I changed football.

"The match is on the 24th, and it's the 19th now. I thought you wouldn't be able to return to China until tomorrow, the 20th. I didn't expect you to be back so soon."

Li Yuan repeated the same explanation he had given earlier.

Gao Hongbo nodded repeatedly after hearing this, praising Li Yuan once again.

Li Yuan finally asked, "Coach Gao, is there something you need from me?"

Gao Hongbo then patted his head: "Look at me, I forgot. I needed to talk to you because I've decided to let you come on as a substitute in the first game against the Maldives, since you've been traveling a lot. Of course—"

"Coach Gao, my physical fitness is fine. You can check it out during training later."

"Oh?"

"My physical fitness is considered quite good for Monaco's first team, especially since the club has been quite protective of young players like me, and I haven't played many matches overall, so my physical fitness is definitely not a problem for national team matches."

Actually, Li Yuan wanted to say directly, "My physical fitness surpasses everyone on the national team," but he felt that saying that would be too arrogant, especially since Wu Xi was also on the national team at that time, and he was also a physical fitness expert.

Gao Hongbo's expression was a little strange, but he still nodded.

He might think Li Yuan's words were a bit impetuous, but Gao Hongbo really liked players like Li Yuan who were both talented and impetuous. So even though Li Yuan said that, Gao Hongbo wasn't angry and just looked like he would see what happened later.

Then--

"Hongbo, this kid's amazing! Two hours have passed, and Wu Xi is panting, but he's perfectly fine. Our physical training is already the strongest in the Chinese Super League!"

Gao Hongbo's expression turned serious at this moment.

When assistant coach Ansen saw that Gao Hongbo looked a little unwell, he comforted him, "Isn't it common knowledge that Li Yuan has such good physical fitness? It's okay."

Gao Hongbo shook his head: "I'm not angry with Li Yuan—do you know what Li Yuan just said to me?"

Ansen looked at Gao Hongbo with a puzzled expression: "What did Li Yuan say?"

"He told me that the intensity of today's two-hour training session was already quite good. I casually asked how intense his training was in Monaco, thinking it would be at most a little stronger than ours. But he told me that our training intensity is less than one-fifth of his in Monaco, and I think he was saying that out of consideration for me—"

"Impossible!" That was Anson's first reaction.

Gao Hongbo shook his head: "He had no reason to lie to me. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. I've always heard that the training intensity in the top five European leagues is very high. But now it seems that after Xi Zhe came back from Wolfsburg, even though he didn't play a single game, just by following the training, he could be seen to have improved significantly in the Chinese Super League. Not to mention Li Yuan, who has played so many games seriously."

Anson was even more confused: "Then what's the meaning behind your expression?"

Gao Hongbo lamented, "I'm thinking that Chinese football is far behind the world. This is already the highest training intensity in the country, but it's still far behind the top five European leagues."

Anson listened thoughtfully and said, "Well, let's take it one step at a time. We already have a genius like Li Yuan, and each generation will definitely be stronger than the last."

"I hope so, but at least Li Yuan has given us that hope now."

……

At 1 p.m., when they were having lunch, Wu Lei took the initiative to approach Li Yuan.

"Li Yuan, you're in such good physical condition! You finished your two-hour physical training session without even being out of breath or blushing."

If we were to name the current star player of the national team, many people would probably say it's Wu Lei.

After all, he is currently the only domestic striker who can compete for the Chinese Super League Golden Boot.

However, Li Yuan expressed his dissatisfaction. Li Yuan had no objection to Wu Lei. On the contrary, he liked Wu Lei quite a bit in his previous life. For no particular reason, he was able to give up a high salary in China and resolutely go abroad to play. This is something that not everyone can do.

Especially since Wu Lei was already at the peak of his career in the country at that time.

However, he was still willing to study abroad.

"It's alright. I'd say I'm one of the better physically fit players in Monaco, but I'm not exactly one of the best."

"Really?" Wu Lei's eyes lit up, then he asked, "Can you tell me about playing abroad?"

While eating, Li Yuan said, "Brother Lei, what aspect do you want to ask about? Studying abroad is quite complicated."

Wu Lei put down his chopsticks: "I asked quite a few questions."

"It's okay, Lei-ge, just ask me. I'll tell you everything I know."

Wu Lei then tentatively asked, "If you're going to play abroad, is language a must?"

"Well, how should I put it? It's a rather strange situation. If you're a youth academy player or simply transferred here, you'll definitely need to know the language of the league you're in. But if you're a star player, it doesn't matter. Not everyone in Monaco's squad speaks French; some don't even know the most basic football language. However, Lei, if you're going to play abroad, you don't need to worry about that. Knowing some football language on the field is enough; it's all very simple. But if you want to integrate into the locker room, language will definitely be a big help, but it certainly won't be an obstacle."

Wu Lei nodded repeatedly as he listened: "You can tell that I'm thinking of playing abroad? It's true, I've contacted several clubs now, some in Spain, some in Italy, and some in France. The key is that these three leagues all speak different languages, and there's also Denmark. In short, I don't even know which language to learn until I decide where to go."

"It's best to learn English first, so you can communicate with people wherever you go. You can always learn more after you get there."

"Li Yuan, about the training intensity you mentioned—"

"That's the least of your worries, because people have an amazing ability to adapt. You might be exhausted and nauseous during the first few training sessions, but you'll basically adapt within half a month. You can ask Zhang Xizhe; the training intensity in the Bundesliga is also very high. He was clearly very comfortable in his first season back in the Chinese Super League, but after training at the intensity in the Chinese Super League for a while, he immediately slowed down. That's the point."

Wu Lei and Li Yuan had a very pleasant conversation, and the more they talked, the happier they became.

After lunch, the two chatted in the lounge.

Wu Lei is clearly very interested in playing abroad.

However, Li Yuan knew that Wu Lei in his previous life only finally went abroad to play in January 2019.

He was already 28 years old at that time, which was frankly a bit late.

However, Wu Lei's performance for Espanyol in the early stages was quite good.

However, after being relegated to the Segunda División, Espanyol had to play a more direct and simpler style of play, and at that time, Wu Lei's compatibility with the team was not quite there.

If only Wu Lei could have gone abroad to play when he was 25 years old in 2016.

In his previous life, Li Yuan was a fan of Wu Lei. As the hope of the entire village, Li Yuan naturally hoped that Wu Lei would get better and better.

So what if Wu Lei could go abroad to play professionally earlier?

However, Li Yuan had read a lot of news in his previous life and knew about the situation at the harbor.

You can only leave after winning the championship.

What? It's not time for me to go abroad yet.

These are all ridiculous reasons.

In this life, Li Yuan's appearance rekindled Wu Lei's desire to play abroad.