Unconventional Center

Chapter 11: A Natural Striker

Onnes already had Chu Yang’s physical test data from his time at Laco and the results of his medical exam upon reporting to Valencia—all of it up to date. There was no need to repeat many of the tests; he mainly wanted to reconfirm Chu Yang’s speed. For a forward, the difference between slow and fast, fast and super-fast, or super-fast and insanely fast can completely determine what level of player they’ll become. Chu Yang’s speed was rated at 11 in the system, but this was merely a comprehensive evaluation. In soccer, speed can be broken down into many categories: acceleration, burst speed, dribbling speed, top speed, and change-of-direction speed—each of which is crucial. The test results were pretty much what Chu Yang had expected: a uniform C-grade rating. Above that were B and A. According to the system’s attribute ratings, C corresponds to 10–13, B to 14–15, and A to 16–18; anything higher can’t be represented by a single letter. In the entire La Liga, you can count the number of players with an “A” speed rating on one hand, and those with a “B” rating are few and far between. However, “C” ratings are plentiful; even in the Segunda División, Chu Yang’s stats would only be considered average. For a soccer player, many attributes have already begun to solidify by the age of twenty. While strength and endurance can still be improved through training, there’s very little room for improvement in more critical areas like speed and technical habits. With the physical evaluation complete, the other team had already begun training. “Not particularly fast—you don’t have an advantage in speed,” Gresel said to Chu Yangdao, holding the test results Heike had given him. “Let’s see how you perform in actual gameplay.” Heike called over the players who were doing warm-up drills and began organizing them into teams for a scrimmage. As expected, Chu Yang was assigned to the reserve team. “Antonio, keep a close eye on that kid.” Before the scrimmage had even started, Mo Ya called out to the defender marking Chu Yang and said earnestly. “Don’t worry, Cesc. Even though he came down from La Liga, he was just a bench player at Deportivo La Coruña,” Antonio said nonchalantly. Mo Ya shrugged and said nothing. He had never told anyone that he was a Sevilla fan—after all, Sevilla’s legendary midfielder, Blanca García, was his idol. That’s why he had been at the stadium for that match between Sevilla and Deportivo La Coruña, where he had witnessed firsthand how Chu Yang had completely dismantled Sevilla. He had a feeling that “Super La Coruña” would definitely become the laughingstock of Spain in the future. After all, they’d just returned from their break, and most players hadn’t yet regained their physical form, which made even the practice match feel lackluster. The substitutes, however, were brimming with determination and high spirits, and for a time, they held their own against the starting lineup in a closely contested match. Heike stepped in as the referee, while Gresel stood on the sidelines, his face dark and silent. Seeing this, the starters were filled with trepidation. With fans beginning to gather along the sidelines to watch, the players finally began to take the match seriously. Soon after, Mo Ya dribbled past two defenders in quick succession to deliver a perfect assist to starting forward Adrian, then extended the lead to 2–0 with a free kick of his own. The fans on the sidelines burst into applause; Gresel’s expression softened slightly, and even Chu Yang couldn’t help but glance his way. This captain is quite the force to be reckoned with. The first half flew by, and the reserves were completely dominated. Chu Yang didn’t get many chances from start to finish. Fortunately, the team wasn’t stupid—they knew Gresel was definitely there to assess the new signing’s abilities, so the others didn’t intentionally withhold passes from Chu Yang. Right at the start of the second half, a somewhat awkward through ball came his way. Chu Yang, who had been waiting patiently, immediately burst through the defense like a shark that had caught the scent of blood and opened the scoring for the reserves with a deft tap-in. “Hey, Antonio, are you still thinking about the taste of Christmas turkey that you can’t even defend against a pass like that?” “It’s not my fault. Who knew a pass like that could go in?” Antonio muttered. He certainly hadn’t been defending very seriously, but that play actually fell under the category of a passing error—no one could have imagined the ball would slip through the starting team’s defense and end up being “picked up” by Chu Yang. “All right, all right, keep going. Defenders, stay focused.” Mo Ya clapped his hands, shouted a few times, and passed the ball to Adrian. The fans on the sidelines finally spotted Chu Yang on the field. “Hey, who’s that kid? Did he come up from the Youth Team? I’ve never seen him before.” “Dude, haven’t you checked the official website? That’s Chu from Laco—our new player.” “From La Liga? Is he from South Korea or Japan?” “No, no, no—you’ll never guess. He’s from China.” “China? Do people in China even play soccer?” “Not only does he play soccer, but he also knows kung fu—kung fu from China. You must not have seen last week’s La Liga Top 10 Goals.” “Wow, you saw that goal too?” “Hey, I was right there at the game. It was absolutely amazing. I’d bet even Fang Dan couldn’t pull off a goal like that. To be honest, I came here today just to watch Chu train.” “What on earth are you guys talking about? What’s this about China’s kung fu and the Top 10 Goals?” Chu Yang had no idea he already had fans in Valencia; he simply treated the practice match as if it were a real game. Even from this training match alone, it was clear that there was a significant gap between La Liga and Segunda División teams. Among Valencia’s starters, aside from Mo Ya—whose skill was clearly a cut above the rest—the others were all roughly on the same level; most of them would be benchwarmers or substitutes in La Liga. If he hadn’t obtained the Superstar System, Chu Yang’s ability would probably have been just enough to earn him a starting spot on this team. But with the bonuses from his “Fox of the Box” talent and the “Beast” title, he stood out like a sore thumb among the bench players. Even though his speed and ball control were average, he managed to create scoring opportunities whenever he got the chance. Spectators might say things like, “That guy’s really lucky,” but everyone on the training field is a professional—they know exactly what that means. Opportunists, thieves on the field—they’re like invisible men on the pitch. They might go unnoticed for an entire game, but the moment an opportunity arises, they’ll mysteriously appear in front of the ball, finding the perfect position to slot it into the opponent’s net in the most precise way possible. They all know how difficult such players are to deal with, yet to outsiders, they create the illusion that “even a pig could score a goal like that” or “if you can’t stop a shot like that, is this defender a spy?” “A natural-born striker,” Gresel sighed to himself. “It’s a shame he’s so ordinary in every other aspect. If only he were a bit faster or had better ball control—that would take his game up a whole level.” Antonio, who had initially underestimated Chu Yang, began to take him seriously. But as soon as he did, he realized it was futile—Chu Yang was within his line of sight most of the time, yet the moment his attention wavered for even a second or two, Chu Yang would vanish, just like a ghost. In the end, the stronger starting lineup secured the victory with a score of 6–4—a margin that wasn’t particularly lopsided. All four goals scored by the substitutes were linked to Chu Yang: he scored three of them directly, and the fourth came when his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper and another player followed up to score. Through this practice match, Chu Yang officially earned his teammates’ recognition. The team’s starting forward, Adrian, sensed trouble brewing, while the reserve forwards felt as if the end of the world had arrived.