Chapter 23

In recent times, for the three young players of Ma Jings, it has undoubtedly been a dreamlike period, especially for Kamarcho.

Kamarcho actually knew that he would eventually join the first team; he was absolutely confident about this. If he lacked this confidence, he wouldn't have rejected Real Madrid's invitation to join this club. According to his plan, he would start entering the first team next season, and then he might need to be a substitute for about one to two seasons. Of course, if he had enough playing opportunities, it was not impossible to speed up this process. However, the arrival of one person changed his plan.

Lin Sen came a week ago to tell him and the other two teammates that they would soon be called up. Then, in the weekend match, he got the chance to play, although it was only for a brief ten minutes. For him, those ten minutes would be unforgettable for life, not only because it was his first time stepping onto the highest stage of Spanish football, but also because the goal that equalized the score started from his feet.

His father told him that there were already professional agents who wanted to be his agent, which excited Kamarcho. Having a professional agent is one of the signs of officially becoming a professional player. However, his father also told him that he should focus all his energy on football, and that he would handle this matter. Kamarcho agreed, as long as he could become a professional player.

Kamarcho was very grateful to Lin Sen. Although he was young, he could easily sense the importance of the previous match to Lin Sen from the expressions and words of others. And Lin Sen let him play in the final moments of the match. If this wasn't trust, what was?

How to repay the coach's trust, for the seventeen-year-old Kamarcho, was simple: to train hard.

As usual, the team had to return to training the day after the match, and only the next day could they rest. Of course, the starting players from the previous match only did some recovery training, while the other substitutes trained with the same intensity. Thus, the three youngest players in the first team began to train with all their might. In the friendly match, De Gea saved three shots from Reyes in a row, the youngest of the three, Koke, already had the demeanor of a future Atletico Madrid midfield core, with one pass and one shot, and Kamarcho, after he slid to tackle and intercepted Simao's fourth ball, the already irritable Simao finally exploded, pushing Kamarcho away as he got up.

Simao indeed had reasons to be angry... or rather, conditions. This season, Atletico Madrid claimed to have invested 80 million euros, and he and Reyes, as the two most important signings, accounted for nearly half of it, 20 million for one and 12 million for the other. However, these two were excluded from the match list for the first time this season due to non-injury reasons. Although it could be said that they brought it upon themselves, no one said that self-inflicted actions couldn't lead to anger, especially since Atletico Madrid ended a six-game losing streak and achieved a morale-boosting draw without them. What made Simao even more frustrated was that he himself gradually realized that his refusal to play was a completely irrational act, and he still didn't understand why he had refused to play at the time.

Thus, on one side, his professional player's sense of duty told him that he was wrong and should apologize, while on the other side, his pride and self-esteem as a star player made it impossible for him to open his mouth, especially to a coach he saw as amateur. In this contradictory state of mind, he became one of the most hardworking players on the training ground. He didn't know why he was working so hard, perhaps to prove that he deserved a starting position, or purely to vent his dissatisfaction. Regardless of the reason, Simao was unlucky, because if he had encountered other senior players, they might have chosen to give way and let him perform, but he happened to meet Kamarcho, who was determined to repay the coach.

Maxi and Antonio saw the situation and immediately stepped forward to separate the two, while Lin Sen watched coldly from the sidelines. He knew that Simao was making a fuss, but he didn't plan to respond. Refusing to play was something that would make even a clay Buddha angry, and on this matter, he wouldn't make any concessions. A public apology in front of the whole team? Not enough! Far from enough! Lin Sen was waiting for them to come to him.

Sure enough, after the training ended, Lin Sen waited in his office for Simao and Reyes to arrive.

"What's the matter?" Lin Sen's expression was particularly calm, as he had expected their arrival.

"Coach... sir." It was Simao who spoke, but his voice and expression were both stiff, "We both want to know if we will play in the next match. If not, we want a reason."

"No. Not just the next match, but the one after that as well." Lin Sen glanced at Simao and said calmly, "If you need a reason, it's simple. I can even let you choose, tactical reasons, physical reasons, any reason will do."

As soon as Lin Sen finished speaking, both Simao and Reyes looked a bit stunned, clearly not expecting such a direct response.

"I thought this matter was over." After a suffocating silence, Reyes, who had been silent all along, finally spoke, "You can't keep using this reason to keep us out of the team. No one will believe it."

"I don't need them to believe it." Lin Sen smiled gently, "They just need to know."

"What do you want?" Seeing Lin Sen's smile, Simao hated it so much that he almost turned from a Portuguese to a Taiwanese.

"I don't want anything." Lin Sen looked at Simao and said strangely, "If you don't want to play, then don't play. It's that simple."

"We have already apologized." At this point, Reyes, who had told himself to hold back before coming, finally couldn't contain his anger. They were indeed wrong, but they had already apologized. As Simao said, what more did he want? Bow down and admit fault?

"Do you call that an apology?" At this moment, Lin Sen put away his smile and said coldly, "I thought we could be more straightforward."

"When I took over the team, I told you very clearly that I am not a person who likes to beat around the bush. You cared more about my role as a doctor than as a coach, which was easy to solve. I only had seven matches, but I used three to solve this issue. I think this was enough sincerity, because my time is really limited, and I want to focus my limited energy on more important matters, not on things like building relationships that have nothing to do with football. But you? Even now, you still don't see me as a head coach. You came to me not because you care about playing or not, but to make me admit in the media that this matter is over, and even then, you still want to beat around the bush."

Neither Simao nor Reyes could respond to Lin Sen's words.

As Lin Sen said, they came here today, ostensibly to seek playing opportunities, but in reality, it was to protect their professional reputations. Since they could refuse to play, they didn't care if they started in the remaining matches of the season, especially since it seemed unlikely that Lin Sen would continue coaching next season. The saying "If this place doesn't keep me, there will be another place that will" had high applicability in the football world. However, the problem was that this saying didn't apply to them now. After that incident, even though they had apologized and the club's website said the matter was over, everyone knew that as long as Lin Sen, as the head coach, didn't speak up, the public's perception of them wouldn't change.

And Lin Sen had remained silent on the matter from the beginning, even when asked by journalists, he would dodge the question, as if his mouth was set to filter out certain words. They couldn't possibly ask Lin Sen to admit in the media that he had forgiven them, but it didn't matter. As long as they could appear on the field under Lin Sen, even just to make an appearance, it would be almost the same as Lin Sen admitting it himself.

But now, Lin Sen told them that he understood their intentions better than they did. And Simao and Reyes could tell that if they continued to beat around the bush, Lin Sen would lead them to the other side of the world, just as he had done at the press conference. Neither Simao nor Reyes thought their eloquence was better than that of the journalists.

Just as the two were thinking about what to say next, Lin Sen spoke again.

"Of course, continuing this matter is not beneficial for either of us. So, I give you two choices: one, go to Cerezo and make him force me to let you play. Two, since you didn't care about the playing opportunities I gave you before, now I'll increase the difficulty. Win back your opportunities through your own training attitude, but I can tell you in advance, your starting point will be the same as Kamarcho's."

Thus, the two were a bit frustrated.

Go to the chairman? They were star players, but perhaps only one person in the entire club could do what Lin Sen suggested, and that was Aguero. So, it seemed they had only one choice left, if they still cared about their careers...

The two quickly left Lin Sen's office with their heads hanging low, and after they left, Lin Sen let out a sigh of relief.

To be honest, he was really afraid that the two would directly confront him. For a weak scholar like him, these ruffians were physically far beyond his capacity. If they flipped out and touched him, he would be in serious trouble. Even if they only used words, it was not something Lin Sen wanted to see. Even if Lin Sen always held the moral high ground, in the end, it would only damage their reputations and make it harder for them to find a new club. Lin Sen had seen this happen before; in a few years, Tevez would do the same thing, but he didn't want to be the one to experience it first.

Lin Sen was not Mancini, who had a team full of strong players and could easily blacklist them. Lin Sen couldn't do that. Football is a very practical sport, and Simao and Reyes were two important pieces of the Atletico Madrid puzzle. No matter how strong Lin Sen was, he couldn't just use two bricks to fill the gap. He could do it occasionally, but with four more matches to go, he didn't want to lose any of them. So...

Fortunately, both cared about their reputations.

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PS: This week, I'm relying on my old base, with two updates a day. The other chapter will be in the evening. The update times will be around 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM this week.