Chapter 680 - 127: Reforming Arsenal! The Curse of the Number 9 Shirt! The Highest Signing Fee in History and the World’s Highest Salary

But then again, this was Wenger.

When he first arrived in the Premier League, it was he who introduced the most advanced training philosophies, completely overhauling the league’s outdated methods.

Now that he had been in the Premier League for so long, he hadn’t really noticed the subtle changes occurring across the European football scene.

"I remember, that Sad Fossett only works for the Germany National Team, right?"

"Yes. Oliver Bartlett works for both the Germany National Team and Dortmund."

"Do you have his contact information?" Wenger asked eagerly.

And as it turned out, Wang Shuo did.

He was quite familiar with Sad Fossett, thanks to Oliver Bartlett.

To Wang Shuo’s complete surprise, one week later, just as Arsenal’s summer training camp was about to begin, he saw Sad Fossett at Emirates Stadium.

He asked around and found out that Fossett had taken a part-time job with Arsenal!

’Damn, is Wenger this efficient now?’

Upon further inquiry, he learned that it wasn’t just about efficiency; Sad Fossett had already begun overhauling Arsenal’s summer training camp and was starting to build a sports performance team.

Why?

Because coaches are cheap!

No transfer fees, low salaries—you just had to cover their social security and benefits.

The investment required for one young player could support an entire coaching team.

Wang Shuo really hadn’t expected Wenger to make such a move.

"Sad, I’ll be counting on you for my strength and conditioning, then!"

"Don’t worry. I’ve already gotten your previous training data from Oliver and have a good understanding of the situation. I’ll be taking over from here."

The impression he had gotten of Wang Shuo from Oliver Bartlett was extremely positive.

Besides, Wang Shuo was the one who had recommended him for the job, so of course he would give his full support!

...

Over the past week, Wang Shuo hadn’t been idle either.

Back when they were in Germany, Wenger had mentioned that if Wang Shuo came to Arsenal, he hoped Wang Shuo would serve as the team’s captain.

In the past 10/11 season, Arsenal’s captain was Fabregas, and the vice-captain was Van Persie.

As it turned out, both of them left that summer.

It got to the point where outsiders were joking that Arsenal used to only sell their captain.

And now?

They were selling the captain and vice-captain together!

More importantly, over the past 10 years, Arsenal’s captains had basically all come to a bad end.

Vieira took the captain’s armband from the retiring legend Adams in 2002, but after only three years, he transferred to Juventus in ’05.

During that time, he was linked with Real Madrid almost every year and nearly joined the first Galaxy Battleship team.

After Vieira, Arsenal entered the Henry era, even reaching the Champions League final at one point.

But two years later, Henry left for Barça.

His successor, Gallas, lasted just over a season. The big mouth exposed negative locker room news to boost sales for his autobiography and was completely stripped of his captaincy by Wenger.

Arsenal then entered the Fabregas era.

Needless to say, Fabregas’s body was in London, but his heart was in Barça.

With Fabregas and Van Persie leaving one after the other, the veteran Amunia should have been next in line to take over.

But the Spanish goalkeeper had already lost his place with the Gunners and would most likely be loaned out this season.

Wenger wanted Wang Shuo to take on the captaincy, but for Wang Shuo, this was undoubtedly a huge challenge.

He had only just transferred to the club!

But Wenger made his reasoning crystal clear to Wang Shuo. He made the appointment because he wanted Wang Shuo to bring the determination and courage he showed in matches—that all-out, fight-to-the-bitter-end spirit—into the Arsenal locker room.

Belgian center-back Thomas Vermaelen would become Wang Shuo’s vice-captain, helping him manage the locker room.

But as captain, Wang Shuo certainly needed to familiarize himself with everything about Arsenal.

And the most important part of that was his teammates.

During that week, Wang Shuo got the phone numbers of all the first-team players, coaches, and staff from Wenger.

Not only did he get the players’ files and information from the coaching staff, but he also called several of the new signings for a brief chat.

He was particularly concerned about how they were settling in London, asking if there was anything they needed help with.

The six new signings—Subotic, Lichsteiner, Matuidi, De Bruyne, Pogba, and Hazard—had either already chosen a house but couldn’t move in yet, or hadn’t chosen one at all.

Some hadn’t even started looking.

Wang Shuo spoke with the club and simply arranged for them to be put up in the same hotel he was staying in.

And on the same floor.

This would make picking them up and dropping them off much more convenient.

Meanwhile, Wang Shuo also took the time to have a face-to-face conversation with Amunia.

Even though Amunia wasn’t getting any playing time and was even facing the prospect of being loaned out, he was currently the longest-serving player at Arsenal.

He had arrived at the Gunners in 2004, a full seven years ago.

Wang Shuo also humbly asked Amunia for advice on many aspects of managing the locker room.

The Spanish goalkeeper was a very decent person and held nothing back, telling Wang Shuo everything he knew. He went over all sorts of things to watch out for, as well as the personalities and traits of many players in the locker room.

For example, Amunia specifically mentioned Alexandre Song.

"Don’t be fooled by his boisterous and cheerful personality. He’s actually very sensitive, especially when it comes to money and family background. You have to be extra careful about that. He doesn’t like to be treated differently."

"Is his family situation that bad?" Wang Shuo asked, puzzled.