Chapter Forty-Two: A New Position

Hearing what Dai Guangming said, everyone around immediately widened their eyes in anticipation. Hu Gantang laughed and said, "Of course, the training will be gradually adjusted according to each person's physique. After all, you’re both new here. I think in a few days, no one will stop A-Long from extra training at night. As for Zhou Wei… I suppose his training content will be reduced a bit."

"You’re all picking on me!" Zhou Wei cried out, but before his shout finished, the others had scattered, rushing back to their beds and lying down to sleep.

"Damn! How did I end up knowing people like you? It’s simply a disgrace!" Zhou Wei muttered, but he too lay down—if he didn’t take a proper nap, he, with his weak and frail body, might not make it through the afternoon training, even if the others managed just fine.

Compared to the morning, the afternoon training was much more refined. Coach Ding Yu was not the only coach for the fourth-grade class—in fact, each age group team was assigned four to five coaches according to position. Coaches like Ding Yu were responsible for overall basic training and certain specialized aspects.

During the idle chatter after their nap, Long Bisheng learned from Dai Guangming that their coach, Ding Yu, was no ordinary figure.

At twenty-four, he had graduated from the Cologne Sports University in Germany with top marks, making him one of the first Chinese to graduate from a renowned European sports institution. Upon returning to China, he quickly became the assistant coach for Yunjia Tianyu. When the club’s first foreign head coach, the Frenchman Arthur Wenger, left in '96, Ding Yu served as acting head coach for half a year. Unfortunately, after leading the team to a runner-up finish in the league and recognizing his shortcomings in coaching, he voluntarily resigned and led the reserve squad to two consecutive reserve league championships. In the first half of this year, he had been working as assistant coach under their current Spanish head coach, Rafael Benitez. And now, he had appeared at Yunjia Tianyu Football School as a youth coach—did this mean he had fallen out of favor at the club and been demoted to the school?

"Impossible!" Upon hearing Dai Guangming’s speculation, Hu Gantang immediately shook his head. "Just over a week ago, I saw Ding Yu on the Yunjia Tianyu bench during a league match! How could such a drastic change happen in just a few days?"

"If that’s the case…" Dai Guangming, looking thoughtful in a way quite unlike a ten-year-old, continued, "…then there’s only one explanation. Someone in our class is highly valued by the club. Otherwise, they wouldn’t send such an important assistant coach to train youth players, even if only part-time."

Everyone agreed with this reasoning, but as for who this highly valued person was, opinions varied. Aside from Long Bisheng, everyone believed it must be themselves.

In Long Bisheng’s eyes, his classmates were all outstanding—especially his six roommates, who were the best among them. Yet he overlooked one thing: this dormitory’s lineup was only formed this year and essentially covered all the key defensive and midfield positions. For someone like him, a complete novice, to be added to such an excellent group—could that not mean something special?

Long Bisheng didn’t dwell on this. For him, the most pressing goal was to establish himself at Yunjia Tianyu Football School. As for anything else… he'd only just woken up, and hadn’t even brushed his teeth.

But then, why had the coach placed him with the forwards group in afternoon training? Hadn’t he registered as a center-back?

The truth was, Long Bisheng didn’t particularly like playing center-back, but he didn’t know what other position he could fill. At least as a center-back, if you were good at headers and strong physically, you had some edge, and in these aspects, he had a slight advantage.

Yet Ding Yu’s words still echoed in his ears: "You’re not suited to playing center-back. It’s a position where mistakes are absolutely unforgivable, and your speed and turning ability mean you’re likely to make errors on the pitch. However, your height and heading ability are rare talents—if used properly, it will be hard for your peers to stop you. And given your age, you’ll likely grow even taller; this is your gift."

Long Bisheng was stunned—height counted as a talent?

"Indeed, height and heading alone aren’t enough to make a good center-back. Your weaknesses are speed and agility. But if I push you up to the front line, those weaknesses disappear," Ding Yu continued. "I don’t know why your previous coaches put you at center-back, a position that only exposed your flaws, but for me, that’s in the past. You’re still young and have plenty of time to adapt to a new position. From today on, you’ll gradually learn how to play as a forward, to feel what it’s like inside the opponent’s penalty area. I can assure you, you’ll come to love this new position."

Since a coach who had once acted as head coach for Yunjia Tianyu, and led the reserve team to two national championships, said so, what else could Long Bisheng say?

Play as a forward, then. Besides, Long Bisheng truly didn’t know what position suited him best. If there were so many limitations to playing center-back, perhaps becoming a forward would be a good change.

Moreover, being a forward seemed much more glorious than being a defender. Isn’t there a saying that a forward can disappear for eighty-nine minutes, but if he scores in the last minute, he’s a hero; while a defender, even after eighty-nine minutes of solid defending, can become a scapegoat with a single mistake?

Hero or villain—who wouldn’t choose the former?

Yet unfortunately, Long Bisheng hadn’t considered the other side of things: being a forward comes with far more pressure than being a defender. Even the world’s best strikers face doubts if they go two games without scoring, whereas defenders rarely suffer such scrutiny.

From this day on, Long Bisheng had a new position. From this day, he began to train as a forward. What he didn’t yet know was that this position would become the only one he’d ever play in his career.

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