legendary midfielder

Chapter 43 Football is higher than life and death
On January 2012, 1, accompanied by Elan and Jill, Zhang Xu stood in front of the ancient Balamore Lane Stadium.

Balamore Lane Stadium is the oldest major football stadium in the world. The first football match was held on December 1862, 12. The Sheffield football team played against the Holland football team (Hallam) for three hours. The two sides played a 29-0 draw. The international game between England and Scotland was held on March 0, 1883, making Bramall Lane the oldest existing stadium in the world that can still hold international games.Bramall Lane used to have a capacity of 3 but was reduced to 10 in 68,000 when it was fully seated.

Now the Balamore Lane Stadium has become the spiritual symbol of Sheffield United. As long as they see this ancient Balamore Lane Stadium, every Sheffield United fan will spontaneously salute.

Sheffield United has a glorious history. It is a powerful team in the birthplace of modern football. It was formerly a cricket team. It was established in 1855 and has a history of 117 years.A team with an ancient and fine tradition.It is also one of the earliest football clubs in the world. In 2004, it won the special honor award issued by FIFA.

At the same time, Sheffield United also has a domineering nickname-Blade!On his badge are two long white knives crossed!

So every Sheffield United fan calls himself a Blade!
Now, Zhang Xu has also become a member of the blade!
The first thing to do when you arrive at the club is naturally a physical examination.

This is just a routine procedure, but it is impossible not to go.

When he first arrived in England, Zhang Xu was still a little uncomfortable, but for this kind of pediatric physical examination, it was easy to complete.

When Elan handed the test data to the head coach Wilson, the above data made Wilson nod again and again.

Next, a press conference will be held to officially announce Zhang Xu's joining to the society and all Blade fans.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the press conference was officially held.

First of all, head coach Wilson officially announced Zhang Xu's joining and showed Zhang Xu's No. 25 jersey.Why not choose the No. 15 jersey that Zhang Xu likes more, because the No. 15 jersey has been taken by Neil Collins, so Zhang Xu can only choose the No. 25 jersey helplessly.

Next, Zhang Xu delivered his joining speech.

"First of all, I would like to sincerely thank the Belgian second division club Voluwe White Star Club for training me!" Zhang Xu opened his mouth in English with an authentic London accent. As he spoke, he stood up solemnly and bowed again to pay tribute to the first White Star team to accept him.

"They accepted me. At that time, I was penniless. They trained me and gave me the opportunity to stand here, so I want to thank them!"

Zhang Xu expressed his gratitude to the former team with great fanfare, which confused everyone.

What is this doing?
All the reporters, including the head coach Wilson, looked at Zhang Xu in confusion, not understanding what Zhang Xu wanted to do.

"Maybe some people don't understand my behavior just now, maybe they are thinking, don't you want to join Sheffield United? Are you not used to the British weather? Are you afraid that you won't be able to gain a foothold in Sheffield United or League One and find a way out for yourself? Actually, none of these!"

"It's just because in China, there is a saying called 'repaying with kindness'! If someone helps you, then you should be grateful and try to repay him! The White Star team helped me, so I want to thank him."

"So--now, Sheffield United gave me the opportunity to stand on the field of League One and enjoy the style of the English League. I also want to thank him! I am very proud that I can be a member of the Blades!"

At this point, everyone realized that Zhang Xu wanted to express his gratitude to Sheffield United.Although it has turned a big circle, it is indeed quite touching. Perhaps, this is the language art of Chinese people!

The head coach Wilson also nodded in satisfaction. Such a clever way of thanking Zhang Xu opened his eyes, and at the same time, he also had a great impression of Zhang Xu's character.

This is also understandable, anyone who knows how to reciprocate kindness is always easy to arouse the favor of others, isn't it?
"While thanking, I also want to say another sentence: this is, I, Zhang Xu from China and from the Belgian White Star team, came here, and came to Balamore Trail, just to win! Yes, for the sake of victory, I hate losing. I think everyone here hates losing, so everyone has put in a lot of hard work in order to win."

"And I will give all my strength, even my life, to help the team win! Football has nothing to do with life and death, but football is higher than life and death! If I have to pay the price of my life to win, I am willing to dedicate everything to my current blade! This is my declaration of victory as a member of the blade!"

Zhang Xu's tone was calm, but the strength and enthusiasm contained in it made everyone present feel excited.Once upon a time, like the Chinese kid in front of me, I had endless desire for victory; once upon a time, I also tried my best for my dream; and once upon a time, I went forward without fear in the face of a powerful opponent!

The press conference was quiet for a full minute, and then a clear applause rang out, the second, the third and finally, the entire venue was full of thunderous applause!

Then came the free questioning period for journalists.

Because of Zhang Xu's moving declaration of joining, all the reporters have a great interest in him. Perhaps such an interesting Chinese player will bring different changes to the League One!

"Hello, Zhang, I'm Deli, a reporter from "Sheffield Daily Express". I was very moved after hearing your wonderful joining announcement just now! Then can you tell us about the difficulties you have encountered in pursuit of your dreams in France and Belgium? I know that it is not a happy thing for you to bring up that time again, but I want all of us young people to understand that there is a price to be paid for the pursuit of dreams, but if you don't pay, you can't succeed. For many impetuous young people in our country at present, there are many things they can learn from!"

"Hehe, there is nothing to talk about during those years. Everyone will experience some pain if they want to be successful. I am naturally no exception. Although I am not successful enough, I think I am walking on the road to success, isn't it?" Zhang Xu replied with a smile.

"Hello, Zhang, I'm Harris, a reporter from Sky Sports. It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm also very grateful for your statement just now, which rekindled the flame of pursuing my dreams. What I want to ask is, it only took half a season for you to grow from an amateur player to a relatively successful professional player. What have you experienced during this time? In other words, how did you do it?"

"Hehe," Zhang Xu smiled at Harris: "How do you do it? It's actually very simple, that is training. When others are training, I also train, and I have to complete twice the amount of training of others. When others are not training, I am still training. My life is very monotonous, two points and one line, the training ground, and home. Every day, I only care about whether I have improved today, how much I have improved, and what shortcomings I have. I basically don't get involved in other things."

"Wow, it's incredible! You're so hardworking! Perhaps this is the secret of your success!" Harris exclaimed, and other reporters also showed surprise faces.

"I can testify to this!" Coach Wilson interjected, "According to the feedback from our club's scout Jill, Zhang's training intensity is beyond your imagination! Similarly, his growth rate is also beyond your imagination, which is also an important reason why we signed him!"

"Hello, Zhang, I'm BBC reporter Romon. You play the central midfield position in the White Stars. Now, which position are you going to play in the Blades?"

"I'm afraid you are asking the wrong person for this question!" Zhang Xu smiled and pointed to coach Wilson and said, "I think you have to ask Mr. Wilson, which position the players play is not a question that should concern me. I just need to resolutely perform the tasks assigned to me by the coach!"

Head coach Wilson was very satisfied with Zhang Xu's answer. He nodded with a smile, and took over the conversation: "Zhang's ability is very good. We have arranged several tactical positions for him. It will take training and tactical confrontation drills after he officially returns to the team to truly determine his position. Therefore, I can only apologize to everyone for the position problem."

The press conference was originally intended to last only half an hour, but after the interest of the reporters was mobilized by Zhang Xu, one question left and the other right, the time of the press conference was pushed back and forth, and finally, it didn't end until an hour later.

Because the accommodation issue has not yet been arranged, Zhang Xu can only temporarily stay in the hotel arranged by the club.

After dinner, Zhang Xu took a nice bath, and then sent a message to Yang Zi and Nicola as usual.

Nicola quickly replied to the message, congratulating Zhang Xu on his official joining of Sheffield United, and said that he would come to see him on the weekend.

And Yang Zi must not be able to reply to the message, because of the time difference, it will be around 4 o'clock in the morning.

Alas, Zhang Xu gripped the phone tightly and sighed deeply.

Since returning to Belgium, his contact with Yang Zi has been intermittent, and the last contact was three days ago.

For football, Zhang Xu is full of confidence and has a clear direction, but his feelings, he once thought he had found the object of his lifelong pursuit, but now it seems that it is not the same thing, is it wrong?

(End of this chapter)