Chapter 40: Training and investigation
On the second day at Genk, Wang Feng arrived at the training room as usual in the morning, first heading to the gym for warm-up exercises. After completing a full set of warm-up exercises, his personal trainer, Abel Le Goff, finally arrived.
"You just played a full game against Anderlecht yesterday and must be tired from traveling. How did you manage to wake up so early for training?" Le Goff thought he had seen many players, but he had never encountered anyone as dedicated and hardworking as Wang Feng.
"Perhaps it's my love for football. I aspire to become stronger," Wang Feng replied with a smile. With that, he approached the equipment and began his strength training. At this stage, his physicality in duels was still lacking, so strength training was essential in Le Goff's training plan for him.
Of course, strength training alone wasn't enough; it would make the muscles strong but stiff. It needed to be complemented with flexibility training, such as yoga. Only by combining the two could performance on the field be improved.
For Wang Feng, Le Goff's training program and schedule were very reasonable, taking into account his age and physical condition. His physique wouldn't be distorted after training.
In the blink of an eye, the morning passed. He completed sets of bench presses, squats, deadlifts, and weightlifting, followed by a series of yoga poses to relax his muscles. After lunch, he would rest for two hours. Usually, Wang Feng would browse various news during this time, not just limited to football.
In the afternoon, swimming training was the main focus. Wang Feng used to be a complete novice in swimming, but since receiving training from Le Goff, he quickly learned to swim. He gradually enjoyed the feeling of being in the water, feeling relaxed all over his body.
Today, the other players would rest. Tomorrow, Bess and Civu would come in the afternoon to practice passing skills together. Then, the whole team would start gathering for training the day after tomorrow, preparing for the weekend's match. This was usually their weekly routine.
Of course, after training every day, Wang Feng would stay behind for extra practice, almost making it a habit. Sometimes, Le Goff found it unbelievable that a seventeen-year-old boy could resist various temptations and devote himself wholeheartedly to training.
Le Goff felt that guiding Wang Feng was much easier compared to before. Wang Feng was intelligent, and his control over his body was incredible. He could learn any training movement after being taught just once, and he always completed Le Goff's training plan meticulously.
The accumulation of daily training, Le Goff believed, would lead to limitless achievements for Wang Feng in the future.
While Genk was in training, outside the training ground, a group of fans would gather behind the wire fence to watch. They wore jerseys supporting their favorite players and held up signs with words of encouragement. Since Wang Feng joined Genk, more and more fans supported him. So far, almost all the arriving fans wore Wang Feng's jersey.
Sometimes, Wang Feng would greet them with a smile, eliciting cheers. There would even be fervent female fans shouting about having his babies, which made Wang Feng blush and his teammates burst into laughter.
Genk's chairman, Kevin Balani, was accompanying Rick Davies, an official from the Belgian Football Association, to watch Genk's training from afar. The Belgian national team had performed poorly in the recently concluded European Championship. They barely made it through the group stage with one win and two losses.
The Football Association was dissatisfied with the current national team lineup, so they decided to scout outstanding young players from various teams. At the same time, they wanted to hire Genk's head coach, Aimee Antonis, as the national team coach.
Seeing the enthusiastic support for Wang Feng from Genk's fans, Davies exclaimed, "I didn't expect Wang Feng to be so popular among local fans."
Balani replied, "Yes, last season Genk relied on Wang Feng to emerge from the quagmire of failure and secure a place in the Europa League and the Cup championship. And this season, Wang Feng's performance has been perfect, so everyone likes him even more."
"Wang Feng has become the undisputed core of Genk. However, the opinions of local players and some seasoned fans also need to be considered," Balani added. "Most of the leaders of the teams are local youth training players, and foreign players rarely take on such roles."
"A harmonious dressing room is also one of the important factors for the team's success. Fortunately, there is no bad news in Genk dressing room at the moment, and everyone admires Wang Feng's diligence during training," Davies said in surprise. "Indeed, it's not easy for him to be so disciplined at his age. Being famous at a young age without arrogance, I have even higher expectations for his future achievements."
With a hint of solicitation, he asked, "Balani, I remember Wang Feng has never played for the Chinese national team, right? Can we recruit him into our national team?"
Balani smiled bitterly and said, "To be honest, before the start of the European Championship, someone hinted that I should sound out Wang Feng to see if he would be willing to represent Belgium in the matches. But he refused. He said he would only represent China in national team matches, even if he wasn't called up."
Davies couldn't help but feel regretful but quickly moved on to other topics, discussing the performances of other players. The young forward Jason Aldridge caught their attention. He had scored two goals so far, both orchestrated by Wang Feng, but his ability to seize opportunities couldn't be underestimated.
"Many teams are starting to pay attention to him. Youth is Aldridge's biggest asset," Balani sighed. "It's difficult for us to keep strong players. Often, just as we cultivate them, we end up selling them off."
Davies said, "The level of the Belgian league is still too low. Not to mention the second-rate top leagues like the Portuguese Primeira Liga, Dutch Eredivisie; even the Scottish Premiership, Russian Premier League, and even the Austrian Bundesliga are stronger than us."
"Although cultivating good players and selling them to other leagues is an important source of income for you, it's also necessary to differentiate and consider the circumstances. You can't deplete your resources and cause a mass exodus of personnel," Davies said, and Balani nodded in agreement.
"You'll sell Wang Feng this summer, right?" Davies asked curiously, and Balani nodded, "Originally, we planned to trade him during this summer's transfer window, but Paris offered a price that was too high. However, Wang Feng himself was unwilling, and with Antonis' active persuasion, he firmly believes that we will definitely make a breakthrough this season, so we halted the transfer."
"This season, Wang Feng has improved again, and his abilities have surpassed the level of the Belgian Pro League. I believe he also yearns to hone himself on a higher level platform. So far, several top clubs have contacted us, hoping to get Wang Feng."
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