Chapter 1 PUMA

The day after Zhou Yi renewed his contract with Borussia Dortmund, Puma also announced that they had reached an agreement with Zhou Yi, who officially signed with Puma to become its global brand ambassador.

Chinese media and fans were very happy about Zhou Yi's contract renewal with Borussia Dortmund, which meant that Zhou Yi had a higher status and a more important role at Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund's renewal showed their emphasis on Zhou Yi, which greatly satisfied the vanity and self-esteem of Chinese fans.

But Zhou Yi's contract with Puma was not as able to satisfy the hopes or vanity that Chinese fans had placed on him.

In the eyes of the majority of Chinese fans, the two biggest brands in the sports world are Adidas and Nike, and all other companies are inferior to these two.

So they naturally hoped that Zhou Yi would sign with one of Adidas or Nike.

These two major brands both have their own fixed fan groups in China, and they all hope that Zhou Yi can endorse the brand they like.

But who would have thought that Zhou Yi would eventually choose Puma, which is considered to be less well-known in China?

Many people felt that Zhou Yi was simply casting pearls before swine.

There were so many other choices, why did he have to choose a brand with so few stores?

Was this choice purely for money?

A person becomes the subject of much controversy when they become famous.

As Zhou Yi's fame grew, anything he did would attract the attention of countless people, and naturally there would be all kinds of voices judging him.

So some people think that Zhou Yi is purely going for the money, only cares about money, but ignores the protection of his own image value, which is a very failed choice.

Others think that Zhou Yi must have listened to the flattery of that German agent. What good things do agents have? Aren't they all trying to make money from players? They try to trick players into signing those high-priced contracts and take a cut from them, but they don't consider the long-term development of the player at all.

Anyway, not many people can understand Zhou Yi's choice.

It's like if Real Madrid and Leicester City both extended invitations to Zhou Yi at the same time, but Zhou Yi finally chose Leicester City and didn't go to Real Madrid. That would naturally spark a heated discussion in Chinese public opinion. Everyone would think that Zhou Yi must be out of his mind.

Of course, there were also a very small number of people who chose to believe in Zhou Yi, believing that every choice he made must be meaningful.

It's just that these voices defending Zhou Yi didn't cause much of a stir.

However… these discussions in China have no impact on Zhou Yi in Germany. He lives his life as he pleases, and doesn't need to consider the reaction of the Chinese people to everything he does, otherwise he would die of exhaustion.

After signing with Puma, Zhou Yi had to participate in the filming of the first print advertisement Puma prepared for him non-stop.

The location was in Dortmund, in an indoor soccer field, with a photography studio set up.

In front of the cameraman and the lights, Zhou Yi showed off his footwork. As a player who can play in professional team games, although he is an amateur, his basic skills are still good, at least juggling the ball is quite decent.

This shoot was a print shoot, so there was no difficulty.

Just strike a few poses, make a few movements, and change a few outfits.

The main time was spent on makeup and hair.

Zhou Yi had never worn makeup before, nor had he done anything special with his hair, so this shoot was a completely new experience for him.

Constantly changing hairstyles and poses, Zhou Yi completed all the filming work in nearly a day. Then he left with his agent Schulze.

According to Puma's plan, before the start of the new season, these photos of him will appear in every Puma store around the world, as well as on outdoor billboards in some cities.

Of course, it would be great if there were more Puma stores.

If it were the number of Nike stores, Chinese fans would definitely be excited to the point of being incoherent.

However, if Zhou Yi really signed with Nike, then Chinese fans would see Zhou Yi's heroic姿态 in all domestic Nike stores, but it would not be so easy to see him outside of China.

There is still a difference between a regional ambassador and a global ambassador.

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The signing with Ck_jeans did not take place immediately, because they had to register a company first, which would take some time. In any case, it was absolutely impossible before the start of training camp.

So both parties agreed to sign the contract when the company was set up.

However, although he did not sign with Ck, Zhou Yi still took the time to take a set of photos for the Ck_jeans brand. Once the contract was signed, this set of photos could be used.

This is also because the time of professional players is not as casual as that of entertainment stars. Their lives must be regular, and the team has a strong binding force on the players. They cannot come out to participate in commercial activities at any time.

Players have to train every day, and there are games on weekends and during the week. Taking photos or participating in commercial activities requires seizing every opportunity.

Now that Zhou Yi is not training, he should seize the time to take the photos, otherwise when they need to be used, they will have to wait until Zhou Yi is free to take them.

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Zhou Yi spent his few five days of rest in busyness. He went out early every day and returned very late, and basically had no rest.

Only on the last day, Zhou Yi said to Schulze that no activities could be arranged on this day, no matter what.

Schulze expressed his understanding: "No problem, you really need to rest."

But Zhou Yi said: "No, I'm not resting, I just have an appointment with someone."

"An appointment?" Schulze's professional sensitivity came, and he immediately thought of a business-related date.

But Zhou Yi waved his hand: "My friend, just having a meal together, chatting, it can also be regarded as a vacation."

"Oh, oh, then I wish you have a good time. By the way, just a quick question... male or female?" Schulze smiled a little lewdly.

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes at him: "What are you thinking about? Of course it's a man!"

Hearing him say this, Schulze was obviously disappointed.

"Zhou Yi, I think you should consider finding a girlfriend..."

Zhou Yi quickly interrupted him: "Okay, okay, this matter is enough for my parents to worry about, so don't worry about it..."

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The next day, Zhou Yi met Yang Muge in a restaurant in downtown Dortmund.

The reason why he didn't make an appointment in the Schalke district, but in Dortmund, is because Zhou Yi is now a player with a certain degree of fame, especially in the Ruhr area. He performed very well in the Ruhr derby with Schalke 04, which made Schalke 04 fans hate him. If he ran to the Schalke district to find Yang Muge like this, Zhou Yi was still worried that he would be beaten...

So he chose to be in Dortmund, calling himself the host and treating Yang Muge to dinner.

When they were in the group chat, Sun Pan clamored that even if he wasn't the host, Zhou Yi should still treat them.

Who told him to have just signed a few big contracts?

The contract with Puma alone will bring Zhou Yi a endorsement fee of two million euros a year.

Among these little friends who went abroad to study together, Zhou Yi is now the most successful one. This success is not only reflected in his performance on the field, but also in his commercial operation value.

In terms of wealth alone, Zhou Yi is now the richest of the five little friends.

So this time, Zhou Yi booked a table in a fairly high-end restaurant in Dortmund, only for him and Yang Muge.

As for how he knew about this restaurant... that was naturally when he didn't have an agent, and those agents brought him here.

Thanks to them, Zhou Yi now knows which restaurants are good in Dortmund.

"Now that I have more money than before, I have to enjoy life!" Zhou Yi said to Yang Muge while sitting in the restaurant, which was obviously much more high-end.

Yang Muge smiled: "Then when are you going to buy a luxury car?"

Zhou Yi immediately put on a sad face: "I haven't even learned how to drive yet!"

Yang Muge smiled even happier: "I didn't expect our genius to have something he can't do."

"No, no." Zhou Yi defended himself. "I really don't have time to learn. You know what I've been doing this vacation."

Yang Muge nodded in agreement and admiration: "It's really not easy. I even went home once..."

"You didn't have any free time when you went home, didn't you still go to train?" Zhou Yi smiled, he knew Yang Muge's humility.

When other people go home, it's to take a vacation, but he went home to find the coach he used to have in the梯队 and asked him to give him special training.

So the two of them used their vacation to train, but in different places, but they both reached the same goal by different routes.

"Of course, I want to go to the first team as soon as possible, and then face you in the league, Zhou Yi," Yang Muge said.

Zhou Yi raised his glass filled with juice and said to Yang Muge: "Then let's work hard together, I hope we can meet in the Ruhr derby! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The ideals of the two young people are like the rippling juice in the glass, exuding a rich fruity fragrance, beautiful beyond compare.