Chapter 684 - 128: The Gunners’ Tyrant! Grace and Might! The Bar Brawl Incident

If the suggestions were reasonable, he would adopt them. If not, he would explain why.

So, in the first few days after the training camp began, aside from training, Wang Shuo spent most of his time talking privately with the players, showing respect for each one and listening to their suggestions.

After gathering the players’ opinions, if it was something he could handle independently as captain, Wang Shuo took care of it himself.

If it required communication with the coaching staff, Wang Shuo would proactively relay the feedback.

He truly became a bridge between the locker room and the coaching staff.

Within a few days, everyone gradually came to believe that he was there to serve and help, not to control and command.

In the locker room, Wang Shuo also took some concrete actions.

For example, he established mutual support groups.

It started with a few of the new signings, many of whom didn’t speak English or weren’t fluent.

English was the designated language in the Arsenal locker room.

Even in the earlier years, when there were many players from France, they were required to speak English in the locker room.

But as locker room discipline had lapsed, many players who had been with the team for a year or two still weren’t fluent in English.

This was no small matter!

Former Barça midfielder Deco, after moving to Chelsea, had once remarked with deep feeling, "If you can’t integrate into the local life, you can’t integrate into the team at all."

And to integrate into local life, you first had to master the language and understand the culture.

A lack of fluency in English meant higher communication barriers and an increased chance of misunderstandings.

In serious cases, it could even lead to internal conflicts in the locker room.

So, Wang Shuo proposed that in addition to hiring English tutors, players on the team who were fluent in English should help the new signings or teammates whose English was weaker.

This mentorship would be voluntary, breaking down the so-called barriers between superstars and rookies, starters and substitutes.

Wang Shuo, for instance, participated personally.

In the past two years, with Shen Qinghe as his personal assistant, Wang Shuo had worked hard on his English in preparation for playing in other leagues. As a result, his English was now on par with his German.

The same couldn’t be said for everyone else.

For example, though both De Bruyne and Hazard came from Belgium, De Bruyne was fluent in Dutch, while Hazard was fluent in French.

And as it happened, both of their English skills were quite average.

It was only when communicating with them that Wang Shuo learned how complex the language situation in Belgium was.

Through these support groups, he aimed to break down various cliques and help teammates integrate into the squad through mutual assistance.

On a more detailed level, Wang Shuo also listened to his teammates’ suggestions and proposed several supportive measures.

These included acknowledging players’ birthdays, helping with family issues, and more.

Wang Shuo still remembered how after Klopp helped Santana resolve a family issue, the Brazilian center-back’s form had been excellent.

There were also more specific cases. For example, Chamak was Muslim and observed Ramadan every year, which required special consideration.

All of these actions helped Wang Shuo gradually build his credibility in the locker room.

Beyond the locker room, Wang Shuo’s performance on the training ground left everyone astounded.

As the team’s biggest superstar, he was the first to arrive at the training facility and the last to leave every day.

He gave his all in every single training drill.

Even for drills that forwards typically disliked, such as defensive pressing and tracking back, or for sessions in the gym that technical players often dreaded, Wang Shuo never cut corners.

In fact, he did them better than anyone else!

This made the Arsenal players realize that the rumors about Wang Shuo were completely true.

With their captain so focused and committed, the other players naturally had no excuse to slack off.

But just as Wang Shuo was forging Arsenal’s team spirit and gradually building his authority in the locker room, the British Sun suddenly broke a story about a violent scandal involving an Arsenal player.

...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"Come in."

Sitting behind his desk, Wenger looked up. A flash of appreciation crossed his weary eyes as he saw Wang Shuo open the door and enter.

In just a few short days, Wang Shuo was proving to be an increasingly effective captain.

But professional football was never just about what happened on the pitch.

As Wang Shuo walked over, he saw a copy of that day’s Sun Newspaper lying on Wenger’s desk.

The headline read: HORROR! ARSENAL STAR ASSAULTS INNOCENT STUDENT IN BAR, FACES TWO YEARS IN PRISON!

It was the front-page story in that morning’s Sun Newspaper.

The story reported that before the team had assembled, on the eve of his return to London, Alexandre Song had been involved in a conflict at a bar in Douala, Cameroon.

The victims were a couple, both university students.

According to the male student, he and his girlfriend had gone to the bar for a night out. His girlfriend went to the restroom and hadn’t returned after a full fifteen minutes, so he went to look for her.

He was then stopped by two powerfully-built bodyguards, who blocked him from going any further to find her.

The student, of course, refused to back down and got into a physical altercation with the bodyguards. He was knocked to the ground and had to be taken to the hospital.

And these two bodyguards were employed by Alexandre Song.

Several days had passed since the incident, but this morning it had finally hit the front page of the Sun Newspaper, causing a massive uproar.

"What’s his side of the story?" Wenger asked, looking at Wang Shuo.

"He says he didn’t hit anyone, and that the two men weren’t bodyguards, but relatives who were there to protect him."

"Then what really happened?"

"He said that after he was recognized in the bar, a lot of people started hounding him for autographs, including the male student’s girlfriend. The scene became chaotic, and some people tried to rush him. His relatives, in an effort to stop people from getting too close, were a bit rough and ended up knocking the student to the ground."