Just as the China team arrived in Hamburg, Germany, and rested for three days to prepare for the second warm-up game against Tunisia, a storm of public opinion surrounding Qin Xiong was set off in London.
The Arsenal Football Club spread the news that Qin Xiong had asked for the highest salary and was the leader of the team to exceed Henry's contract renewal conditions!
A stone stirred up a thousand ripples.
No one knew how the information was leaked out. After all, there were too many people who knew about it.
Qin Xiong's contract renewal was placed in a board meeting, and the management of the team was also aware of it.
Fleet Street did not mind making a gimmick out of this news.
It had already caused a negative reaction among the fan base.
Many fans thought that Qin Xiong was young and that he could succeed Henry, but he should naturally take over the Arsenal crown from Henry's hands, and should not stage a "usurpation of power" at this point in time when Henry was crowned the Career Grand Slam and the best striker in Europe for three consecutive years.
Some people also thought that Qin Xiong was a little greedy. If he exceeded Henry's contract treatment, then Qin Xiong would become one of the top ten star players in the world with weekly contract treatment!
Although Arsenal's salary system expenditure during this period was no longer among the powerhouse teams, the treatment given to Henry could be ranked in the top ten in the world. This showed how big the disparity in the salary system in the Arsenal team was. But it was also because of this that Henry's position in the team was extraordinary.
Fleet Street continued to follow up on this matter. As Qin Xiong's contract renewal conditions seemed to be very harsh, Fleet Street also began to predict Qin Xiong's future. There were different opinions, but they were just guesses.
Wenger, who was on vacation in his hometown in France, was blocked by reporters who bombarded him with questions about Qin Xiong's contract renewal. Wenger had to respond to the matter in an interview.
"Arsenal is absolutely sincere and confident in keeping Qin Xiong. He is a key player in the team and the team's future needs him. But recently, the media has mistakenly compared Qin Xiong and Henry. I think that in a few years, Qin Xiong will be treated like Henry at Arsenal. He will be loved and respected by every Arsenal fan. He should be more patient on this matter. In any case, there is no problem between the club and Qin Xiong. I am sure that he has no intention of leaving and the contract renewal will be finalized soon."
Wenger's response to the matter was quickly heard by Qin Xiong.
When he read Wenger's original words in the newspaper in a high-end hotel in Hamburg, his eyelids twitched. It was an unnatural reaction. He did not know whether it was the words or the content of the article that made him feel uncomfortable.
Another few years?
Why did everyone tell him to wait another few years?
Was he really wrong? Was it naive to blindly and arrogantly challenge Henry?
At this time, he thought of another possibility that made him feel very helpless.
From an emotional point of view, not many Arsenal fans would be happy to see him replace Henry!
Because people were always nostalgic.
Qin Xiong replacing Henry.
In other words, it might be a kind of harm to Henry!
Would the fans, who had a deeper memory of Henry's heroism, be happy to see this phenomenon?
No!
Thinking about it from another perspective, Qin Xiong felt that the answer was no.
This was already a choice that had nothing to do with the essence of the game. The emotional choice dominated!
Therefore, the Arsenal people's idea was beautiful: in a few years!
When Henry reached the end of his career, he would hand over the supreme scepter of the Arsenal to Qin Xiong. Then Qin Xiong would logically become the new soul of the team, and Henry would honorably retire at the same time.
This was a very beautiful idea.
However, the Earth did not revolve around Arsenal!
Qin Xiong was really not selfless to the point of being willing to contribute. He always believed that he should receive as much as he gave. Whether to give or not, the decision was in his own hands. Just like no one could force him to take out his income to do charity, he would put his ideas into action and set up a charity organization like the Rivertown Youth Football Home.
He would not be held hostage by his emotions and would not make concessions for other people's good wishes.
Therefore, he was not comfortable in his heart.
Especially after seeing the survey results from the London Arsenal fans, his heart was a little confused and a little cold.
Many Arsenal fans thought that Qin Xiong should listen to Wenger's advice and be more patient.
He was already the Crown Prince of Highbury and was only waiting for Henry to abdicate.
Did it have to come to this point?
Yes, in the eyes of the outside world, Qin Xiong was fooling around!
People would only say that Qin Xiong, who received a weekly salary of less than 20,000 pounds, was still hesitant about renewing his contract when the club was willing to give him 100,000 pounds and wanted to ask for more money. This was greed.
But they would not look back on his contribution in the past two years, but he still received a weekly salary of less than 20,000 pounds and whether it was a loss for him.
Things were developing in a bad direction.
On the morning of the China team's match against Tunisia in Hamburg, Qin Xiong received a call from Arsenal's vice-chairman, Dane, to meet him alone at a local mid-range coffee shop in Hamburg.
Qin Xiong only thought that the other party wanted to bypass his agent and have a meeting with him, so he agreed.
Perhaps Arsenal thought that Qin Xiong was controlled by Freddy and obeyed his agent's orders.
He wanted to directly influence Qin Xiong's thinking.
Qin Xiong planned to directly tell Dane that the decision to surpass Henry and become the team's number one star player was made by himself!
The World Cup was approaching, and the fanatical football atmosphere in Germany was getting stronger. Even if it was a friendly game, there were still many fans from Germany and all over the world who came to support it.
Qin Xiong was included in the starting list. In the players' tunnel, he greeted his former teammate, Trabelsi, and then chatted casually.
Tunisia also wanted to warm up with an Asian team before the World Cup, which coincided with the idea of the China team.
The World Cup in Germany would be the fourth World Cup for the Tunisia team. They had participated in the World Cup in 1998 and 2002. In terms of experience, they had more than the China team and were slightly more confident. Although the Tunisia team had not won a victory in the last two World Cups and naturally could not break into the top 16, they were more confident than the China team who went home with nine goals and three consecutive defeats in the last World Cup.
At the start of the game, the Tunisia team launched a storm-like attack.
They set up a formation to destroy the China team with offense. A single defensive midfielder, three midfielders, and two forwards. The diamond 4-4-2 formation was full of offensive desire.
Fortunately, the China team was reminded by Qin Xiong to be careful when he mobilized before the game. Although there was a panic in the early part of the game and defensive dangers frequently appeared, after the 20th minute of the game, the China team eased the pressure and stood firm. They began to play beautiful attacks.
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