Volume 1 Chapter 2: Defender or midfielder?
The office was silent, with only the sound of heavy rain hitting the windows making crackling sounds.
Lekai sat upright, looking around the office and the old man in front of him from time to time.
Wenger was sitting opposite with his legs crossed, holding a document in his hand and flipping through it page by page.
He didn't say anything, and Lekai didn't know what to say.
As he said before, he didn't know why this world-famous coach took a fancy to him and brought him to Arsenal.
Kodak is very ordinary, of course that's in the eyes of outsiders.
As for Lucky himself, he has a big secret in his heart.
He is not from this world.
Born in 1994 in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning in the north.
Compared to other children, Lekai has had a level of self-discipline different from that of his peers since he was young.
From a very young age, Lucky began to give himself some basic football training.
Perhaps it was because of some regrets about football in his previous life that made him work harder.
And this world is also different from the previous world.
Everything else is the same, except that football is moving towards a different future.
Since 2002, Chinese football has entered the World Cup consecutively, which proves the saying that "2002 is the beginning of football."
Although they have made it to the World Cup every time, they are always eliminated in the group stage.
But compared to the previous life, China has scored goals and won a small game in the World Cup.
Now the goal of Chinese football is to reach the knockout stage.
Of course, this is not an easy thing to do.
But nothing is difficult in this world if you set your mind to it.
During the era of football's booming development, three three-year youth training plans were carried out consecutively.
Planned youth training is carried out every three years.
Because this youth training program has rigid targets, football talent has begun to flourish and batches of outstanding players have emerged.
Lucky happened to benefit from the third batch of youth training. After training and selection in the north, he was sent to Portugal for further youth training and then entered the Portuguese Super League. After one season, he was valued by Wenger and joined Arsenal.
Lucky is ordinary, but also not ordinary.
He is different from ordinary people in that he can predict the path of the ball.
To be more precise, it is foresight!
This judgment of the ball path is almost 100% correct and there has never been any error.
This also benefited his talent in football, making him a crazy tackling maniac.
During the time he joined Sporting Lisbon, the 17-year-old Lekai contributed 80 steals in 25 games, with an average of a terrifying 3.2 steals per game.
This also made him extremely stable in the position of full-back, and in the second half of the season he even started directly.
This is all thanks to his 'foresight' golden finger.
However, this talent is somewhat useless because it is completely useless in higher-intensity games.
As the saying goes, the only way to defeat martial arts in the world is speed. In the face of absolute power, it will be of no use even if he foresees it in advance.
He felt that Wenger probably took a fancy to this characteristic of his.
After all, he remembered that since Fabregas and Song left Arsenal, the Gunners had been in a state of defensive emptiness for a long time.
Therefore, Lekai felt that Wenger must have taken a fancy to his defensive ability.
But Wenger's next words stunned Lekai.
"Do you want to be an average defender or a world-class midfielder?"
Lucky's mouth began to open slightly. He thought of many of Wenger's words, but definitely not this sentence.
A world-class midfielder?
I'm a defender, professor!
But Wenger didn't look like he was joking. His face was extremely serious and there was a hint of certainty in his eyes.
The other party's confidence even made Lucky himself begin to waver.
Do I have the potential to become a world-class midfielder?
But he only knows how to defend!
Perhaps seeing the confusion in Lucky's eyes, Wenger stood up and walked to the desk, took a laptop and placed it on the coffee table.
He laid the laptop horizontally so they could both watch it.
Lucky moved closer, trying to see clearly what was on it.
I saw a video of the game in the laptop.
This is the warm-up match between Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal.
At the 65th minute, facing Arshavin's breakthrough, Lekai made a wonderful steal.
Lucky remembers this game and this moment.
He made a foresight and learned the enemy's breakthrough route, so he made defenses in advance.
Sure enough, Wenger pulled the video forward a few seconds, pointed to the scene where he suddenly broke away from the defense and moved to the right a few seconds ago and asked; "Why are you running like this?"
Lucky was stunned.
Why run like this?
Because he knew that Arshavin would break through from the right wing next!
But how do you say this?
Wenger continued, moving the timeline to the 78th minute, when Arsenal suddenly launched an attack in the frontcourt with a change of rhythm.
Here, Lucky also intercepted.
"Same here!" Wenger said and started to pull the timeline again.
"here!"
“And here too!”
After several pauses, Wenger said seriously: "You know how we play and have arranged our defense accordingly. Can I understand that you have a high ability to read the game and a broad vision?"
Lucky was silent.
Wenger smiled and started to scroll the timeline again. "The most crucial part is here, your long pass in the 2 minutes of injury time."
"This was a very subtle gap, which was fleeting, but you seized it accurately. The reason why it was not converted into a goal was because your center forward didn't see it and didn't run at all. He didn't trust you!"
Lucky: “…”
At this point, Wenger suddenly smiled and said, "Kid, you are only 17 years old, your skills are not yet fully formed, you can definitely change your position, how about trying the defensive midfielder position first?"
"I've never kicked a defensive midfielder, professor!" Lekai was a little anxious.
Wenger narrowed his eyes slightly and said: "We only need midfielders! No defenders!"
Lucky suddenly said: "I will try my best!"
…
Lucky walked out of the office in a daze. Wenger's words completely negated his previous efforts.
How can you let a defender play in the midfield?
Martin Hughes was waiting at the door. Seeing Lucky coming out, he couldn't help but ask, "How is it?"
"The contract has been signed!" Lekai said weakly.
The surprises of the day were enough for him to digest.
Martin Hughes patted Lucky on the shoulder and said, "Welcome to Arsenal!"
"Thank you!" Lekai's expression finally eased a little.
However, he glanced at Martin Hughes and found that this guy was much happier than before, and the expression on his face was much more relaxed.
"What's the good news?" Lekai asked.
Martin Hughes grinned and chuckled, "Our king is coming back!"
Lucky suddenly understood.
Henry, the king of guns!
He remembered that around December 2011, Henry returned to Arsenal on loan!
It is estimated that Henry's return can slightly ease the irritability of Arsenal fans.
…
After leaving the office building, Lucky was taken away by a man named Billy.
This is a 35-year-old man wearing a cowboy hat, fat, and driving a broken jeep.
There was a strong smell of cow dung and alcohol in the car, which was extremely pungent and the tip of his nose was red. It was obvious that he was a heavy alcohol lover.
And this person is the head of the family where he will be staying.
Since Lekai is 17 years old and not yet an adult, he cannot rent a house to live alone outside.
However, Arsenal's dormitory building was not well-established, so he could only live with a fan's family under the arrangement of the club.
Billy is an Arsenal fan and a farmer, a wealthy boss with some assets.
In Billy's words, his whole family are Arsenal die-hards.
As the initiator, he feels extremely proud of this.
The Colney Training Center is not in London, so Lucky cannot live in the city, otherwise it would be too troublesome to travel between clubs.
Fortunately, Billy lived not far from the Colney Training Center and was a person Arsenal trusted very much, so Lucky was handed over to his care.
Billy is a very talkative person, and in the car, he began to show off his poor Chinese.
Gave Lucky the nickname "Little Lucky".
The reason is that the Chinese name of Lucky is very similar to the English word Lucky.
Even though Lucky emphasized many times that the word was pronounced "Yue" and was a polyphonetic character, Billy still did his own thing.
In response, Lucky did not refute it.
'A little luck' is just 'a little luck'.
I hope he will have enough luck in the future!
This is a place called Lucheng.
Although it is called "City", it is actually a small village with less than 1,000 people.
The whole small village is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it seems to be a very nice place.
If it weren't for the storm, Lucky wouldn't mind taking a good look around.
Under Billy's guidance, Lucky walked into a two-story building.
When I opened the door, there was a porch and a strong smell of grilled cheese hit me.
Billy sniffed and smiled at Lucky, "Elena knows you're coming and is preparing dinner to entertain you!"
Sure enough, a fat woman walked out of the kitchen.
The woman weighed about 200 pounds, fatter than Billy. She held a shovel in her left hand and her right hand was covered in grease. When she saw Lucky, she said in surprise, "Let me see who it is. Welcome our Chinese friends!"
Lucky also felt very touched by the enthusiasm of Billy's family.
"Come in, I'm preparing dinner for you, I hope you like it." Elena walked over and hugged Lucky gently, smiling, "You will definitely become a warrior of Arsenal, right?"
Lucky smiled and said, "I will try my best!"
Billy carried Lucky's luggage up to the second floor.
Going up the stairs to the second floor is a straight corridor with two rooms on both sides.
Billy pointed to the room on the left and said, "This is my son's room. His name is Kevin and he is 10 years old."
"I'll be 11 after the Chinese New Year!"
The door opened a crack, and a small figure hid behind it, revealing half of its face. It looked up at Lekai with its azure blue eyes and said timidly, "Hello!"
"Hello!" Lekai smiled and waved.
Billy said unhappily, "Kevin, you should come out when you greet someone. You need to learn to be polite!"
"I don't!"
Kevin closed the door with a bang and made no more noise.
Billy said bitterly, "As you can see, Kevin... is a little different!"
It's because he is a loner!
Lucky smiled and said, "He will become more cheerful in the future!"
Billy sighed, "I hope so!"
