Chapter 28 Pre-emptive Right to Purchase

  "Is kicking the ball too rational, so that it lacks change and is easy to predict?" As soon as Gao Jun heard Steve Rolly's translation, he suddenly had an epiphany and finally understood why "Hutou" was able to score so many goals with obviously irrational shooting methods back then...

  It turns out that special shooting methods like long-range shots have lower accuracy, but because they are unpredictable, they objectively increase the chances of scoring. In contrast, reasonable shooting methods require a higher level of control over the ball's trajectory, power, and spin, and sometimes even require a brief pause, which may give defenders time to catch up and disrupt the shot. As a result, the number of opportunities that can be obtained in a game is relatively small, while those unreasonable shooting methods can create more scoring chances, so even if the hit rate is lower, the actual number of goals scored may not be less.

  With these two major advantages, shooting with the most confident way is not necessarily better than those shots that have a relatively low hit rate but are more sudden and unpredictable. The stronger the opponent's defense, the greater the relative advantage of "unreasonable" shots. Thinking of this, Gao Jun felt that he might need to take out time to strengthen his practice on special shooting methods such as volleys, half-volleys, chip shots, curved shots, and dipping shots...

  As for Wenger, he found his own shortcomings in kicking the ball just by watching a little video, and Gao Jun sincerely admired him, "No wonder it's Professor Wenger, please thank him on my behalf."

  "I hope you can succeed soon." Steve Rowley said to Gao Jun with a mix of expectation and concern. However, neither he nor Wenger had thought that Gao Jun was actually an old man's soul in a child's body, his habit of pursuing rationalization in football had long been deeply ingrained, and even if he improved, it would only be practicing some special shooting methods that he rarely used before, so there would be no situation like "handan learning step" where changing the kicking method was unsuccessful but the original good habits were lost.

  Gao Jun only practiced shooting and not dribbling or passing (other basic techniques were suppressed by rationality), mainly because shooting was his greatest advantage, and compared to pursuing rationality in shooting, Gao Jun's dribbling and passing were often very creative. Wenger didn't notice this because during the World Youth Championship, Gao Jun didn't have many opportunities to showcase these two abilities. Dribbling past opponents was rarely used except for that one game against Costa Rica, and those three assists also benefited from the opponent's empty defense. Wenger, due to his busy schedule, only watched edited clips rather than full-game recordings, so he naturally couldn't see this. That's why "highlight reels" can be misleading...

  Although there was no immediate signing, in order to prevent Gao Lin from being signed by another club and then "unfortunately" improving his kicking technique successfully, Steve Rowley still represented Arsenal and Dongfang Club signed a priority purchase agreement. This way, Gao Lin would not be signed away by other teams without the knowledge of Arsenal FC. As for the cost, Arsenal would help contact two excellent youth coaches (both French) to come to Chongming base for a year's guidance, with salaries paid by Arsenal (around ￡150,000).

  Of the two youth coaches, one is in charge of technical training and the other is in charge of physical training. The latter specializes in "youth player physical training". Because Wenger has always believed that young players should not receive large amounts of physical training too early, but rather undergo more scientific training tailored to their characteristics.

  Xu Genbao is the best local coach in China at this time, but his concept is still relatively outdated. However, he also knows Arsenal's excellent achievements in cultivating young players, so since Arsenal thinks it's necessary to do so, he didn't refuse, and Gao Jun's previous efforts had a certain positive impact on this.

  Later, when Xu Genbao saw the effect, he even more acknowledged the necessity of scientific youth training and physical training with a willing heart. This also made the young players of Dongfang team develop better physically and technically compared to their historical counterparts. However, due to the conflicting styles between the French coach's casual nature and Xu's strict management, Chongming base eventually chose the German youth training route, but that's another story...

  Apart from Arsenal, many top five league clubs have extended invitations to Gao Lin, but perhaps because Chinese football's global status is too low, or perhaps because Gao Lin is still young now, most of the inviting teams are youth teams. The first team that sent out an invitation was not as good as Arsenal (Arsenal directly allowed Gao Lin to join the first team), and the transfer fee would naturally not be high. Although Xu Guiyan would definitely let him go generously, Dongfang Club's interests would inevitably suffer greatly from this, which would make Gao Lin feel guilty...

  So Gao Junning might as well wait a little longer, until he makes up for his technical and habitual flaws, and then go to Arsenal or another team. This way, he can also help the Dongfang team play more games and better repay Coach Xu's kindness...

  Due to the excellent performance of China's youth team in the World Youth Championship, not only Gao Jun received an invitation from a European club. For example, Jiang Chen, who performed second only to Gao Jun, received an invitation from Ajax, but Gao Jun believed that although Jiang Chen was physically strong and not afraid of rough defense, Ajax had many talented players, making it difficult for him to stand out. If he couldn't play in the game for a long time, he might be abandoned. However, Jiang Chen, who is now full of confidence, did not listen to Gao Jun's "unwelcome but well-meaning advice".

  After Jiang Chen went to Ajax, although he was initially valued, he soon suffered a serious injury in training due to a teammate's tackle, resulting in a comminuted fracture of the right outer ankle, medial malleolus fracture, and separation of the lower tibia. After a long time, he finally recovered from his injuries, but only a few days later, he was punished by the team for a violent incident on the training ground. When he returned to the youth team again, he couldn't even make it into the starting lineup. In the end, he had to return home in disappointment after his contract ended. At that time, whether it was his state or strength, he was far inferior to before. Even in the China League One, he found it difficult to compete with foreign players and had to play on the wing, a position he was not good at. As a result, his performance got worse and worse, and he retired early at the age of 26. His experience became another "injury forever" in Chinese football history...

  Yu Hai and Hao Haidong, two teammates of Dongfang team, also received invitations from European clubs for trial training due to their outstanding performance in the World Youth Championship. However, they trusted Gao Lin more and took his advice to temporarily stay with Dongfang team. They planned to wait until the next year's World Youth Championship (the 2004 Toulon Tournament had not yet sent out invitations) to make a name for themselves before considering going abroad. Historically, the success rate of players from the World Youth Championship is very low (Fabregas was the last world-class player to rise to fame from the tournament). Unless they could achieve an against-the-odds performance like Gao Lin's, even if they were signed by some European clubs as potential new stars, they might not receive much attention. However, making a name for themselves in the World Youth Championship would be a completely different situation.