Chapter 190 Far Water Cannot Quench Near Thirst

After only a few days in Dortmund, Zhou Yi and Cortana joined the team and went to warm Spain to start their winter training.

Before the start of the training camp, the club conducted a physical examination for every player who returned to the team. Zhou Yi's physical condition was not bad. It was slightly lower than before the winter break, but it was also within the normal range. After all, it is impossible to maintain normality during the season during the vacation. training intensity and plan.

After Klopp got Zhou Yi's physical examination report, he jokingly said to the team medical leader Dr. Braun: "Cortana and Zhou Yi are together. I didn't expect that it would be such a benefit to us - being able to supervise Zhou Yi's life. Habit."

After the physical examination, the whole team set off for Spain to start their training camp.

This winter break training camp is actually very important for Dortmund.

Because the team has suffered a lot of injuries, the winter break training has several tasks. On the one hand, of course, it is to ensure that the players do not continue to get injured. The other aspect is to ensure that the team has sufficient physical fitness in the second half of the season.

Because there is a World Cup this summer, leagues in various countries must end earlier than before, which results in a relatively intensive schedule this season. Dortmund has now entered the next stage of both the German Cup and the Champions League. In addition, In the league, the schedule will be very intensive and the physical requirements for the players will be higher.

Fortunately, the Bundesliga has a winter break, which allows players to rest, and then adjust their physical fitness through training camps and re-reserve their physical fitness, so as not to completely run out of energy at the end of the season.

But even so, the situation is not optimistic.

After all, Dortmund has had too many players injured this season, which has suddenly reduced the thickness of Dortmund's bench.

There is a winter transfer window during the winter break. During this period, Dortmund should seize the time to sign in and strengthen the personnel gap the team currently faces.

In fact, Dortmund had already actively started transfer operations in December last year. There are many rumors in the media about Dortmund transfers during the winter break.

However, many of these rumors date from the summer of 2014.

Far water cannot quench near thirst.

For example, what are the plans to re-transfer Shinji Kagawa who was unhappy at Manchester United in the summer, or to buy Khedira from Real Madrid in the summer. It is also possible to consider introducing another center this summer, the "little monster" Lukaku from Chelsea.

These are all rumors,

There is not even a single word in the horoscope, and they are all "far away from water".

How to solve the shortage of manpower problem that Dortmund is facing now?

In fact, it's not that Dortmund doesn't want to solve it, but it's very troublesome to solve it.

First of all, except for Gundogan and Subotic, the others are not the kind of injuries that require a season of rest. They can come back later. If they come back and Dortmund introduces players in the same position, it will Will it not cause a waste of human resources?

In addition, it is difficult to buy satisfactory players during the winter break. This is a common practice. Transfers during the winter break are not as important as transfers in the summer, because this is a transfer in the middle of a season. Many players are playing well in this team, and of course the team is not willing to let them go midway. . If the season is over and the new season has to be planned again, then it doesn't matter if a few players are let go.

Everyone knows that it is difficult to buy players during the winter break, so naturally they are not willing to let their players go easily, because once they let go, it will not be that easy for them to replenish their players from the transfer market...

Various reasons have resulted in the lack of influential and capable players in today's winter transfer market. With Dortmund's current status and vision, of course not just any cat or dog can be favored by Dortmund.

Friedrich originally signed a firefighting contract that ended at the end of the season. Naturally, it is impossible to transfer and buy someone during the winter break and give him a half-season contract, right? Naturally, we need to be cautious.

These factors have caused Dortmund to currently struggle in the winter break transfer market.

There was news before that Dortmund planned to continue to strengthen their strength at the forward position. They were not very satisfied with Schieber's performance in the first half of the season, so they took a fancy to Hoffenheim's Volland, but why would Hoffenheim want to play in the forward position? What about releasing people during the winter break?

In addition, the team also plans to play for Czech international Kadlec, a former Bundesliga player who plays for Fenerbahce. This player plays as a left back, but he is 1.85 meters tall and can also play as a central defender. This can be said to be a supplement to Dortmund's defense, which is currently full of injuries.

But it’s hard to say whether Fenerbahce will let him go, and many people are worried about Kadlec’s strength. They wonder if he really joins Dortmund, whether it will be a supplement or a loophole for Dortmund’s defense...

After a quick turn, Dortmund finalized a transfer, Augsburg's South Korean forward Ji Dongyuan. But coming to Dortmund after the end of this season still won't help the team's current shortage of manpower.

In addition, the Dortmund club still has a very important task, which is to renew the contract and keep Gundogan.

Gundogan was unwilling to renew his contract with Dortmund before, but after a serious injury ended the season and Real Madrid showed no interest in him, the road to contract renewal finally took a turn for the worse. Gundogan recently agreed to renegotiate the contract extension with the club.

Although Gundogan is basically unable to play this season, Dortmund still wants to keep him. Why?

Because Dortmund has always had one worry - after the end of this season, can they still keep Zhou Yi?

At the end of last season, Zhou Yi was actually very close to leaving. After all, he won all the championships he could win in Dortmund. Is there any other reason for him to stay?

emotion?

Do not make jokes.

However, an accident happened. Gotze and Lewandowski left one after another, leaving Zhou Yi with no choice but to leave the team at this time, otherwise he would suffer infamy. At this time, you can talk about feelings...

With Gotze and Lewandowski both leaving the team at the same time, Zhou Yi can't leave even if he wants to, he must stay.

So he renewed his contract with the club.

But no one can guarantee that he will continue to stay in Dortmund in another year or two.

Dortmund themselves know very well that they may never become a club like Bayern Munich. Because they have experienced a painful economic crisis, their hearts have never been very liberal about spending money. The club cannot invest as much as Bayern Munich. This mentality leads to a lack of ambition.

They themselves didn't believe they could keep Zhou Yi forever. Players like Zhou Yi will definitely have more pursuits, such as salary... Dortmund would never dare to think that they would offer a player an annual salary of 10 million euros.

I think when Lewandowski asked Dortmund for an annual salary of three million euros, Dortmund was reluctant to give it to him.

Let alone 10 million.

But as Zhou Yi becomes more and more famous and his achievements become higher and higher, his salary requirements will become higher and higher. The club does not believe that Zhou Yi is the kind of saint who only talks about dedication without asking for anything in return.

When Zhouyi's agent Shi Zi opens his mouth and asks for a contract with an annual salary of more than 10 million euros, what will the club do?

In fact, an annual salary of tens of millions of euros is not a rare thing in European football. Before Serie A completely declined, Ibrahimovic and Kaká both received over ten million euros in Inter Milan and AC Milan respectively. euro contracts. This is especially true in the Spanish Super League duo Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The Bundesliga has always adhered to the principle of financial health, so there are many restrictions on salary expenses to prevent the Bundesliga's salary levels from sky-high.

It's just that Zhou Yi, as the absolute core and number one star of the team, only received an annual salary of 8 million euros in his recent contract extension, and this was before tax, and he actually received only half of it.

If a wealthy club really wanted to poach Zhou Yi and offered him an annual salary of tens of millions of euros, how could the player himself resist?

Whether it is for career or income considerations, Dortmund believes that it is impossible for them to keep Zhou Yi forever.

Now that this premise has been established, who can take over this class after Zhou Yi leaves?

Shaheen did have this ability before he transferred to Real Madrid, but after several wasted seasons with Real Madrid and Liverpool, Shaheen's ambition and confidence were greatly affected, and his strength also stagnated. He no longer had the aura he had before. It is impossible for him to lead the Dortmund team now.

Mkhitaryan?

At least I haven't seen that he has such ability yet.

The club is more optimistic about Gundogan.

Although Gundogan was seriously injured. However, he still has some similarities with Zhou Yi in terms of technical characteristics. He is good at offense and defense and is the best successor after Zhou Yi leaves.

That's why Dortmund negotiates a contract extension with Gundogan, hoping that Gundogan can stay.

※※※

Apart from some "distant water", Dortmund's actions in the transfer market have not been efficient.

No one they like can come, and no one who can come can come...

The unfavorable recruitment work made Klopp always frown during training sessions, and the team's atmosphere was not as relaxed as before.

Everyone gradually realized that if the club cannot introduce new players to strengthen the team during the winter break transfer window, the next half season will be a severe test for every Dortmund player. You will have to pay more than usual, and you will even have to face the situation of no one being able to replace you in some key positions.

During this time, Cortana's physiotherapy team is getting busier and busier. In order to ensure that the players will not be injured during training, physiotherapy and relaxation work after training is very important. The workload of their physiotherapy team has naturally increased.

Although the two of them are a public couple, they do not live together during the club training. Cortana lives in a room specially arranged for physical therapists, while Zhou Yi and Mark live in the same room.

On weekdays, except for going to her for massage after training, Zhou Yi had no other contact with her. And even if it is a physical therapy massage, it is in a large room, and there are several players doing physical therapy together at the same time, so there is no way to talk about personal matters.

They could only occasionally look at each other in the crowd and look at each other with their eyes.

Even so, Zhou Yi felt satisfied.

...