Chapter 138 Training Hard

Although they lost Martin Škrtel, a very active member, the Eat-Drink-and-Be-Merry-Gang still held activities before the start of the new season.

This time, though, Chen Hero didn't participate.

He was desperately training in his own copy.

The biggest benefit of the copy was that he could arrange training according to his own wishes.

For example, now the "teammates" and "coaches" in the copy were all cooperating with Chen Hero to conduct special training on "How to Become a True Center Forward."

"Don't let him turn around easily!" Advocaat was roaring at the field, signaling Martin Škrtel, who was defending Chen Hero, not to hold back. "I know you're friends, Martin! But if you let him get past you, you'll be punished!"

Škrtel had already transferred away, but the Škrtel in the copy still existed.

Škrtel was the team's best defensive center back, and Chen Hero certainly wouldn't let him leave the copy with the transfer. Leaving him there could help him improve his strength.

Chen Hero's training in the copy was mainly divided into two parts. One part was his own ball control practice, and the other part was team cooperation with him alone in back-to-goal play.

The ball control practice mainly focused on using his feet to control the ball skillfully and quickly. His original footwork was very rough, but now it was slightly better—experience had a bonus effect on the training, so Chen Hero's progress was still visible.

Chen Hero didn't expect himself to be able to dribble like Cristiano Ronaldo right away, dazzling the opposing defender with fancy footwork.

But at least he needed to have basic ball control skills, so that he wouldn't lose the ball quickly when the opponent pressed.

After hearing Advocaat's roar, Škrtel clearly strengthened his defense. After he used a fierce tackle to knock the ball away from Chen Hero, Chen Hero also fell to the ground.

He got up and yelled at Škrtel: "Damn! Are you playing for real?!"

The programmed Škrtel didn't respond to Chen Hero's emotional outburst, but just grinned.

This grin was one of the features Chen Hero had inserted when constructing Škrtel. At that time, the image of Škrtel at the entrance of the Katyusha private room, with a beauty on each arm, grinning at him, had popped into his head.

The real Advocaat had told Chen Hero that his long-range shooting skills were very high, but he didn't know how to use them. Most of the time, he had to face the goal directly and then adjust himself for a shot, which wouldn't work. Because in intense matches, he wouldn't have so many opportunities to adjust. For you to dribble the ball several meters, and not a single opponent comes up to you, just watching you shoot—such situations are rare.

The goal of the training was not to adapt to such defense, but to have higher goals and challenges.

Advocaat told Chen Hero that he could combine back-to-goal play with long-range shots—for example, when he received the ball with his back to the goal outside the penalty area, and the opposing defender was close to him, and he lacked sufficient support around him, what should he do?

Continuing to pass the ball back was one option, but if he always did that, how could he threaten the opponent's goal? As a center forward, he could have another option.

That was... a turn-around long shot!

Just like a center's turnaround jump shot in basketball.

This action sounded simple, but it was actually very difficult. Otherwise, the world would be full of forwards receiving the ball with their backs to the goal in front of the penalty area, then beautifully shaking off the opposing defense, turning around and blasting a shot, with the ball whistling into the net...

First, you had to be able to get rid of the defense. Second, you had to be able to control the ball while getting rid of the defense. Then, after controlling the ball, you had to be able to control the ball within a suitable range, so that you could perform the next shooting action—if you controlled the ball, but it was too close to your body, you wouldn't be able to exert force to shoot. Finally, of course, was the most difficult part, the shot. You had to immediately shoot as soon as you turned around and got rid of the defender, while ensuring the quality of the shot, which was not easy.

If any of these links went wrong, you might not get the result you wanted.

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In addition to the turnaround long shot, the center forward also had to be able to turn around and dribble the ball, but this requirement was a bit high for the current Chen Hero.

Chen Hero's current ability to receive the ball with his back to the goal was mainly to protect the ball and pass it to his teammates. He didn't yet have the ability to shoot himself.

Now that he had begun to practice this aspect of his ability, Chen Hero felt that he should naturally consider this when choosing his talent points.

So he decided to invest the talent points he gained after leveling up into a talent with a very unique name.

"My Ball Protection is Like the Great Emperor." There were a total of three levels, with each level increasing the success rate of ball protection by five percent, for a total increase of fifteen percent.

After winning the Golden Boot last season, his experience soared, and he had leveled up to the twenty-first level. At that time, he had put his talent points into "Immovable as a Mountain," which maxed out that talent.

Now that he had leveled up again and gained talent points, he didn't hesitate to add them to "My Ball Protection is Like the Great Emperor." When playing back-to-goal, ball protection was very important. If he couldn't protect the ball, everything else was useless.

Of course, Chen Hero wasn't so bad that he couldn't even protect the ball, but adding the talent would obviously make his ball protection better, and it wouldn't be so easy for the opponent to steal the ball from his feet.

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This winter, Advocaat didn't massively bring in players like he had last year.

For him, the basic framework of the team's lineup was already very stable. The only problem was that Škrtel had left. But this was something he had expected long ago—from the moment Škrtel's agent refused to negotiate a contract extension with the club, everyone knew that this Slovakian defensive star was destined to leave St. Petersburg.

To make up for the loss of his departure, Advocaat mainly worked on defense. He first brought in a young center back, Tomáš Hubočan, from Žilina in the Slovakian First Division. This center back was a key player for the Žilina club, standing at 1.83 meters tall with decent heading ability. He had also been selected for the Slovakian national team four times.

Zenit spent 3.8 million euros to sign him.

In addition, Advocaat brought in Roman Shirokov, a free agent who could play defensive midfielder, attacking midfielder, and central midfielder, from Khimki without spending a penny.

He also spent 6.5 million euros to bring in midfielder Igor Semshov from Dynamo Moscow. Semshov's peak in his career was when he played for Torpedo Moscow, where he was named the team's Player of the Year four times. He later transferred to Dynamo Moscow for two seasons, but because he couldn't agree with the club on a contract extension, he was put up for sale by the club. Zenit took the opportunity to bring him in to strengthen the midfield.

On the front line, Advocaat didn't make any signings. Not only did he not bring in anyone, but he also had to prevent people from poaching.

Chen Hero's outstanding performance last season had attracted more covetous eyes.

He now had a certain reputation in the transfer market, and some teams had set their sights on him. Even in Europe, some teams had expressed interest in him.

Of course, European teams were mostly just interested and had not yet taken actual action. They were still observing. The UEFA Cup was a good opportunity to observe.

Teams in the Russian domestic league were not so polite.

Spartak Moscow took the lead, intending to bring Chen Hero, who had competed with Pavlyuchenko for the Golden Boot last season, to the Luzhniki Stadium and form the most fearsome forward combination in all of Russia with Pavlyuchenko.

To get Chen Hero, they offered Zenit a transfer fee request of 8 million euros.

This was his first valuation. He had joined Zenit as a free transfer before, without costing the Zenit club a single penny. When Chen Hero learned that he was now worth this price, he curled his lips in disdain—eight million and they think they can take me away? Do they think I'm cabbage?

But even if Spartak offered ten million euros, he didn't want to go.

In Russia, he only wanted to play for Zenit. If he were to transfer, he certainly wouldn't transfer between Russian teams.

Now he just wanted to play in the UEFA Cup for Zenit, and didn't want anything else.

Faced with Spartak Moscow's offer, Advocaat's response was also very firm—rejection!

If Zenit had not qualified for the UEFA Cup knockout stage, then he really wouldn't have had the confidence to keep Chen Hero. He could see that this kid wasn't the kind of person who was willing to muddle through his life in a small place. He had great ambitions, he was ambitious.

But now, with the UEFA Cup as a carrot, Chen Hero probably wouldn't go anywhere in the first half of the year. As for the second half of the year... he couldn't say for sure.

But what was the point of thinking so far ahead? He should still think about the UEFA Cup.

As the team's coach, not the manager, there were many things he couldn't decide. For example, Škrtel's departure. Although he was unwilling, he was helpless.

Chen Hero was unwilling to leave, while Tekke wanted to leave.

Advocaat certainly couldn't let go of this Turkish striker. Although most of the time he could only play as a substitute, he was currently the team's only substitute striker. If he left, he would have to spend a lot of effort searching the transfer market for someone to replace him, which would be a waste of time and energy. It wouldn't be worth it.

Therefore, the best way was to keep him.

Tekke should have had a bright future at Zenit.

Back then, he had cost the Zenit club 10 million euros, and his salary was the highest in the team at the time.

Who would have thought that Chen Hero would suddenly rise up and nail him to the bench...

Advocaat promised Tekke more playing opportunities and kept him.

The first league match of the new season was on March 14th, while the UEFA Cup kicked off on February 13th.

Zenit's opponent in the Round of 32 was the Spanish powerhouse "Yellow Submarine" Villarreal.

Zenit St. Petersburg would play at home first, then away.

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As the match day gradually approached, Chen Hero was buried in hard training in the copy, sweating profusely.

In fact, Advocaat didn't expect him to develop the ability to play back-to-goal before the match against Villarreal. That wasn't realistic.

But Chen Hero didn't think so. He wanted to improve himself as much as possible to cope with the upcoming big stage!

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ps, A new day has come again! Asking for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!

The transition chapter is coming to an end soon, and the plot will enter the climax of the UEFA Cup!

Everyone continue to look forward to it!