Wang Shuo booked a hotel by West Lake.
The first thing he did after arriving in Hang City was head to West Lake.
It was the attraction his parents, aunt, and uncle were most eager to see.
All because of the show, *New Legend of White Snake*.
It wasn’t sumr vacation yet, so the peak tourist season hadn’t arrived. As a result, it wasn’t too crowded, and the experience was quite pleasant.
Just as his family was strolling along the shore of West Lake, Wang Shuo’s phone rang.
Robert Lewandowski!
Wang Shuo thought for a mont before he rembered the Polish striker he had t a year ago in Poland while playing in the UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds.
They later exchanged contact information during a match with Dortmund.
But they hadn’t been in touch since then.
So, when Wang Shuo saw the caller ID, he was a little taken aback.
"Hello, Robert."
"Hello, Wang."
When Lewandowski answered and heard Wang Shuo say his na, he imdiately felt relieved.
At the very least, Wang Shuo still rembered him.
"What made you decide to call now?" Wang Shuo asked, a bit surprised.
"There’s sothing I wanted to ask your advice on."
"Go ahead," Wang Shuo said with a smile.
Lewandowski paused on the other end of the line. "Here’s the thing," he said. "Dortmund’s Sporting Director, Zorc, wants to et with . They’ve also been in touch with my agent. What are your thoughts?"
When Wang Shuo heard this, he was completely dumbfounded.
’What do I think?’
’I see it with my eyes, of course!’
But he quickly understood why Lewandowski had made this call.
’It was probably his agent’s idea.’
’The goal was to gauge Wang Shuo’s attitude beforehand.’
Wang Shuo wasn’t quite used to this.
’He’d never thought he’d reach a point where he could influence Dortmund’s transfer signings.’
After a mont of thought, Wang Shuo gave his opinion. "That’s great news."
"Valdes just transferred to the newly promoted La Liga team, Hercules, so we do have an opening for a striker. If you ca, I’d definitely welco you."
Lewandowski sounded a little hesitant. "To be honest, I’ve been in talks with Premier League teams for a while now. So what I told you before about wanting to go to the Premier League was true."
"Blackburn’s manager, Allardyce, ca to Poland to watch train and spoke with . A few other Premier League clubs are also interested. I was originally planning to visit Blackburn in April to check out their training ground and facilities."
Hearing this, Wang Shuo chuckled. "I heard that apart from teams like Arsenal and Chelsea that have new training grounds, the facilities at other Premier League teams are relatively poor."
"Yeah, that’s one of my concerns, which is why I wanted to take a look. But then the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland happened, and the trip was postponed."
The Icelandic volcano erupted in April, which even affected the match between Barça and Inter Milan.
But it was now late May.
’Clearly, Blackburn wasn’t that high on Lewandowski.’
’If they were really that interested, they would have signed him already. Why wait until now?’
In reality, Lewandowski didn’t have much control over a potential transfer to the Premier League.
By the sa token, even a star as big as Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid still depended on Manchester United’s stance.
This was the biggest difference between football and basketball.
Of course, soone like Wang Shuo, who had a release clause, was an exception.
A key reason many players turn into busts after a transfer is that they are completely unprepared psychologically.
In other words, the player is sold and the transfer is announced suddenly, all without their knowledge.
Not everyone can adjust after being caught off guard by a transfer.
As Wang Shuo had said before, fans only see the ninety-minute match. In reality, players have to deal with a new living environnt, different daily routines, language barriers, and all sorts of logistical issues, like finding schools for their children.
So players are forced into a transfer, and they’re thrown into matches before they’ve even had a chance to adapt.
They end up performing poorly and get slamd by the dia and fans.
Eventually, it turns into a vicious cycle: the harder they try to play well, the worse they perform, and the greater the ntal burden becos...
Caught in this vicious cycle, they ultimately beco a complete bust.
This kind of situation is all too common in the transfer market of the European Football Scene.
Lewandowski’s call to Wang Shuo was his way of preparing for this.
More importantly, if he ca to Dortmund, he would definitely be competing with Wang Shuo for a spot.
"Don’t worry, Robert. Next season, we’ll be playing in the Champions League, the Super Cup, the DFB-Pokal, and the Bundesliga. We have a pretty heavy schedule, so you definitely won’t be short on playing ti if you co."
"If you decide to co to Dortmund, rember to let know in advance. I’ll be back in Europe in about two weeks, and we can et up then and have a good chat," Wang Shuo said, trying his best to sound sincere.
The abundance of playing opportunities was precisely why Lewandowski was interested in Dortmund.
At Blackburn, he would have to start as a backup striker, or even the third or fourth-choice striker.
But at Dortmund, he’d be right behind Wang Shuo in the pecking order.
And even if Wang Shuo were an iron man, it would be impossible for him to play in every single match.
After all, a striker is not a goalkeeper.
"Besides, tactically speaking, I think our 4-2-3-1 formation would be a great fit for you."
"I’ll help you settle in with the team," Wang Shuo added with an encouraging smile.
Hearing this, Lewandowski could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
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