"Jin, that's the situation. You can stay home for a few more days, and the team will meet you there."
"That good?"
"Of course. Don't underestimate your standing in the team. Honestly, every time I communicate with the club, I feel very relaxed; they truly value you."
"Alright then—will this series of games be long? If it's too long, it will affect the whole team's form."
"Don't worry, it won't be more than 4 matches at most. 2 friendly matches, 2 Audi Cup matches."
"Who exactly will be there? I haven't been keeping up with the news lately."
"The friendly matches are against your local Chinese Super League clubs, and the Audi Cup includes Manchester United, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, and your Borussia Dortmund."
"Wow."
In the summer of 2009, the teams on the Asia tour were quite extensive. Besides the four teams participating in the Audi Cup, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester City, and other teams also planned Asia tour events.
Manchester United, as the Premier League champions and the team with the most fans in East Asia, often liked to come for an Asia tour to make money. Inter Milan had already reached a cooperation with China—the Italian Super Cup on August 8, 2009, would be held at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, and before the Super Cup, they would participate in the "International Champions Cup" to train.
Real Madrid had just signed superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Xabi Alonso, and Benzema, and were coming to China for commercial matches and activities. Besides Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United, Real Madrid was the club with the most Chinese fans.
Soon, the Borussia Dortmund club official also sent an email to Jin Hayes, including the detailed summer training schedule and marking the gathering time. Jin Hayes only needed to directly meet the team in Guangzhou on July 15. At that time, the entire Borussia Dortmund team would fly directly to Guangzhou and begin their pre-season preparations on site.
No, buddy?
"Coach, then how will I train with the team before the league?"
Borussia Dortmund had already gathered the team at the end of June to start pre-season preparations. Jin Hayes essentially got an extra 20 days of vacation. Any other star would have jumped at the chance. But Jin Hayes felt he was at a disadvantage! A huge disadvantage!
"You still want to train with them?"
"Of course, I need to integrate with my new teammates as soon as possible and get into pre-season form early."
Staying home all day was certainly enjoyable. The house he had previously bought with his own money was already renovated, and this time back in Guangzhou, he was living in Huajing Xincheng, Tianhe District. Chen Jianping and Ding Ru had already moved into the new community, which was only about 4 kilometres from Chen Jianping's workplace at Zhongshan Third Hospital. He even bothered to drive, commuting happily every day on a small electric scooter.
Ding Ru simply moved her beauty salon to the ground floor of the community, right opposite the South China Normal University dormitory building. Not only was the rent cheap there, but customers were also endless—teachers and students from South China Normal University opposite often visited, making Ding Ru beam with joy.
Ding Ru even had time to take care of Jin Hayes, eager to cook delicious meals for him in different ways every day. However, Jin Hayes sternly refused, eating only low-calorie meals like boiled chicken breast, broccoli, carrots, and pasta every day.
Jin Hayes's daily entertainment activities were limited to exercising at the gym at the community entrance, or playing casual football on the South China Normal University campus field, running up to a group of college students and saying, "Yo, can I join? I'm not very good."
A few minutes later, the handsome young men from South China Normal University just wanted to exclaim, "Oh my god~".
Such a relaxed life made Jin Hayes feel uncomfortable all over; he really wanted to go back to Germany to train. He would rather be tortured by Klopp in a physical training camp than slack off at home.
"Jin, this is an order. You expended too much last season and need a good rest. It's decided, we'll meet in China then."
Klopp's attitude was firm, and Jin Hayes could do nothing. Theoretically, the first half-month of pre-season training is all about physical conditioning, helping players who indulged during the holidays to lose fat quickly and build up their physical reserves. Actual tactical drills would only begin after July 15, taking advantage of the Asia tour. Jin Hayes joining the team a few days later was not a big problem.
Klopp believed that even without the coaching staff watching, Jin Hayes would maintain a qualified body fat percentage and exercise daily. He was simply the most worry-free player.
After hanging up the phone with Klopp, Jin Hayes could only continue to stay in Guangzhou and wait for the club's arrival.
He looked at Borussia Dortmund's "Asia Tour" schedule: training on July 15, the first match on July 20, against Guangzhou Evergrande. On July 23, Hangzhou Greentown. On July 25, they would travel to Shanghai to participate in the first round of the Audi Cup against familiar Bayern Munich.
If they defeated Bayern, Borussia Dortmund would compete for the Audi Cup championship on July 28 against the winner of the other semi-final—AC Milan or Manchester United. After that, they would need to rush back to Germany to participate in the German Super Cup on August 1. On August 8, the Bundesliga would start early. Due to the 2010 South Africa World Cup, this season's Bundesliga would start earlier than usual. Borussia Dortmund's pre-season preparation schedule was quite tight.
Speaking of the Audi Cup again, this was the first Audi Cup organized by the Audi Group, originally planned to be held at the Allianz Arena in Munich. To accommodate the needs of the Borussia Dortmund club and the broader Asia tour, a special edition of the tournament was organized at Hongkou Stadium, Shanghai Shenhua's home ground. Coincidentally, other clubs were all on their Asia tours at the end of July, so there was no need for back-and-forth travel regarding the schedule.
What was strenuous for Guangzhou Evergrande and Hangzhou Greentown, these two Chinese Super League clubs, was having to consecutively face "Bundesliga double champions" Borussia Dortmund, La Liga giants Real Madrid, Premier League giants Manchester United, Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, and Serie A giants AC Milan within a few days!
Guangzhou Evergrande was also in the midst of the 2009 Chinese Super League season, so they already had Chinese Super League matches. Facing five world-class giant teams consecutively within two weeks was truly a devilish schedule for Guangzhou Evergrande.
Of course, for Guangzhou fans, the summer of 2009 could be summed up in one word—awesome!
Starting from early July, subway, bus, mall advertisements, and TV commercials in Guangzhou were all broadcasting information about the upcoming matches. Jin Hayes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Robben, Ronaldinho—numerous stars appeared on the same poster, and the one in the centre was, of course, Jin Hayes!
When he was bored and took Metro Line 3 to Tianhe City for shopping, he saw his own poster on the subway. Jin Hayes almost couldn't keep a straight face.
"The Photoshop is too much. Does my photo even need Photoshop?"
But thinking about it carefully, he actually had a day when he could be mentioned alongside these world-class superstar players?
Two years ago, he couldn't even imagine such a scene, yet it became a reality two years later. Jin Hayes only felt a bit dreamlike. He could even hear people in the subway car talking about him.
"When do tickets go on sale? I want to see Jin."
"You want to see Cristiano Ronaldo, right?"
"No, no, no, I just want to watch this Borussia Dortmund match and cheer for Jin live."
"Probably soon, there aren't many days left until the match."
"Hopefully, Jin will play for a long time when he's on the field."
"Do you think he'll go easy, just stroll around on the field?"
"No way? But it's hard to say, after all, it's a commercial match, and playing against Guangzhou Evergrande is meaningless."
Jin Hayes could no longer hold back and turned to interject:
"Don't worry, Jin Hayes will definitely play seriously then, even more seriously than in the Champions League."
"How do you know?"
"Ding-dong. Passengers going to Tianhe Nan Yi Lu, Guangzhou Ren'ai Hospital, please prepare. The train is about to arrive at Sports West Road Station."
To avoid being blocked by the crowd and unable to get off, Jin Hayes didn't have time to explain to the passersby and squeezed to the door in advance. Only then did the two people behind him clearly see Jin Hayes's profile.
"Holy crap?!!"
"Jin?"
"Quick, go after him, don't let him get away."
It was too late for the passersby to realize; Jin Hayes had already disappeared into the crowd, keeping his identity hidden. They could never have imagined that such a world-class superstar would be squeezing onto the subway with them. He was so down-to-earth.
Panyu, Guangzhou University Town Sports Center.
To host the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, this "young" stadium, built in 2007, was quite new in terms of both architecture and internal facilities. Arriving in Panyu, Jin Hayes walked into the football training base with his bag and looked around the stadium, his initial impression being quite satisfactory.
Originally, he had worried that it would be a "dirt field," making his Borussia Dortmund teammates cringe. Now it seemed he had underestimated the development of domestic football infrastructure. New football fields were put into use every year, and more and more football fields appeared in every city. But why was the foundation of domestic football weak, and why were national teams getting worse? Jin Hayes still couldn't figure out this question.
If nothing unexpected happened, this should be the future training base for Guangzhou R&F. Unfortunately, it would only briefly prosper for less than a decade; this club, which had not even appeared yet, would completely disappear more than a decade later. The volatility of Chinese football was something Jin Hayes had learned to accept, even if he couldn't understand it.
The entire Borussia Dortmund team had already landed yesterday and entered the training base, and Jin Hayes had long been eager to report.
"They are already on the training ground. I'll put your suitcase in the dormitory for you."
"Thank you, Harry."
"It's what I should do."
His agent's assistant, Harry, was not only responsible for some trivial business dealings but also had to help him with many miscellaneous tasks. From Tianhe to Panyu, Harry drove him. It must be said that as a player signed under Mendes, many details showed that the agency was relatively good to its players.
"Hey! Jin, welcome back to the team!"
Entering the training ground, Klopp immediately gave him a warm hug.
"Good, good, you've kept yourself in great shape."
Klopp was extremely satisfied when he saw Jin Hayes. He showed no signs of gaining weight; his physique was still similar to last season, and he looked slightly stronger. He probably exercised consistently every day.
"Come on, let me introduce you to your new teammates."
"Are they all here?"
"Yes, the transfers this time were quite quick."
Last time Jin Hayes noticed that Borussia Dortmund had announced several signings in quick succession right after the Champions League final. Watzke's actions were quite swift. The advantage of doing this was that they could integrate and adapt in advance, avoiding dragging it out until the transfer window closed on September 1 with last-minute signings, which would leave no time for pre-season integration at all.
Regarding these new teammates, the news media didn't make much of a fuss. Lewandowski, Großkreutz, Piszczek, Shinji Kagawa, Barrios, Sven Bender—who the hell were these people? They had no fame whatsoever. Only the most die-hard Borussia Dortmund loyalists would recognize the academy players among them. Fans were temporarily sceptical about the summer signings this year.
After Nuri Şahin left, the team lacked a star player. The existing stars were only Jin Hayes and Reus; Hummels and Subotić's popularity was slightly a notch lower. Götze could only be called a promising star. The popularity of the rest was relatively average, just like the new players signed in the summer, with no big names at all.
Of course, from an insider's perspective, the summer signings were all about achieving great things with little money. Lewandowski cost only around 4.5 million euros, Shinji Kagawa around 350,000 euros, and Großkreutz was promoted from the academy, Piszczek arrived on a free transfer, Sven Bender cost a modest fee from 1860 Munich, and Barrios was signed for approximately 4.2 million euros from Colo-Colo. Most importantly, Klopp was very satisfied with the quality of these players.
"I have a feeling that our squad this year is good; we have a chance to compete! Jin, are you confident?"
"Of course!"
Klopp and Jin Hayes, the two soul figures of Borussia Dortmund, walked onto the training ground together. The new signings looked up as they approached—Kagawa, the talented Japanese midfielder with quick feet and quicker thinking; Lewandowski, the tall Polish striker with hunger in his eyes; Barrios, the Paraguayan forward who had endured a gruelling journey from South America; Großkreutz, the local boy with everything to prove; Piszczek, the versatile Polish defender; and Sven Bender, the combative young midfielder ready to learn from the best.
Jin Hayes looked around at the unfamiliar faces, then at the familiar ones—Reus, Hummels, Götze, Gündoğan. A new season. A new challenge. A new chance to make history.
A brand new season was about to begin!