Chapter 136 Airport

At the Dortmund airport terminal, Li Jicheng was urging Yan Min: "When young people go out, the thing they fear most is fighting over petty grievances. Don't think that foreigners are different from us. They also have a competitive spirit, so don't engage in unnecessary disputes…"

However, from Yan Min's expression, it was easy to see that he wasn't listening.

Li Jicheng frowned. He originally wanted to criticize this kid as an elder, but at this moment, the scene of Yan Min rushing into the locker room to celebrate with his new teammates after winning the Super Cup came to his mind. In the past few days in Dortmund, he hadn't heard any news of Yan Min having conflicts with any of the Dortmund players. Although the language barrier made communication difficult, shouldn't a lack of communication lead to even more conflicts?

He suddenly felt a little regretful about his decision, unsure if his approach of not signing a long-term agency contract with Yan Min was the right one.

Seeing that Yan Min didn't care much, Li Jicheng turned to Zhou Yi, who had come to see him off, and said with a smile: "This kid… I'll leave him in your care, Zhou Yi. You're older than him and have more experience."

Zhou Yi nodded. "Don't worry, I think Yan Min has been getting along with his teammates quite happily these past few days."

Li Jicheng then said to Yan Min: "If there's anything you don't understand, ask Zhou Yi. He knows more than you do. There's a reason why he's more successful!"

He didn't have a good tone or smile for Yan Min.

Yan Min still had an indifferent expression: "I know."

Li Jicheng had nothing more to say. Chatting with Yan Min was definitely not a pleasant experience.

So he bid farewell to the two and turned to pull his luggage, walking into the security checkpoint.

While waiting in line to go through security, he looked back and saw that Yan Min and Zhou Yi had also turned and left. He only vaguely saw their backs in the crowd.

He still doesn't care much about me…

The little uncertainty that Li Jicheng had felt before disappeared. He thought that with Yan Min's personality and temper, he would definitely run into walls and achieve nothing in Dortmund. As for himself, he had already received his commission, so other things were none of his business. He wasn't Yan Min's father, so why should he worry about that?

Anyway, he had completed the task that Xu Genbao had given him and had an explanation to give.

※※※

"I think your agent doesn't seem to like you very much, Yan Min." Zhou Yi and Yan Min walked straight to the parking lot, found their car, and as they opened the car door, Zhou Yi asked.

He had finally obtained his German driver's license, and the first thing he did after returning to Dortmund this summer was to buy a car. Unlike his teammates who liked supercars, he didn't buy a sports car, and as a bachelor, he didn't buy an SUV either. He bought a sedan, but not an ordinary family car. It was a Mercedes-Benz C63_Amg that didn't look too flashy but had a powerful roar.

From the side, this car looked almost the same as an ordinary Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan, and people who didn't know the car would definitely get confused. But in reality, this car had a surging heart. After being tuned by Mercedes-Benz's famous Amg department, this car was the kind that would definitely not lose to the BMW m3 and Audi rs5 monsters.

Looking at the car and the person, choosing this car didn't seem surprising to Zhou Yi, because this car, like Zhou Yi, was all about hidden passion—the exterior looked harmless, but if you dared to provoke it on the road, then wait to eat dust watching the taillights disappear in a few seconds.

Actually, Zhou Yi didn't like racing, but his requirement for car power was "Whether I need it or not, you have to have it. Maybe I'll use it someday?" Anyway, he wasn't short of money. The C63_Amg, which sells for more than a million in China, was just a drop in the bucket for him, a "grocery shopping car" level.

"I know I'm not likable." Yan Min, who was sitting in the passenger seat, pouted.

Zhou Yi laughed: "You're quite self-aware."

"After being rolled eyes at so many times, even a fool would know, right?" Yan Min fastened his seat belt.

"Ouch, that sounds very sad. Come on, classmate, tell your story." Zhou Yi also fastened his seat belt.

"I'm not telling." Yan Min wouldn't follow Zhou Yi's routine.

Zhou Yi started the car, and a high-pitched and powerful sound immediately came from the engine compartment. This was the sound of the 6.2-liter naturally aspirated v8 engine and exhaust pipe. For "sound wave enthusiasts," they would think that the sound wave of a naturally aspirated engine was better than that of a turbocharged engine. But for Zhou Yi, there was no difference. He couldn't hear so many subtleties. Except for the first time he got the car, he was a little startled by the sound of the engine, but he quickly put it behind him.

For him, the car was just a tool, and he wouldn't treat the car like a lover.

On the other hand, when the sound rang out, Yan Min closed his eyes and leaned back on the seat very enjoyably.

Zhou Yi didn't notice Yan Min's appreciation for the engine at all. Instead, he seriously shifted gears, started, and then skillfully drove the car out of the parking lot.

Thanks to his long period of learning and training—it was indeed long, from learning to passing the driver's license Zhou Yi spent several years—and the strict German driver's license examination standards, Zhou Yi was a novice driver, but his skills were very proficient. In addition, a good mental state has always been Zhou Yi's advantage, so driving on the road was not at all nervous, and driving this performance car was also easy and unhurried.

It's just that in Yan Min's heart, he couldn't help but feel that Zhou Yi was driving a little too "steady"... He had seen his teammates in China driving BMW's m3, and that driving style was probably not enough to deduct twelve points from one's license…

He felt that since he chose to buy this kind of performance car, the driving style should of course be more aggressive to match the power system that the engineers worked so hard to tune.

Turning onto the highway, Zhou Yi felt that as a senior, he should give the junior some advice, such as the agent issue.

"I think you should try to have a good relationship with your agent. I'm not saying you have to please him, but at least the two of you have to think in the same direction and work together, right?"

Yan Min shook his head: "He's not my agent anymore."

"Eh?" Zhou Yi was very surprised—this kid Yan Min is capable, he did something like kicking someone away after they've served their purpose without a word. He just transferred to Dortmund and kicked his agent away…

But the actual situation was not the same as what Zhou Yi had imagined. Yan Min said: "He was found for me by Xu Zhi, but I didn't like him very much when I first met him. I always felt that he was arrogant, as if I didn't know anything and had to listen to him. If it wasn't for Xu Zhi, I wouldn't have bothered with him! Of course, he doesn't seem to like me very much either, or maybe he doesn't think highly of me. He didn't even sign a formal agent contract with me, he just signed a one-time agency agreement, just to help me with this transfer from Shanghai to Dortmund. I'm also happy with that, otherwise I would have to worry about how to change agents..."

Zhou Yi turned his head and glanced at Yan Min in slight surprise. This kid... like himself, doesn't show it on the surface, but is actually very opinionated in his heart.

He didn't doubt what Yan Min said, because he could see Li Jicheng's attitude towards Yan Min, which didn't seem like a very good relationship. Regardless of whose fault it was, this kind of relationship made it impossible for players and agents to cooperate well. Since they couldn't cooperate well, it was better not to cooperate.

Zhou Yi cared a lot about his agent. He chose Schulze in the first place because they got along well and had a good relationship.

He didn't want to find someone to control him, nor did he want to find someone who needed him to worry about everything. What he needed was equality.

Thinking of Schulze, Zhou Yi asked: "So, you don't have an agent now?"

"No." Yan Min replied.

"Well, do you want to find one?"

"Of course, it's easier to do a lot of things with an agent. I can't go find sponsorship deals myself, right?"

Zhou Yi laughed: "You haven't even played a game yet, and you're already thinking about sponsorship fees. You're thinking really far ahead!"

"Better to be prepared."

"Not bad, you can use idioms correctly. You're much better than that guy Pan Pan."

※※※

Sun Pan, who was getting a physiotherapy massage after training, suddenly sneezed on the massage bed, which made the physiotherapist very nervous: "Do you have a cold, Sun?"

"No, no…" Sun Pan shook his head, and then he saw the physiotherapist's worried expression, so in order to reassure him, Sun Pan explained: "You know? In China, there's a saying that if you sneeze, it means someone is thinking about you."

"Haha!" The physiotherapist laughed. "That saying is so interesting. Who could be thinking about you? Could it be your woman in Madrid?"

He winked at Sun Pan.

Sun Pan chuckled and turned his head back to lie down.

He thought to himself that only foreigners who knew nothing about China would believe this kind of nonsense, but if someone in Madrid would think of him, it would definitely not be a passionate Spanish girl, but Diego Simeone, that "pervert."

Atletico Madrid had always hoped to buy him out, but Chelsea announced that he was not for sale, completely cutting off Simeone's thoughts.

After Chelsea lost to Manchester City in the twenty-seventh round last season, they actually had an eleven-round unbeaten streak, including a key 1-0 away win against Manchester United. When the league ended, Chelsea ranked third and actually got a Champions League spot for next season.

Since Chelsea could participate in the Champions League, the only obstacle that made Sun Pan decide to stay at Chelsea was to let him play as the main goalkeeper. For this matter, his agent launched difficult negotiations with the club, and from time to time released words to the media, revealing that other European giants were eyeing Sun Pan, and declared that his players would never accept being loaned out again, and that if they wanted to leave, it would be a permanent transfer.

This approach put great pressure on the club and also created some bad effects among the fans. After all, Čech had played for Chelsea for many years, so everyone thought that Čech should naturally be Chelsea's main goalkeeper. Whether it was Sun Pan or the Belgian genius Courtois, if they wanted to play as the main goalkeeper, they had to wait for Čech to retire.

Čech had played for Chelsea for many years and had a very good reputation among the fans.

Now a newcomer came along and clamored for him to be a substitute, and many fans couldn't accept it emotionally.

Of course, some fans supported Sun Pan, believing that Čech was getting old and should make way for Sun Pan.

Sun Pan didn't care what the fans thought of him. He believed that as long as he guarded the goal well, all criticism would be blown away by a gust of wind and would not bother him at all.

He didn't have any affection for Chelsea either. If Chelsea couldn't meet his conditions, then he would leave. There were plenty of teams in Europe who wanted him.

In the end, Chelsea withstood the great pressure from the fans and public opinion and agreed to let Sun Pan play as the main goalkeeper, while letting Čech be a substitute. As for Courtois, as compensation for Chelsea not selling Sun Pan, he was loaned to Chelsea, and like Sun Pan, it was a two-year loan.

In the preseason warm-up matches, Sun Pan used his outstanding performance to shut up many people. Those people were holding magnifying glasses, wanting to observe every save and performance of Sun Pan in the game, and pick out some mistakes like picking bones from an egg, attacking Sun Pan and complaining for Čech.

As a result, Sun Pan didn't give them any chance. He proved with practical actions that Chelsea was right to let him be the main goalkeeper.

Sun Pan's performance in front of the goal was so outstanding that even if he just sneezed, the club's physiotherapist would be very nervous, for fear that he would be absent from the game due to illness…

※※※

"Since you want to find an agent, then I'll recommend one to you, what do you think?"

"Okay." Yan Min agreed readily.

"You agreed without even asking about the situation?"

"Zhou Yi, what could be wrong with your recommendation? It wouldn't be your agent, would it?"

"You guessed right." Zhou Yi snapped his fingers. "It's my agent. Tino Schulze. I have a pleasant cooperation with him. Whether as an agent or a friend, he is great. And most importantly, as an agent, Schulze can adapt to circumstances."

At the end, Zhou Yi laughed.

With his stubbornness, if Schulze couldn't adapt to circumstances, he would have quit long ago.

That being said, he is very suitable to be the agent of this kid Yan Min, because in a sense, Yan Min is not a very easy person to get along with...