Grass roots glory

Chapter 240 It's not just talking (plus more!)

News about Schalke's signings spread widely, and the media in Germany, especially North Rhine-Westphalia, were shocked by Schalke's frequent big moves.While the Gelsenkirchen media was looking forward to it, the media of teams that competed with Schalke 04, such as Bayern and Werder Bremen, looked on coldly. They hoped that these transfer actions of Schalke were either fake or fake. Either they all go bankrupt - Zhou Tiancheng has already made these strong teams feel difficult, and another star like Ruud van Nistelrooy, wouldn't the threat be even greater.

Don't look at the media such as "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and "Bremen Morning Post" these two days always insinuating and attacking Schalke 04 when talking about transfers, but they have never done so before, which shows that their introduction to Schalke The aid action felt guilty.

On the other hand, what is more convincing is that when someone in the main lineup of Schalke 04 broke the news that someone might leave, the Gelsenkirchen media did not report it yet, but the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" in Munich first reported the news. disclosed.

In every transfer window, some people come and go, which is perfectly normal, especially the players in Schalke whose contracts are about to expire and who are not bad have aroused the interest of many teams.

For example, Altintop, whose contract expired in January, has received invitations from Mainz, Frankfurt, including some La Liga and Serie A teams.He is not against it personally, he has lost his main position at present, and he has expressed to the club before that he hopes to leave when the contract expires.Although he is a Turkish native born in Gelsenkirchen, he has played for Schalke's first team for four seasons and has a deep affection for Schalke, but it will not prevent him from making a rational choice. He is only 27 years old and still At the beginning of the prime of a striker's career, he needs consistent game opportunities.

According to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" report, the annual salary offered by Frankfurt, which is currently trapped in the relegation zone, is the highest among all interested teams, and the head coach has publicly expressed his hope to get Altintop to help the team out of the predicament.

"Süddeutsche Zeitung" speculates that Altintop is very likely to leave in this transfer window. Schalke sports director Helter previously expressed his position on behalf of the club in an interview with the media: "The club fully respects the wishes of the coaching staff. During the winter window, the existing lineup will be properly cleaned. For players who don’t have many opportunities to play, if they want to leave, the club will not force them to stay..."

In fact, Helter also said the second half of the sentence in the interview: But we will never sell the key players in the main lineup.

But don't have too much hope for the integrity of the media - the second half of Helt's sentence was automatically ignored when the report came out.

This time it became lively, Helter made a statement, and Schalke became a well-deserved protagonist in the media.

The signal of the opening of Schalke's "players supermarket" also had an impact on Zhou Tiancheng. After all, he is the core of Schalke. No one thought that Schalke would suddenly let go. The wealthy family immediately reacted to the news and sent an offer letter to Schalke.

Although the sponsor behind Schalke is the sports brand giant Adidas, logically speaking, they are not short of money, and the small investment has been only because of the problem of business philosophy.But if you want to buy Zhou Tiancheng's rich family, none of them are short of money.

The first is the news from the UK on the other side of the European continent that Ferguson, the godfather of Manchester United, expressed a strong interest in Zhou Tiancheng. The "Guardian" first disclosed that Zhou Tiancheng's name appeared on Ferguson's signing list. The original words of "Ferguson hope to introduce Zhou to succeed Scholes. After last season's Champions League semi-finals, Schalke 04's midfield core has completely conquered Ferguson."

Well, the language used by the British media is really exaggerated. In fact, the news is unreliable at first glance. Not to mention whether Zhou Tiancheng is a non-EU player, whether the Premier League’s labor certification system will hinder his joining, just like Ferguson hoped to introduce Kaka, but because of being stuck in the neck by a labor certificate, AC Milan finally became the lucky one.Just looking at this moment, Schalke's bright prospects this season, and Zhou Tiancheng's core position in the team, I can't think of any reason for him to leave at this point in time.

But the media doesn't care about that much.The public opinion aroused by the British media was sent back to China by the reporters of several major Chinese newspapers stationed in London. After being amplified by the Chinese media, even more exaggerated news came out.

Arsenal, Manchester City, Lyon, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona...all the top European clubs have hooked up with Zhou Tiancheng.Many Chinese media even pretended to estimate the quotations of these giants, no matter what, they would cost more than 2000 million euros—according to the net worth evaluation of the German "Transfer Market" website, Zhou Tiancheng's latest price was 100 million euros, even more so. What's more, Zhou Tiancheng is the core of Schalke 04. For a supernova of this level, the final transaction premium is absolutely astonishingly high. It is not an exaggeration to double the price.

The dissemination of news in the information age completely transcends geographical restrictions. The news fabricated by the Chinese media was quickly picked up by the German media. They thought that Zhou Tiancheng was Chinese, so the news reported by the Chinese media on a large scale should not be false... …

So like dominoes, within a few days, most of the media in Germany were filled with the news that Zhou Tiancheng might leave, not to mention Gelsenkirchen.The biggest news these days is Zhou Tiancheng's transfer scandal.

Zhou Tiancheng naturally knew about it. Even Chu Yunling and Yang Chengcheng from the personal fan group he met in Dortmund called to ask, Zhou Tiancheng's answer was exactly the same.The sentence he has repeatedly reiterated these days is "I will not leave Schalke".Whether it's teammates or the media, the questions he hears the most are "Zhou, you won't leave?", "Zhou, tell me you will stay, right?", "Zhou, I heard that ××× treats you very well. Interested?" Zhou Tiancheng simply replied with silence.

The only one who had no doubt that Zhou Tiancheng would leave was Magath. He didn't even ask a question, and as always led the team to prepare for the game before the winter break.

However, the main lineup of the team has quietly changed. Holtby has been assigned to the substitute side for training in the past few days. In the game against Hertha Berlin, he did not even make the 18-man squad.

The main players suddenly received this kind of treatment. If there is no conflict with the head coach, everyone knows what kind of signal this is.

In fact, Holtby has been playing unsatisfactorily in the past half season. In Aachen, he is the core of the organization, a red flower against the green leaves, but in Schalke, he can't find the familiar feeling, and Magath also I think he has potential, but his ability is not strong enough and he needs to be trained again, so I discussed with the club and planned to rent him out for a short term to improve his strength. Currently, Hamburg is most interested in him.

To a certain extent, Holtby's departure just makes room for Baumjohann, who is about to join. The past is different.

Although they have not disclosed their idea of ​​winning the Champions League, Schalke wants to do big things. This time the whole of Europe understands that they are not just talking.

(End of this chapter)