Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"I never imagined that the way to make money you were talking about was this kind of thing!"

Looking at the back seat and trunk of the car, which were crammed full of supermarket items, the older brother gave Lin Feng a very strange look.

"What's wrong? Endorsing Adidas and Nike is one thing, but isn't endorsing a supermarket another? Besides, Zhongbai Warehouse is a local Hubei company, so this is a contribution to our hometown!"

Lin Feng glanced at the pile of goods the supermarket had given him; most of them were high-end gifts that he himself wouldn't use, but he could give them away.

He was just about to visit Liu Yifei's family to offer an early New Year's greeting, and having these things would save him the trouble.

西甲的冬歇期在1月20日就结束了，而2009年的农历新年要等到1月26号。

Lin Feng obviously couldn't wait until then, and he wouldn't have time after the New Year either, so he paid a visit early on the Laba Festival and took Liu Yifei to Germany for a few days.

"It's your freedom to choose who you want to endorse, but to turn down endorsement contracts with so many big-name sponsors and choose to work with a sponsor that has no international recognition, low endorsement fees, and no connection to the sports field..."

Lin Feng understood what his elder brother meant, though he didn't finish his sentence.

The endorsement fee is indeed not high. His contract with Zhongbai Warehouse is only for two years, and the endorsement fee is 10 million RMB.

By current domestic standards, this price is considered very high.

But if it were Lin Feng, it would be dirt cheap.

If he wanted, plenty of international sponsors would be willing to offer him endorsement contracts at double or even several times the price.

Therefore, Lin Feng's endorsement deal was definitely not for the money.

He was right; Lin Feng really wasn't after the money.

He accepted the endorsement deal not only because it was for a company from his hometown, but also because he wanted to use it in conjunction with another person for marketing purposes.

This person is none other than Zeng Cheng.

Zeng Cheng is a native of Wuhan, and as a local and a gateway to China, he is the most suitable person to endorse local Wuhan businesses.

However, Zeng Cheng himself lacked such connections and influence, and his personal influence and commercial value were relatively low.

If he were to negotiate the endorsement contract with the other party on his own, the other party might not be willing.

After all, it's better to find a big-name star to endorse a product than a relatively unknown substitute goalkeeper.

However, if Lin Feng is willing to sign an endorsement contract with the other party and bring Zeng Cheng along as well, then the other party will be willing to sign a contract with him.

Of course, the endorsement fee offered to Zeng Cheng by the sponsors was definitely not as high as that offered to Lin Feng.

Even if they were to offer Zeng Cheng five million a year, they wouldn't be happy.

Zeng Cheng's contract is worth 100 million RMB per year, only one-fifth of Lin Feng's. Considering that it takes a long time to get ahead in the goalkeeper position, he signed a three-year contract with the supermarket.

With this income of 300 million yuan, he should be able to cover most of his expenses abroad during this period.

Zeng Cheng was one year older than Lin Feng, and three years later he would be 25 years old.

If you haven't made it through by then, then you don't need to keep trying. Just go back to China and join a Chinese Super League club.

Zeng Cheng was very grateful to Lin Feng, but he was not a good speaker and couldn't bring himself to express his gratitude. He felt that saying it would be pretentious and empty, so he kept it all in his heart and made up his mind to repay Lin Feng with practical actions in the future.

Lin Feng was unaware of this. He gave Zeng Cheng a portion of the gifts from the supermarket and took the rest to Liu Yifei's house.

"Hey, Xiao Feng, really! You guys came all this way, why did you bring so many gifts?"

Liu's mother was already very enthusiastic, and when she saw that they had brought so many gifts, she couldn't stop smiling.

"This is a small token of our appreciation from Xiaofeng. Our two families will soon be one family, so there's no need for formalities. Auntie, please don't stand on ceremony!"

Hearing her elder brother's words, Liu's mother smiled even more. Seeing that Lin Feng's elder brother was young and handsome, she couldn't help but inquire about his marital status, seemingly wanting to introduce him to a potential partner.

"Mom, stop asking unnecessary questions and go about your business. I'm starving!"

Seeing her own mother's gossipy nature kicking in, Liu Yifei felt embarrassed and quickly pushed her into the kitchen.

After pushing Liu's mother into the kitchen, Liu Yifei busied herself helping her mother cook, while also serving water and tea to Lin Feng and the others, turning on the TV, and handing out fruit platters. She was incredibly busy and happy.

"My sister-in-law seems quite virtuous!"

Lin Feng could barely contain his smirk as he uttered his most triumphant words in the calmest of tones:

"Well, not bad!"

Liu's mother's cooking skills were excellent, and she put a lot of effort into preparing a large table of dishes that Lin Feng used to like, as well as local specialties.

Brother Lin Feng's tastes were similar to his, and the two of them ate heartily and thoroughly enjoyed their meal.

Liu's mother was also very happy, after all, the highest praise for someone's cooking skills is to eat every single grain.

"Hehe, if it's delicious, eat more! I'll make it for you again next time you come!"

"This girl, I told her to learn my skills a long time ago, but she just wouldn't learn. She's always busy with some random, messy things."

"Mom~~"

Seeing her mother criticizing her in front of outsiders, Liu Yifei immediately felt embarrassed and coquettishly hugged her mother's arm and shook it.

Seeing his future wife being criticized, Lin Feng immediately stood up to speak in her defense:

"Well, Effie's cooking isn't that bad, at least it's edible!"

"Lin Feng!!"

Seeing Lin Feng also come to expose her shortcomings, Liu Yifei was about to become extremely embarrassed.

……

Lin Feng stayed in China for three days. During that time, his older brother was busy running around doing business, contacting clubs and players, and arranging for them to play abroad.

Lin Feng, meanwhile, took some time out of his busy schedule to travel around with Liu Yifei, visiting all the places they hadn't been to before.

Afterwards, Liu Yifei went to Beijing to pack her things to prepare to return to Germany with him, while he himself booked a plane ticket to Shanghai, planning to visit the Genbao Football Base on Chongming Island before leaving.

"Brother Lin, what brings you here?"

When Lin Feng arrived at Chongming Island, he happened to meet Zhang Linpeng, who was returning from Serie A.

The two hadn't seen each other for over a year. Upon seeing Lin Feng again, Zhang Linpeng was extremely excited, talking non-stop as he recounted Lin Feng's experiences at Inter Milan over the past year and a half. Finally, in a questioning tone, he asked Lin Feng:
"Brother Lin, I'll be 20 after the New Year. Do you think I should continue to hone my skills at Inter Milan and wait for my chance, or should I go on loan or transfer to another team to try and get more playing time?"

Although Inter Milan's dominance in European competitions has declined somewhat in the past two years due to the departure of Lin Feng, they remain a behemoth in Serie A.

For a top club like this, it is extremely difficult for a 20-year-old to establish himself in the team and get enough playing time.

Unless Inter Milan has a coach like Guardiola who highly values ​​domestic youth training and is willing to give young players opportunities, Zhang Linpeng will inevitably have to endure a long time on the bench.

Do you think you can secure a rotation or substitute role at Inter Milan given your current ability?

After leaving Inter Milan, Lin Feng didn't know much about the club's situation.

But Inter Milan's squad was already quite old before he left; both Samuel and Materazzi were veterans in their thirties.

In the next few years, these players will retire one after another, and Inter Milan will face pressure to rejuvenate its defense.

Therefore, staying at Inter Milan doesn't necessarily mean there's no chance, but only if one's ability meets Inter Milan's requirements; otherwise, it's better to leave as soon as possible.

"It should be fine. Last season, when the team's main defender was injured, they temporarily promoted me from the youth team to play a few games. I didn't feel that the intensity of the games was much higher than that of Serie B."

Lin Feng was somewhat surprised by Zhang Linpeng's words. Had this guy already made an appearance for Inter Milan's first team?
He thought that after he left, Inter Milan's preferential treatment of Zhang Linpeng and Wang Dalei would disappear because of him.

It turns out that this was not the case at all. It seems that I overestimated my influence and underestimated Zhang Linpeng's strength.

"What position do you play, center-back or full-back?"

"Fullback? Haven't I always been a fullback?"

Zhang Linpeng found it strange. It had only been a year and a half since they separated, so how come it seemed like Brother Lin had completely forgotten about her?

"As for full-back, you don't have much of a future at Inter. Maicon is still young and his form hasn't declined. You basically have no chance to make it in the next two or three years."

At this time, Maicon was still very strong and was once regarded as the world's best right-back, until he met his nemesis - Gareth Bale.

Zhang Linpeng thought about it seriously for a while and had to admit that Lin Feng's words made a lot of sense.

The few games he played as a substitute for Inter Milan last season happened to be when Maicon was injured, or when the team needed to rotate players due to competing on three fronts, and Maicon was unable to play, so he was brought on to replace him.

It seems that Inter Milan's coaching staff sees him as Maicon's backup, or perhaps even the backup of the backups.

"So, Brother Lin, you mean I should be loaned out or transferred to another team?"

Zhang Linpeng looked somewhat dejected. He has been with Inter Milan for three or four years and has developed a deep affection for the club.

He felt a mix of panic and guilt at being suddenly asked to leave Inter Milan and join another team.

Despite having so many tattoos later on, Zhang Linpeng is actually a well-behaved kid with a very good personality, perhaps even a little too good.

Not only does he play football in a rigid and unchanging way, but he also doesn't retaliate when fouled or maliciously committed against him on the field.

Sometimes Lin Feng felt that if Zhang Linpeng had Fan Zhiyi's big brother-like, outgoing personality, his potential would be much higher.

The sports field is like a battlefield; the good guys are destined to be bullied.

Even being a villain like Li Weifeng is better than being a purely good person.

"Let's wait and see. The winter break is almost over. It's too late for either a loan or a transfer now. Let's see if the coach will give you more opportunities this season, or if there will be any changes to the team's roster. If Maicon gets seriously injured one day, your opportunity might come."

Hearing Lin Feng say that, Zhang Linpeng breathed a sigh of relief, feeling fortunate that she wouldn't be kicked out of the house for the time being.

Seeing the other person's expression, Lin Feng shook his head helplessly.

It's not a good thing for youth players from top clubs to be too loyal to their home team!

The more prestigious the club, the harder it is for its own youth academy graduates to establish themselves in the team; blind loyalty will only jeopardize their future.

As a Real Madrid player, Lin Feng has a deep understanding of this.

Almost all of Real Madrid's new generation of players are bought from outside the club, with very few being promoted from their own youth academy.

It's not that Real Madrid's youth academy is bad; it's just that the club is unwilling to give them opportunities!
But Lin Feng didn't try to persuade them any further, as Inter Milan was on a downward spiral.

Once Torres leaves, Inter Milan will quickly fall behind and be overshadowed by Juventus again.

As the team's strength declines, their demands on the players will also decrease.

That will be Zhang Linpeng's chance. If Japanese player Yuto Nagatomo can become a key player for Inter Milan, there's no reason why Zhang Linpeng can't.

Moreover, Lin Feng remembered that Maicon would suffer a serious injury in the next few years, and once Maicon's performance declined, Zhang Linpeng might really replace him.

When the two arrived at the Genbao Football Base, Xu Genbao was giving a speech to the players.

"Winter break is coming soon. When you go back home, you can't overeat, smoke, drink excessively, stay up late playing cards or playing computer games, and you absolutely can't do anything illegal or disorderly..."

Hearing these words, Lin Feng felt as if he had returned to his middle school days.

It sounds like the principal is giving students a series of instructions before the winter and summer vacations.

Zhang Linpeng scratched his head and explained:
"Chongming Island is quite remote, and the football training base is very isolated. Everyone gets restless from being cooped up for so long. Every winter break, they cause a lot of trouble and get criticized by Lao Xu a lot. So before every winter break, he repeatedly reminds them, but it doesn't work!"

Lin Feng glanced at the young players and found that they were already daydreaming, letting Xu Genbao's words go in one ear and out the other, completely ignoring him.

Some of the children spotted Lin Feng and Zhang Linpeng and immediately became excited, causing a stir among the crowd.

Xu Genbao also noticed that his disciples had no interest in his speech, and scolded them with exasperation:

"You bunch of brats, I warned you before. If any of you dare to go back and mess things up, I'll be inspecting you next year. If you fail the inspection, see how I punish you!"

"Old Xu, please stop talking, we're getting tired of hearing it!"

"That's right, Lao Xu. If you don't eat and drink a lot when you go home for the New Year, can it really be called the New Year?"

"It's so cold outside during winter break, what else can we do if we stay at home and don't play cards or games?"

Everyone started arguing amongst themselves.

Even from a distance, Lin Feng felt the noise was so loud it made his head buzz.

Teenagers are at the most mischievous stage of their lives, with boundless energy, intense curiosity, and a rebellious streak.

The hardest part is that they're still going through puberty, and they all have loud, croaky voices. Not only are their voices unpleasant, but they're also incredibly loud...

This is really putting Old Xu in a difficult position! (End of Chapter)