Chapter 229 Group Seed Team

When Mark was discharged from the hospital, the match between Dortmund and Hertha Berlin also started.

I don’t know if Mark’s serious injury has affected the players’ mentality, or if the continuous national team games have made the players tired, or because Dortmund will face Arsenal, the seeded team in this group, in the next Champions League group match...

In short, in this game, Dortmund lost 1:2 at home to Hertha Berlin.

Zhou Yi did not start in this game and did not come on as a substitute until the 80th minute. He was not able to help Dortmund equalize the score at home, let alone beat the opponent.

At this time, everyone's focus is not on the league, but on the Champions League.

Three days later, Dortmund will host Arsenal in the first game of this group.

This season, Dortmund was divided into the third tier of teams due to their outstanding performance in the Champions League last season. And playing against seeded teams in the first round of the group stage is a special treatment for third-tier teams.

In addition to Dortmund and Arsenal, this group also includes Marseille from France and Olympiacos from Greece.

Olympiacos is the weakest team and will be the target of the other three teams to compete for the goal difference.

In order to take advantage of the group qualifying, they will definitely get enough goal difference from Olympiacos.

When Dortmund was about to play against Arsenal, an old incident was also revealed by the media.

This matter is about Zhouyi and Arsenal.

Everyone knows the story that Zhou Yi stood out through a reality talent show and attracted the attention of Borussia Dortmund. Zhou Yi has never been able to hide his experience during interviews, nor his past as an amateur player.

But I'm afraid not many people know that Zhou Yi, who participated in the reality show, was not only valued by Dortmund, but also by Arsenal and Barcelona.

But in the end, why didn't Zhou Yi choose these two clubs?

This is not the past that these two clubs want to be mentioned...

The media revealed that Zhou Yi was not resistant to joining Arsenal at first. He just hoped that Arsenal could make a commitment to him, that is, the commitment to playing in the first team. But Arsenal could not meet his demands.

Unwilling to make such a commitment - of course, judging from the situation at the time, Arsenal definitely made sense in doing so.

At that time, Zhou Yi was an amateur player. He had never received professional training and had never proven himself in any professional field. He only performed well in a few reality show games. It is too arrogant for such a person to ask for a first-team commitment.

But it makes sense. For young talents, any club has to take some risks. There is no such thing as absolutely risk-free in this world, and there are no young players who can see what the future will be like at a glance.

So in fact, this kind of thing where scouts go all over the world to find young talents and then bring them to their own clubs is similar to gambling. It depends on whether you dare to gamble.

Obviously, Arsenal did not dare to gamble on Zhou Yi.

So they missed the Book of Changes.

And what did Dortmund do at that time? Dortmund's head coach Klopp flew to Barcelona to negotiate with Zhou Yi, which prompted Zhou Yi to make up his mind to join Dortmund's youth training camp, which ultimately led to today's Dortmund.

Klopp made the right bet and Dortmund benefited greatly.

The media that exposed this matter asked: "...seeing Zhou Yi who is now performing well in Dortmund, I wonder if Wenger has any regrets?"

After this incident was disclosed by the media, it quickly aroused everyone's interest because the story is so legendary...

No one thought that Zhou Yi almost joined Arsenal?

As a result, more media joined the team to dig up stories.

Some people ran to ask Zhou Yi, and some people ran to ask Wenger.

Zhou Yi: "That's what happened."

"Is it really because Arsenal were unwilling to commit to the first team?" the reporter asked.

"It's just one of the reasons..." Zhou Yi said, he didn't want to talk too much about this topic. After all, when someone accuses him of slandering Arsenal, how unjust is he? "I had my considerations, and Arsenal must have had theirs as well. It's normal that we didn't get together in the end. The key is that I'm very happy in Dortmund now, so I won't think about Arsenal."

So what does Arsenal say?

When asked by reporters, Wenger frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "Yes. We almost signed him at that time, but in the end we failed."

"So do you regret it now?" the reporter asked

Wenger shook his head: "No. We also have very good players."

In this regard, Wenger's attitude is very firm. He does not regret that Zhou Yi failed to join Arsenal. He has more trust in his players.

A reporter asked: "Then do you know the reason why Arsenal failed to sign Zhou Yi in the end?"

"I don't know about this..." Wenger smiled and shook his head.

Wenger doesn’t know?

Then keep digging.

Reporters are very knowledgeable. According to the situation at the time, if Zhou Yi really wanted to come to Arsenal, then the person in charge of this matter should definitely not be the head coach of the first team, Wenger, so it is normal for Wenger not to know the specific situation. of. Going to Barcelona to dig up Zhou Yi in person like Klopp did is a special case.

The person specifically responsible for this matter should be Arsenal's youth training director.

So they approached Liam Brady, Arsenal's head of youth development.

Brady still has a deep impression on Zhou Yi, because a seventeen-year-old amateur player dared to ask Arsenal to use special talent clauses to introduce him... There are too few such people, and they will definitely give Brady was very impressed.

That time in Barcelona, ​​long after they failed to grab Zhou Yi, this Chinese boy had a place in his mind. Occasionally thinking about it, he felt that this kid was silly and cute, and he was arrogant and cute. I don’t know if he will regret missing out on the perfect opportunity to join Arsenal because of his arrogance when he recalls this past event in the future?

He originally thought that this boy would only exist in his memory and then slowly disappear.

But when he heard this person's name again, he realized that he was already the absolute main force of Dortmund's first team!

This really surprised him - this kid actually played in Dortmund? And Dortmund actually gave him a chance to play in the first team so quickly!

He felt like he was watching a fairy tale, it was so unrealistic...

But when he was approached by reporters who wanted him to talk about Zhou Yi, he was unwilling to talk more.

"Zhou Yi made his request, but we couldn't meet his request, so he didn't come... Isn't this normal?"

He didn't know why, but there was a voice deep in his heart telling him not to talk about the past in too much detail.

Therefore, he no longer accepts interviews on the Zhouyi issue. His reason is that this is a matter of the past, and bringing it up now is malicious speculation.

Wenger didn’t know, Brady knew but didn’t want to say.

what to do?

There is always someone who knows and is willing to tell...

The English tabloids are still very capable of digging up news.

Soon they disclosed the specific situation at that time.

To put it simply, Arsenal took the initiative to find Zhou Yi, expressed their appreciation for his talent and optimism for his future, and hoped that Zhou Yi would join Arsenal. As a result, Zhou Yi proposed a first-team commitment, but this involved a labor certificate, so Zhou Yi hoped that Arsenal could use special talent clauses to introduce him. This request was rejected by Arsenal.

Then there is no more...

After this inside story is revealed, everyone can make their own judgment.

Is Zhou Yi's request too much, or is Arsenal too stingy?

Everyone will have their own interpretation. Some people will think that Zhou Yi is arrogant, blindly demanding and asking for high prices before he has proven his ability. However, those who support Zhou Yi will think that this is the confidence and respect that a talented player should have for his own strength. However, Arsenal seemed too stingy and missed out on such a talented player like Zhou Yi.

But who is right and who is wrong is actually not important anymore.

But when reporters asked Brady whether he regretted not signing Zhou Yi, Brady and Wenger gave exactly the same answer.

He said: "No regrets. Why regret it?"

He also left a rhetorical question for reporters.

Yes, Arsenal has so many talents as dense as a forest, why do we need to regret missing a tree? (To be continued.)