Chapter 819 Football Genius

It's almost time for training.

The players of the U15 youth team walked out of the training building one after another.

But unlike in the past, today there was a row of people standing outside the wire fence next to the U15 training ground.

Judging from their appearance and build, one of the two men in the lead should be Mr. Xu, the head coach of the football school.

"Who is that person next to Mr. Xu?"

"I don't know, it's too far away, I can't see clearly!"

"Could it be Coach Gao?"

"No, Coach Gao wouldn't wear something like this."

"Is that General Fan?"

"How is it possible? Is General Fan so thin?

"Could it be Xie Qianfeng?"

"Tsk, Xie Qianfeng is taller than him."

"Don't make blind guesses. Judging from his appearance, he might be from an investment company."

"Hey, I heard that Mr. Xu is planning to sell the football team. Will he sell the football school as well?"

"Yeah, it's quite worrying. If this football school is sold, where will we go?"

"Don't worry about it. Even if they really sell the football school, can they close it? Besides, if you are really good and talented, you can play football anywhere."

"Oh, Wang Lei, of course you can say that. Everyone knows that you are the little Zheng Zhi. There are professional teams that have taken a fancy to you. You can play football wherever you go. But we are different from you!"

This group of youngsters from the U15 team walked into the training ground, talking and laughing along the way.

Mr. Xu came from the military and had always been strict in military discipline. He also adopted a tough militarized management of the football school.

Therefore, as soon as these young players entered the training ground, they all consciously started warming up.

But there were also many people who looked up from time to time outside the field. The more they looked, the more they felt that the person standing on the sidelines looked familiar. They whispered to each other from time to time, guessing who it was.

Yang Huan stood outside the barbed wire and watched the players warming up on the training ground from afar.

He noticed an interesting phenomenon almost immediately.

Among this group of U15 players, there is a short and thin one.

Perhaps many people don’t know that when playing football, physical fitness always comes first.

This is true even in the youth team.

A player who falls down easily when being hit will never become a talent no matter how good his skills are.

The most typical example is Messi.

Messi suffered a lot of injuries when he first debuted. Many people even thought that if he continued to play like this, he would never be able to succeed. But facts have proved that Messi later changed his playing style and strengthened his physical fitness, which led to the superstar he is today.

Anyone who can become a professional player, even if he looks thin, has physical fitness that is much stronger than that of a normal person.

This short and thin player attracted Yang Huan's attention at the first moment.

But what really surprised Yang Huan was his juggling after warming up, and the subsequent dribbling around the poles.

When he was training in juggling, you could tell from the various moves he performed, all of which were of varying difficulty, that he had a pretty good sense of the ball, but that wasn't particularly outstanding.

What really made Yang Huan's eyes light up was dribbling the ball around the pole.

Although he is small, he has great explosive power, is very flexible and has strong balance.

Other players usually need to adjust when going around the pole, and some even twist their bodies this way and that, which is very awkward.

But what about him?

It was like flowing water, done in one go, and almost every step was just right, so after the whole trip, he seemed to be very comfortable with it. Compared with other teammates around him, he felt like a crane standing out among chickens.

"Mr. Xu, what's the name of that short guy in yellow clothes?" Yang Huan couldn't help but asked.

Old Xu laughed, as if to say, "You finally can't help but ask questions, right?"

"He, Gao Ren, is only twelve years old."

"Twelve years old?" Yang Huan was a little surprised.

Is it appropriate for this twelve year old kid to play in the fifteen year old age group?

You know, children of this age grow the fastest, and sometimes a one-year difference can be a big deal.

"Although this kid was born in Longhai, his parents were migrant workers and had no time to take care of him since he was a child. So they picked up a discarded football on the roadside and gave it to him. As a result, this kid has been playing with that football since he was a child."

"I heard that he started by patting it with his hands, and then some passing fan told him that it was a football and he had to kick it with his feet. As a result, this kid started playing football at the age of four and has been playing ever since."

Yang Huan also thought that this was indeed quite interesting.

From childhood to adulthood, I have only had a football as a toy and I play with it every day. What does that feel like?

"Two years ago, a friend of mine who was an amateur referee went to his school to officiate an inter-primary friendly match. He saw this kid, ten years old, in the third grade, starting with a group of sixth graders."

When Yang Huan heard this, he couldn't help but laugh. He could fully imagine what kind of bizarre scene that was.

You know, if a sixth grader grows faster, he or she will be almost as tall as an adult.

Looking at the boy's current appearance, one can easily imagine how short he was two years ago.

"But you know what? This kid scored more than a dozen goals in that game. Scoring goals was like a piece of cake. Others couldn't get the ball from him at all. They could only commit fouls non-stop!"

At this point, Mr. Xu laughed and said, "Fortunately, my friend saw it and thought it was good. He took care of him a little when he was officiating and sent off two opposing players with red cards. He told me the news immediately after the game."

"As soon as I heard about it, I rushed over immediately, watched one of his training sessions, and then I went to find his parents and recruited him."

Yang Huan kept nodding his head. He could see that this boy was really good.

Yang Huan is not a professional scout, but he has watched a lot of basketball. If he can't see the advantage that a kid named Gao Ren has that stands out from the crowd, then he has watched basketball for so many years in vain.

"This kid is born with both feet, which makes him a perfect material for playing football. I have been working hard on him for two years since he came here. I helped him change his previous messy technical moves and some bad habits, and consolidated his basic skills."

"Before, he was thinner and smaller than he is now. After coming to me, the food was better and he grew faster. In the past six months, I transferred him to the U15 team. At first, he was not used to it, but now..."

When Mr. Xu got to this point, he shook his head and sighed, "In my opinion, with the speed at which he's improving, within half a year, even my U15 team won't be able to satisfy him!"

Yang Huan listened silently, but huge waves were rising in his heart.

Who says there are no football talents in China?

Isn’t Gao Ren in front of us a football genius?

It is easy to imagine what Gao Ren would do if he had not met Mr. Xu's referee friend and had not met Mr. Xu.

It’s very simple, study, take exams, go to higher education, and gradually you stop playing football!

"Master Huan, I have run this football school for more than ten years, and this is the only good kid like this. I dare not say anything else, but with my lifelong football experience, I can guarantee that if this kid is trained well, he will have no problem playing in the European professional league. If he is trained, I will..."

At the end of his speech, Mr. Xu kept shaking his head, and it was obvious that he himself could not imagine it.

"Master Huan, you are well aware of the football environment in this country. It is not a place to train talents. However, I can no longer satisfy him here. So, I invited you to come here this time just to see if you can play football in Southampton? Can you receive the most professional and advanced training in the best youth training camp in Europe?"

Yang Huan nodded, "I understand, Mr. Xu."

After thinking for a while, Yang Huan said, "Let me make a phone call first."

Mr. Xu also knows that the bigger the club, the more formal it is in selecting players.

A club like Southampton invests a lot in every youth player, so the selection standards and requirements are naturally very high.

It’s not that, as the boss, Yang Huan is unable to force someone into the youth training camp, but that there is no need to.

It’s no big deal to let professional scouts come and take a look.

It just so happens that Southampton's chief scout Ramon Madoni and youth training camp director Jorge Bernardo Griffa have been in Longhai recently, so it would be perfect for them to personally oversee the process.

When Yang Huan finished the call and walked back to the training ground, the training session had already begun.

Although it was a training session for the U15 youth team, the intensity was not weak at all.

When Coach Xu was the head coach in China, he emphasized pressing and surrounding the team.

But now, over the past few years, he has always been asking for passing and forwarding, which can be said to be keeping up with the trend of the times.

Putting aside the difference in player quality, Mr. Xu's ideas are still quite up-to-date.

And even though this group is a U15 youth team, their running ability and tactical execution are not weak at all, which made Yang Huan nod his head as he watched on the sidelines.

This should be considered the best youth training team in the country!

"Mr. Xu, this group of players have been playing football together for many years, right?" Yang Huan asked with a smile.

Looking at the tacit understanding they have when playing football, it is not difficult to see that these players have trained and grown up together.

Old Xu did not deny it and nodded, "Yes, it has been many years. The one who has been with me the longest has been with me for about six or seven years. The one who has been with me the shortest is Gao Ren. They are all good seedlings!"

Over the past few years, he has invested a lot of effort in this group of players. These people are his hope.

Although Yang Huan could understand and sympathize, after all, the current domestic environment was indeed not conducive to the growth of young players, but Yang Huan was still not impressed by Mr. Xu's practice of keeping the players together.

However, he also admired Mr. Xu's broad mind and his heartfelt love for Chinese football and the players.

As a football practitioner, he should know better than anyone that a player like Gao Ren, if kept by his side and cultivated properly, can surely be sold for a good price, even a sky-high price, in the country over time.

But considering the player's future, he realized that the football school could not satisfy Gao Ren and did not want to delay the player's future, so he took the initiative to find Yang Huan and introduce Gao Ren to Southampton.

Who wouldn't admire such a broad mind?

How many people can do it?

"Mr. Xu, I found our Southampton's chief scout and he will be here soon. Can you make some arrangements?"

"Of course!" Mr. Xu agreed immediately.

Just at this moment, the coach on the training ground looked over, and Mr. Xu waved and asked him to come over.

As soon as the coach came over, he immediately saw Yang Huan.

When the coach heard that Master Huan was here and wanted to see the performance of these young players, he nodded immediately and agreed to postpone the time of the competition.

When he returned to the training ground and told the players that Young Master Huan was coming to watch the game, the players on the field were immediately excited.

Nowadays, who among those involved in football in China doesn’t know Young Master Huan?

Young people love to dream. Who doesn’t want to perform better, be noticed by Master Huan, and play in the Premier League directly?

It’s so cool to think about playing with superstars like Hazard, Suarez, Toni Kroos and others!

Therefore, all the young players on the court gathered their strength and planned to have a great performance in the internal competition.

This also made Mr. Xu on the sidelines very helpless.

As a last resort, I had to step forward in person and give these little brats a good lesson.

Otherwise, if everyone on the court gets kicked and the game gets chaotic, I will lose all my face.

On the contrary, Yang Huan, standing on the sidelines, listening to Mr. Xu scolding the players, felt like Ferguson using a hair dryer!