The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 38 - 24: Protect My Wang Shuo

"Congratulations, you have drawn the Regional Level Passive Skill [Ball Sense]."

Wang Shuo was utterly stunned the moment the pentagon face for [Ball Sense] lit up.

’Good heavens, is this for real?’

’I can even draw a passive skill as abstract as Ball Sense?’

Wang Shuo simply couldn’t believe it.

In almost every field, there’s a certain abstract quality.

Things like "Ball Sense," a "feel" for things, or a "good touch."

But no one has ever been able to systematically or scientifically describe what it truly is.

Having played football for so many years, Wang Shuo had heard the term countless times.

On the surface, it seems simple.

Some say the easiest way to improve Ball Sense is to practice juggling.

But that’s not true.

You can be great at juggling but still be terrible on the pitch.

That’s what makes it so mysterious.

When Wang Shuo focused his attention on [Ball Sense], he discovered the system had a definition for it.

"Ball Sense: Accelerates neural response speed and enhances the feel for the ball."

Here, Ball Sense was defined as an interaction between three things: the brain, the body, and the football.

The brain receives information about the football through various senses across the body. It then precisely interprets, analyzes, and predicts the ball’s movement. Finally, it uses fine muscle control to manipulate the football.

It can be a natural talent.

Some people are born with exceptionally fast neural responses and superior muscle control.

However, it can also be developed through relentless, repeated training to accelerate neural responses and improve one’s feel for the ball, ultimately making the entire interaction faster, more efficient, and more precise.

Reading this, Wang Shuo could already imagine the immense impact the [Ball Sense] passive skill would have on him.

It wasn’t as simple as just improving his ball control and general technique.

This passive skill brought an upgrade to his entire sensory system, a strengthening of his central nervous system, and more refined control over his muscles.

This was a complete, all-around upgrade!

And the facts proved Wang Shuo’s assessment correct.

After obtaining the Regional Level [Ball Sense], Wang Shuo discovered that in his Active Skills list, every skill related to the ball—from Passing and ball control to Dribbling and Shooting—had all been upgraded to the Professional Level.

Even his goalkeeping was raised to the Semi-Professional Level.

This was a comprehensive upgrade of all his on-the-ball skills!

Of course, for now, these upgrades were only potential. Wang Shuo would need to actualize them through training.

But that was only a matter of time.

Wang Shuo now felt a burning desire; he was desperate to light up all twelve pentagonal faces.

He had only lit up four faces, and his ability was already this outstanding.

’What if all twelve faces were lit?’

’What if all twelve of these passive skills were maxed out?’

’What astonishing level would he reach then?’

’Would he be as divinely unpredictable as Ronaldinho?’

’Or as unstoppable as Kaka?’

’Or as irresistibly dominant as Ronaldo during his time at Barcelona?’

Wang Shuo couldn’t even imagine it.

Every passive skill brought about a complete metamorphosis.

’The Ball God System?’

’It really is divine!’

...

「The next morning.」

As usual, Klopp arrived at the training grounds an hour before the players were scheduled to begin.

When he reached the north side of Bruch Road Stadium, he found his assistant, Zeliko Buvac, leaning against the wire fence surrounding the training pitch, watching someone train inside.

"Morning, Zeliko."

Klopp walked over.

"Morning, Jurgen." Buvac didn’t even turn his head.

"Who’s in there?" Klopp asked, surprised.

’That’s some serious dedication.’

"That Chinese kid."

"It’s him?!"

Klopp was taken aback. He looked closer and saw that it was, indeed, Wang Shuo.

He had a football and was on the pitch by himself, practicing some of the most basic technical drills.

These fundamental drills were incredibly dull and tedious. Even young children had a hard time settling down to practice them patiently.

That’s why youth coaches often had to design game-like exercises to keep the kids engaged.

By the time a player turned twelve, almost no one practiced them anymore.

Once a player’s body was fully developed, practicing them didn’t yield much of an effect anyway.

And on a professional first team, you’d never see anyone practicing such mind-numbingly boring, basic drills.

But there was Wang Shuo, out on the pitch, practicing them over and over again.

"The others told me he’s been here for over an hour. He’s the first one in," Buvac said, his face full of admiration.

"Kramny mentioned before that the kid doesn’t just give his all on the pitch, but in training too. Looks like he was right."

Like Kramny, Klopp had a soft spot for players who gave their absolute all.

"Don’t you sense anything?" Buvac turned his head and gave Klopp an odd look.

"Sense what?" Klopp was completely baffled.

Buvac furrowed his brow. He opened his mouth to say something several times but couldn’t find the words.

"Look at his movements, his rhythm... they’re clearly basic drills, but when he does them, it’s like they have a special cadence. It’s like he’s gracefully dancing."

Klopp’s eyes shot open. He looked up at the sky, speechless, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright, alright, I get what you’re trying to say, Zeliko. But right now, we need to get back and prepare for practice."

Klopp knew his friend and right-hand man better than anyone.

Back when Buvac played, he was a midfield playmaker.

He had the personality of a bohemian artist.

’Don’t believe me?’

’Just look at that long, center-parted hair of his.’

’It’s 2008. Who still wears their hair like that?’

’I could understand if you were Argentine, but you’re from the Balkan Peninsula—a literal powder keg!’

’Shouldn’t you have a fiery temper?’

"I’m being serious," Buvac said, knowing Klopp didn’t believe him.

’The guy was a defender when he played. He’s tall and well-built, so what?’

’Big for nothing!’

’Not an artistic bone in his body.’

’No wonder he can’t see what’s different about Wang Shuo today.’

"Yes, yes, of course. I believe you. I believe you."

Klopp laughed, slinging an arm over Buvac’s shoulders and half-pushing, half-pulling him into the training facility.

After so many years together, he knew how to handle his partner.

However, during the training session that followed, everyone—Klopp included—noticed something different about Wang Shuo.

How to put it?

It was a very peculiar feeling.

Anyone who had played football could sense it.

During his two weeks of training with the team, Wang Shuo had given the impression of being diligent and fast, with a great work rate and coverage.

He also showed intelligent movement off the ball.

As for his technique?

It might have been decent for the U19 youth team, but on the Mainz first team, it was simply not up to snuff.

Klopp, Buvac, and the others were all former professional players, so of course, they wouldn’t judge Wang Shuo’s potential based on that alone.

Real life wasn’t a video game.

Every player had limitless possibilities.

Take Klopp himself, for example. Before coming to Mainz and becoming a defender, he had no idea he could even play in a professional league.

In professional football, youth itself was the greatest potential!

Therefore, they were still very optimistic about Wang Shuo.

But now, they noticed that the way Wang Shuo handled the ball in training was clearly different.

This was especially apparent when he was double-teamed by Subotic and Nowitzki. Receiving the ball with his back to them, Wang Shuo trapped it to his left, spun around, and just before Nowitzki could close him down, he cut the ball back with his right foot.

With a quick series of touches with both feet, he dribbled his way through the gap between the two center-backs.

The entire sequence of moves was executed in one smooth, fluid motion, and it was incredibly fast.

They had never seen anything like that from Wang Shuo in the past two weeks.

"The kid really has improved!" Klopp exclaimed in surprise.

Buvac shot his friend a look and let out a smug "Hmph!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

’What did I tell you?’

’But you wouldn’t believe me.’

’Now you believe me, don’t you?’

Of course, one training session didn’t really prove anything.

What if he was just in good form and having a great day?

Over the next few days, both Klopp and Buvac kept a close eye on Wang Shuo’s training, including the extra practice he put in on his own time.

After just two days, they were absolutely certain: Wang Shuo’s technique had genuinely improved.

And the improvement was huge—and incredibly fast.

’This doesn’t make any sense!’

...

"That’s because you don’t know Wang Shuo’s history."

During a break from training, Kramny, the U19 coach, dropped by the first-team practice to check on his beloved protégé. Hearing Klopp and Buvac’s bewilderment, he smiled knowingly.

"What do you mean by that?" Klopp was baffled.

Even Buvac wore an expression that said he wouldn’t rest until he got a clear explanation.

"Wang Shuo’s home country, China, has a terrible youth development system. They barely even have formal youth league competitions."

"I heard from Thomas Essien that he grew up in a poor mountain village and only started playing football at the age of ten. After showing promise, he was scouted by Gao Huairen—who used to play for Borussia Mönchengladbach—and was sent to a small island for training."

"A deserted island?"

Klopp and Buvac’s imaginations were clearly running wild.

’A football-playing Robinson Crusoe?’

"Er, strictly speaking, it wasn’t an island. It was a suburb of Hu City, one of China’s most prosperous cities."

"So, before coming to Germany, Wang Shuo was constantly practicing, but he had very little actual match experience."

It suddenly dawned on Klopp and Buvac.

In other words, Wang Shuo was severely lacking in real-game experience.

’So he had the technique all along, but didn’t know how to apply it.’

That would explain why he was gradually revealing more of his abilities and traits as he got more playing time.

"If that’s the case, then his potential is even higher than we imagined!"

Buvac had always been high on Wang Shuo, but now he felt they had to completely re-evaluate the boy’s potential.

Klopp wholeheartedly agreed.

He was even starting to think that Wang Shuo was simply unfathomable.

For one thing, he had arrived at Mainz on March 16th.

In the short two months since then, he had played six matches—five for the U19s and one in the 2nd Bundesliga—and he had gotten better with every single game.

His rate of improvement was like a rocket taking off.

Klopp and Buvac had been around professional football for many years; when had they ever seen a young player like this?

Klopp had been considering whether to give Borja another chance.

After all, the Ecuadorian forward was the team’s top scorer and had just broken his goal drought.

’But now?’

Realizing this, he felt he had to keep giving Wang Shuo opportunities.

He wanted to see for himself just how much of a surprise the ever-improving Wang Shuo could deliver.

"Jurgen, Zeliko."

Kramny had no idea what effect his words had on Klopp and Buvac.

But as the one who discovered Wang Shuo, he had his own concerns.

"Wang Shuo is a really great kid—diligent, self-disciplined, and talented. But he just pushes himself too hard, and that’s not a good thing."

Klopp and Buvac exchanged a puzzled glance.

’Since when is working hard a bad thing?’

But then it dawned on them both.

Kramny was worried Wang Shuo would get injured.

Wang Shuo was too young.

Training too hard and pushing oneself to the limit wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

During their rapid development phase, the biggest fear for young players is injury.

A single injury could sideline a player for several months, wiping out a year or two of progress in an instant.

A serious injury could even leave a player unable to ever recover.

For a player like Wang Shuo, who went all out on both the pitch and the training ground, the risk of injury was indeed high.

"Don’t worry, I’ll find a chance to talk to him." Klopp felt he should take on the responsibility of protecting Wang Shuo.

"I’ll have a word with the team doctors," Buvac also promised.

Everyone said Wang Shuo was a lot like Michael Owen.

’But wasn’t it injuries and a poorly-timed transfer that kept Owen from reaching his full potential?’