Chapter 23 Teammates' Agents

The day after the game, Zhou Yi rested at home and didn't go to training. Players who participated in the match were allowed to rest at home and didn't have to attend training.

But he actually wanted to go at first, but when he got up, he felt a little tired and weak.

He knew this was an aftereffect of participating in the match yesterday. After all, it had been five months since he had participated in a formal match. During this time, he had maintained his match fitness through intra-squad matches and warm-up matches. Suddenly playing half an hour of high-intensity match play, his body was still a bit overwhelmed.

But this also showed that his physical fitness hadn't reached the point where he could complete an entire match.

Zhou Yi thought of what the physical coach Bartlett had once told him, that rest was also a part of physical training, so he decided to stay at home and rest properly.

But he was soon interrupted by a phone call that disrupted his plans to rest at home.

The call was from Kevin Grosskreutz: "Hey, kid, you don't have anything planned for today, do you?"

"Uh, I shouldn't, what's up, buddy?"

"It's like this, I want to treat you to a meal," Grosskreutz said on the phone.

Zhou Yi was very strange: "Why would you treat me to a meal for no reason?"

"You're my teammate, is it so strange for me to treat you to a meal?" Grosskreutz asked.

"Not strange. It's not strange at all for someone to treat me to a meal," Zhou Yi said quickly.

"That's good, where do you live? I'll pick you up in a bit."

"I live right next to the training base, just come directly to the outside of the training base to pick me up," Zhou Yi said.

"Okay, that works too. See you in half an hour!"

After saying that, Grosskreutz hung up the phone.

Zhou Yi was actually very curious as to why Grosskreutz suddenly wanted to treat him to a meal. They had been teammates for more than just a day or two, and this was the first time he had received an invitation from Grosskreutz.

After tidying up simply, Zhou Yi left the house right on time.

When he just arrived outside the training base, Grosskreutz's car also arrived.

He rolled down the car window and made a gesture for Zhou Yi to get in the car. Zhou Yi went around to the other side, got into the car, and found that there was actually another person sitting in the back seat, a strange middle-aged man.

As soon as that person saw Zhou Yi, he took the initiative to extend his hand: "Hello, Zhou Yi. I heard from Kevin that you are his good friend on the team, I'm very happy to meet you. My name is Konstantin Rioli Rios, and I am Kevin's agent and financial advisor."

The other party introduced himself.

Zhou Yi shook hands with the other party in a daze: "Hello, Mr. Rioli Rios, nice to meet you."

"I'm also very happy to meet you. Actually, I asked Kevin to help me get you out. I watched your match in Sinsheim yesterday, and your performance left me with an extremely deep impression. When I heard Kevin say that you don't have an agent yet, I wanted to introduce myself to you, haha!" Rioli Rios laughed.

Zhou Yi also smiled.

He finally understood why Grosskreutz wanted to treat him to a meal, it turned out that he was helping his agent to connect them!

Grosskreutz, who was driving, also chimed in from the side: "Konstantin is a very good agent, I trust him very much, you see, I even hand over the money I earn to him to manage for me."

While speaking, Grosskreutz drove to the place where they were eating. The three of them sat in a secluded private room and continued to discuss.

During the meal, Konstantin Rioli Rios basically talked about his abilities, advantages, experience, and connections, assuring Zhou Yi that if Zhou Yi chose him as his agent, he would definitely triple Zhou Yi's income in a short period of time.

In addition to the basic salary, bonus income, and endorsement fees, the money he earns can also be quickly appreciated through some financial management methods.

Rioli Rios painted a very beautiful prospect for Zhou Yi: "...When you are twenty years old, Zhou Yi, you will become a young millionaire! You will not lack all kinds of beauties around you, and you can buy as many luxury cars as you like, as long as your villa garage can fit them, haha!"

He laughed, and Grosskreutz also laughed: "If you can't fit them, you can put them in my house, I'll keep them for you, Zhou Yi!"

Zhou Yi laughed with them, seemingly very tempted by the future Rioli Rios had painted.

This made Rioli Rios always think that there was hope, so he tried his best to persuade Zhou Yi from various angles, such as his best financial management.

He gave Zhou Yi many examples, telling him the importance of financial management for players.

"...Look, Zhou Yi. Professional players, like models, make a living off their youth. And their professional careers are always full of all kinds of uncertainties, such as injuries that can cause your form to decline, and transfers that may take you out of the mainstream...Just because you earn so much now doesn't mean that you will have that much left when you retire. Players also have a lot of living expenses, so they need financial management."

"So now financial management is getting more and more attention from players. Because they all know that just because they can earn so much money now doesn't mean they can in the future. It's important to plan ahead and lay the foundation for life after retirement."

"But you also have to be careful, Zhou Yi. Although I hope to become your agent, I still have to remind you not to easily believe the words of those who claim to be experts. When they see you become famous, they will surround you like flies, flatter you, say that they are good at financial management, financial experts, insurance experts, and have internal connections in the bank...They all want to manage your property. But in fact, they just want to steal your money. You must always be careful and find a reliable financial agent with professional ethics. After all, you don't want the money you earn from hard training and matches to be taken away by those scammers, thieves, and shameless people, do you?"

Zhou Yi nodded: "You're right, Mr. Rioli Rios."

Grosskreutz said from the side: "But I can assure you, Zhou Yi, Konstantin is definitely a trustworthy financial expert. If he cheats you, you can come to me, and I'll compensate you, haha!"

Rioli Rios waved his hand repeatedly: "No, I wouldn't be so stupid. The most important thing in the business of being a player agent is not ability, but credibility. If credibility is ruined, it will spread throughout the circle, and no players will be willing to use an agent with a lack of credibility, and I will not be able to gain a foothold in this industry."

"I believe in Mr. Rioli Rios's character," Zhou Yi said.

The three of them laughed, and the atmosphere was as harmonious as it could be.

But no matter how harmonious the atmosphere was at the dinner table, Zhou Yi just didn't agree to let Rioli Rios be his agent.

The reason he gave also left Rioli Rios and Grosskreutz speechless.

"This is such an important matter, I don't think I can give you an answer right now, Mr. Rioli Rios. I have to consider it seriously and carefully. I think this is good for both of us, don't you think?"

"No problem, no problem, no problem at all!" Rioli Rios waved his hand and said, not minding at all. "This kind of thing should indeed be carefully considered, and you can't make a decision in a hurry. After all, this is related to your... future!"

After the meal, Zhou Yi said goodbye to the two of them. Grosskreutz even offered to send Zhou Yi back, but Zhou Yi said that he happened to be going to the nearby supermarket to buy something, so he didn't need to be sent.

So the two of them said goodbye to him.

But not long after they left, Zhou Yi received a call from another teammate.

Neven Subotic.

He asked Zhou Yi on the phone if he had any plans for the evening, and after Zhou Yi said no, he happily said: "That's great, Zhou Yi, my agent Steve wants to treat you to a meal!"

Zhou Yi said in his heart: I knew it!

Zhou Yi didn't resist meeting his teammate's agent. Solving two meals in one day was great.

So he agreed.

After simply shopping at the supermarket, Zhou Yi went home, took a shower, and then went out for the dinner.

In a stylish restaurant, Zhou Yi met Subotic's agent, Steve Kelly, a middle-aged man who also looked very stylish.

However, what Kelly said was similar to what Rioli Rios said, except that he didn't say as much about financial management as Rioli Rios.

Listening to Kelly's grand speech, Zhou Yi always smiled and echoed, and occasionally asked some questions about his doubts, and then let Kelly use his professional expertise to give himself a bit of popular science.

Zhou Yi was quite happy to have learned a lot from the meal.

But in the end, he still didn't say that he wanted to choose Kelly, but replied to him with the same words, saying that he would consider it carefully.

Kelly naturally also expressed understanding and agreement.

In this way, Zhou Yi went home after getting two free meals.

At the same time, Mario Gotze at home received a call from his agent Volker Struth: "Mario, you and Zhou Yi used to play on the youth A team together, right?"