“Lack of confidence isn't necessarily a bad thing; at the very least, it shows you have a clear understanding of yourself. Too few people these days have a clear understanding of themselves. So many young people with insignificant achievements act like they're bigger than the heavens! Hmph!" Xu Genbao habitually criticized the strange phenomena in society, reminding Yan Min that his teacher's temper had never been good...

"Your lack of confidence means you know you're not good enough yet, and you'll work hard to improve. That's why I like you, and why you've been able to stay in Chongming and be promoted to the first team. It's also a good thing that you're not confident about going to Borussia Dortmund, because it shows you have a good grasp of the difficulties. That's right. Even if you stayed in Chongming, you couldn't say it would all be smooth sailing. Changing places to play football is even riskier. Considering the risks is a smart thing to do. But don't be afraid to shrink back just because the risk is great. What's the big deal? Isn't it just like when you came to Chongming Island from your home in the first place? Wherever you go, football is the same. Train hard, perform well. If you can do those two things, what's there to worry about? Afraid? Then train even harder and perform even better."

Xu Genbao waved his hand, saying very forcefully.

"Even if you can't play for Borussia Dortmund, with the results of your hard training at Borussia Dortmund, won't you be able to play for other teams?"

Hearing this, Yan Min suddenly realized—wasn't Xu Zhi supposed to be asking for his opinion? How did it feel like he already had a plan?

So he coughed and said, "Um, Xu Zhi... Have you already made a decision?"

Xu Genbao asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's not that, it's just that... Wu Lei also wants to go abroad to play football, but you didn't agree, did you?" Yan Min said cautiously. Only when facing his benefactor would he act this way.

Yan Min's question made Xu Genbao pause, then he sighed and said, "You and Wu Lei are different. Wu Lei would be ruined if he went abroad this early..."

"Then I wouldn't?" Yan Min asked boldly.

"You..." Xu Genbao glanced at him. "Your personality will only hurt you if you stay in China. Your temper is just too..."

Yan Min quickly nodded and said, "Unpopular, I know, I know..."

"Good that you know. The club has decided to agree to your transfer..." Seeing the joy on Yan Min's face, he added, "But don't be too happy, the club has conditions, after all, we're not a charity, we have to make a profit. So whether you can go to Borussia Dortmund depends on whether Borussia Dortmund can offer a suitable transfer fee... Of course, we're not the kind of club that asks for the moon, like we've never seen money before," Xu Genbao added with a humph.

"Alright, go back."

After saying that, Xu Genbao waved his hand and let Yan Min leave.

When Yan Min left Xu Genbao's office, he still hadn't reacted—wasn't he supposed to be asking for his opinion?

But if he were asked again whether he was willing to go, he would definitely answer without hesitation: Yes!

So it's Borussia Dortmund, so it's the Champions League title, what's there to be afraid of? If you want to play, if you want to gain a foothold in the team like Zhou Yi... Just fight for it!

When it came to madness, Yan Min was very confident in himself.

And don't even think about the possibility of not making it and returning to China to play football; Yan Min wasn't planning on leaving himself a way out.

Thinking about it that way, he suddenly couldn't wait to go to Borussia Dortmund.

※※※

Watching Yan Min leave, Xu Genbao took off his glasses, leaned back in his chair, and looked up, pretending to close his eyes to rest.

He had said a lot to Yan Min today, words that he had never said to Yan Min before, and emotions that he had never revealed in front of Yan Min.

The reason he said them was because Xu Genbao felt that this might be his last chance to say these things to him, so he said them all, for his own good.

His judgments about whether Wu Lei and Yan Min should go abroad were not casual remarks, nor were they excuses.

He really believed that with Yan Min's personality and temper, staying in the complex environment of Chinese football would only lead him to run into walls everywhere, and eventually even the highest ambition would be defeated by the cruel reality. Perhaps he could become a player in a Chinese Super League team, but it would always fall far short of his expectations...

What kind of Yan Min did he hope for?

At the very least, he should be able to play as a starter on the national team, just like Wu Lei.

Many people didn't know that in Shanghai Chongming, Wu Lei was the most popular player, the most watched, and the most anticipated. He had been famous in Chinese football since he was very young. He was the youngest player in Chinese football history to play in a professional league, and he had also won an Olympic gold medal and been selected for the national team... Yan Min and him seemed completely incomparable.

But in Xu Genbao's heart, he regarded Yan Min and Wu Lei as equals. He believed that Yan Min's achievements in the future would not be inferior to Wu Lei's at all.

However, the different personalities of the two determined that they would take different paths. Because Wu Lei had been famous since he was a child, and everything had gone relatively smoothly, he inevitably became arrogant and complacent. Although he was still quite humble on the surface, and was trusted and welcomed by his teammates, Xu Genbao knew how much pride Wu Lei had in his heart, so he needed someone to spur him on, whip him, and remind him from time to time.

And Yan Min? Although he looked much more arrogant than Wu Lei on the surface, in reality he was very inferior and lacked confidence. Without himself by his side, his inner lack of confidence would keep his mind clear at all times. However, his personality was very unpopular in China, as evidenced by his poor popularity in the team. He was always the target of ridicule and jokes, and no one really respected, liked, or supported him. Now, he was able to play in the Chongming team entirely because Xu Genbao himself was the sole authority in the Chongming club, and could provide Yan Min with some help and protection.

But Xu Genbao knew that he couldn't protect him like this forever. He couldn't do it, and he shouldn't do it. In fact, he was now doing something, which was to find a new home for his club. He was negotiating with the current main sponsor, the Haigang Group, hoping to allow the Haigang Group to fully acquire the current Chongming club. With a stable source of funds, the club could have a longer-term development.

He was doing this naturally for the sake of the club's future, but it also meant that he would lose control of the club, and it was hard to say whether he, the chairman of the club, could continue to do so. Xu Genbao was quite open-minded about this, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the initiative to find the Haigang Group. If the Haigang Group could really acquire the club, it would be a good thing for almost everyone in the club, with only one exception: the headache-inducing Yan Min.

By then, if he no longer had a say in the club, it was hard to say how much protection he could give to this unpopular kid. He couldn't possibly offend the club's higher-ups for the sake of one player, could he? Without his protection, Xu Genbao was sure that Yan Min's position in the team would plummet. He knew too well the Jianghu (martial arts world) style of Chinese football.

So in fact, even if there was no Borussia Dortmund matter, Xu Genbao was brewing a way to send Yan Min out. Letting him participate in the reality show filming at the beginning was also with this intention in mind. Xu Genbao knew his players very well.

Now, thank God, because of a game against Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund had taken a fancy to Yan Min. However, this kid Yan Min was really promising, and his performance in that game was perfect...

Thinking of this, a trace of gratified smile appeared on Xu Genbao's face in his contemplation. As a coach, what could be happier than seeing the players you have trained achieve something?

With his eyes closed, Xu Genbao's thoughts drifted away.

He thought of his own glorious years as a head coach, fighting in the front line of Chinese football.

At that time, he was not a "good guy" praised by everyone, but a "personality coach" full of news and controversy.

He had the glory of coaching the Shenhua team in 1995 and snatching a Jia-A championship from the hands of the Jia-A overlord Dalian team, and he also had the disappointment of being dismissed after only ten rounds of coaching after returning to Shenhua.

He once boasted when coaching the National Olympic team that "we must be determined to qualify," but he was defeated in Kuala Lumpur in 1992 by the Black Three Minutes and became the target of public criticism across the country.

He also said such "utilitarian" remarks as "winning the championship is one hundred points, and winning the second place is forty points." When he left the Shenhua club sadly, he also said, "I'll be a good man again in ten years."

On his body, there were many contradictions intertwined, and he experienced many ups and downs.

But no matter what, his high-profile and tough personality never changed.

Because of this personality, he had suffered losses, endured hardships, lost face, and paid a lot of not-so-small prices. After that, he could only choose to lie in wait on Chongming Island, an island far away from the center of Shanghai. But even in the lowest point of his life, he still had an ambition in his heart—to build a Chinese Manchester United club in ten years.

It was precisely because he had experienced so many things that when Xu Genbao vaguely saw some of his own shadows on Yan Min, he knew how many bumps this kid would experience if he played football in China. He didn't know if Yan Min's luck was good enough to turn bad luck into good luck every time he encountered setbacks, but he hoped that Yan Min could experience less suffering—of course, the condition for experiencing less suffering was not to bow his head to reality and change his personality. Xu Genbao had experienced so many tribulations and never wanted to change his personality and temper, and naturally he would not want Yan Min to change, because in Xu Genbao's view, that would be "mediocre."

He hoped that life and reality would not wear away the edges and corners and sharpness on Yan Min's body, but in China, this wish was probably difficult to achieve. Our society has too many unspeakable and unmentionable explicit and implicit rules, which are constantly washing over every member of society like flowing water.

Such a talented child, it's better to send him abroad.

He hoped that he could find a world of his own in Borussia Dortmund, in Europe.

The achievements he made abroad would become armor to protect him, and he would no longer have to worry about anything...