering to himself: "Are there many geniuses like this? Is that really the case..."

Spoelstra did feel a little regretful in his heart. Although the Oriental man just now was a little thin, his body could be trained, but his natural sense of the ball was difficult to improve. If he had such a player under his command, he dared to guarantee that he would be another outstanding speed winger in two years.

"If he comes again, we must seize the opportunity!" In an empty corner, Spoelstra said fiercely.

Unfortunately, the opportunity passed him by forever...