Chapter 731 - 135: Three Consecutive Wins! Unstoppable! Shocking Massacre! Overwhelming Victory! Top-Tier Defensive Midfielder and Winter Break Signings!

If the European Football Scene is a semi-closed little circle, then the circle of players is no different. In this circle, reputation is undoubtedly of utmost importance. Many superstars who shine brilliantly on the pitch are actually a total mess off it, possessing terrible reputations within the circle. This isn’t surprising. Those who manage to become professional players usually start training from a very young age, resulting in dismal academic backgrounds. Young, rich, famous, and uneducated. When all these elements converge in a single group, the outcome is entirely predictable.

To the point where things like soliciting prostitutes, gambling, and brawling don’t even qualify as news within the industry. To break the internet, scandals have to escalate to the sensational heights of drug abuse, sleeping with a brother’s wife, or having an affair with a teammate’s partner. Anyway, the bar for controversy in this industry has been raised to unprecedented heights. Case in point: that idiot from Manchester City, Balotelli, set off fireworks in his own bathroom and ended up burning his house down. The fire department had to be called, which instantly skyrocketed him to the front pages.

Players, like people in any other profession, are a mixed bag; you can find all sorts of characters among them. Thus, word-of-mouth reputation naturally becomes a relatively reliable way to judge and understand someone. After all, who doesn’t have a few friends and teammates?

From his debut at Mainz, to his rise to fame at Dortmund, and now his transfer to Arsenal, Wang Shuo’s reputation had remained sterling every step of the way. Teammates came and went in waves, but he got along well with everyone. If he encountered people he genuinely couldn’t click with, he simply kept his distance off the pitch while maintaining professional cooperation on it. Outside of matches, apart from mandatory team activities, they basically never interacted.

Wang Shuo had also heard quite a few things about Gareth Bale. The Welshman was quite a decent guy! However, since their clubs were bitter rivals and Arsenal had just pulled off a comeback victory against Tottenham at the White Hart Lane Stadium, the two didn’t interact on the pitch. Instead, they bumped into each other in the players’ tunnel while heading back to the dressing rooms.

While they were swapping jerseys, Modric also returned. The Croatia Midfielder took the initiative to walk over, giving Wang Shuo a high-five and a hug to congratulate him.

"I simply can’t believe it. After playing for a full ninety minutes, you could still sprint with the ball like that. We couldn’t stop you at all," Modric praised from the bottom of his heart. As a Midfielder—and one renowned for his Dribbling Skills—he knew exactly how much weight Wang Shuo’s performance carried in this match. Especially those last two goals.

"By that point, your Midfielders had already surrendered." Wang Shuo smiled and nodded. The situation back then had indeed been urgent; he had been completely cut off from the ball in the frontcourt. So, he took the initiative to drop back, receive the ball himself, and drive it forward.

"Your outside-of-the-foot technique is very interesting too. I noticed that you used it for Passing several times during the match. Looking one way and passing the other—it’s highly deceptive," Wang Shuo complimented Modric in return.

"That’s his signature move," Gareth Bale praised.

"Gareth, honestly, I think you’d do pretty well if you played on the right wing."

"The right wing?" Gareth Bale understood Wang Shuo’s implication. "Our coach says the same thing."

"Maybe you could study Robben. I’ve focused on analyzing his cuts inside from the right wing before, and I’ve chatted with him a few times. I find his style very interesting."

"What about Messi?" Gareth Bale asked.

Wang Shuo shook his head. "I’ve talked to Messi too. His brain is just wired differently from ours, and his center of gravity is incredibly low."

"Wang, I have a question I’d like to ask you," Modric suddenly chimed in.

"Go ahead."

"During the match, I saw you execute several dribbling Breakthroughs. Which of your feints were real and which were fake? How exactly do you do it?"

"You’re trying to fish for my secrets so you can use them against me next time, aren’t you?"

Modric and Gareth Bale were both amused. The question was indeed a bit sensitive.

"But it’s fine. I can tell you: if you react and move, it’s a fake. If you stay still, it’s real!" Wang Shuo answered candidly. He wasn’t afraid to share. If it were that easy to defend against, he would have been completely shut down long ago, from the Bundesliga to the Premier League.

Never challenge someone’s profession with your mere hobby! Professional football was exactly that—a profession. And the top leagues of the European Football Scene were the epitome of professional expertise. Every coach would use every conceivable method to suppress their opponents. Wang Shuo, in particular, was a prime target for them.

This was precisely why Wang Shuo had now decided to prioritize upgrading his National Level Passive Skills. He simply wanted to further enhance his overall versatility. Wang Shuo’s confident statement made both Gareth Bale and Modric’s eyes light up, as if a whole new world had just been opened to them. Naturally, top-tier superstars had a profoundly different perception and understanding of football.

***

After the seventh round of the Premier League concluded, Liverpool defeated Everton 2-0 away from home, Manchester City crushed Blackburn 4-0 on the road, and Manchester United secured a 2-0 home victory against Norwich. But the most eye-catching result of this round was Chelsea’s 5-1 demolition of Bolton away from home. Lampard scored a hat-trick.

To some extent, this corroborated what Wenger had said earlier. The better the dressing room heavyweights like Lampard, Terry, and Drogba performed, the more awkward Boas’s situation became. Yet, ironically, they were currently Chelsea’s core fighting force. Boas had even made his stance clear the moment he took office, signaling his intent to sideline these very veterans. Now that the veterans were performing so exceptionally well, how was Boas going to handle it?