章節 119: How Does a Forward Have So Many Assists?
A week later, Werder Bremen hosted Freiburg at their home stadium. This was supposed to be an ordinary match, but it became unusual due to the competition between two players for the top assist provider in the Bundesliga.
During the match, De Bruyne and Lin seemed to be performing, taking turns delivering clever passes to their teammates.
In the 9th minute of the first half, Lin assisted Petersen to score early, increasing his assist tally to 16, just one behind De Bruyne.
Not to be outdone, De Bruyne quickly assisted Elia to score, extending the gap to two assists between them.
The Freiburg players were furious!
What do you think we are?
You're using us to pad your stats!
They started a strong counterattack!
In the 36th minute, Freiburg's forward Kruse scored, changing the score to 2:1.
Five minutes later, Freiburg's winger Machiadi was tripped in the penalty area, and the main referee awarded a penalty kick.
Machiadi took the penalty himself and scored, bringing the teams back to an even starting point.
Seeing their team go from leading to being equaled by the opponent, the fans at the Weser Stadium were dismayed.
"Why does the team seem so off today?"
"Yeah, Lin hasn't scored today!"
"It seems like De Bruyne isn't passing to him!"
"Ah? Now that you mention it, it does seem true. Are they having some kind of disagreement?"
In the locker room, Coach Schaaf was also asking this question.
After the first half, he called Lin and De Bruyne to ask why they weren't cooperating as usual. He believed that if they had worked together as usual, they could have scored at least three goals in the first half and not be in a situation where they were tied by the opponent.
Facing Schaaf's inquiry, De Bruyne hesitantly said, "Lin and I are competing for the top of the assist chart. I'm afraid if I pass him a good ball, he won't shoot and waste my brilliant pass."
Schaaf frowned and looked at Lin.
Lin spread his hands: "Kevin, it hurts me to think you believe that. When have I ever wasted your brilliant passes? If you pass to me and I don't score, that's my fault. If the pass doesn't reach me, that's on you."
If it weren't for their friendship, Lin would have thought De Bruyne was slandering him in front of the coach.
"Really? Then I apologize, and if there's a good chance in the second half, I will definitely pass to you!"
De Bruyne said sincerely, feeling somewhat guilty, believing he had misjudged Lin.
Schaaf, seeing the misunderstanding resolved between them, also breathed a sigh of relief.
He was really worried that these two had some kind of conflict!
Now it seemed he had been overly concerned.
However, the fact that both were competing for the top assist provider felt a bit strange.
It made sense for De Bruyne to have many assists since his role in the team was to organize the attack. His numerous assists indicated his excellent performance and that he was fulfilling his responsibilities perfectly.
But why did Lin, a forward known for his scoring, have so many assists?
Schaaf was puzzled, and the commentators also expressed their astonishment.
"Ha, there's an interesting statistic I think everyone will find intriguing!"
"The current second-place in the assist leaderboard is Lin, with the first being De Bruyne, and interestingly, they're both from the same team!"
Another commentator exclaimed, "Werder Bremen's duo has been incredibly spectacular this season!"
"Up to this point in the season, Lin has scored 28 goals and made 16 assists. His involvement in goals accounts for 68.75% of Werder Bremen's total goals!"
"De Bruyne, on the other hand, has scored 13 goals and made 18 assists, contributing to 48.5% of the team's total goals."
"Just from the data mentioned, you can see their enormous impact on Werder Bremen's offense."
"Thanks to the duo's outstanding performance, Werder Bremen has scored a total of 64 goals in the league so far this season, only second to Bayern Munich's 68 goals.
If you don't have an idea about these numbers, let's compare with Dortmund, who just swept Frankfurt 3:0 at home. Dortmund has scored only 54 goals so far, more than 10 goals behind the top two teams."
While the outside world had heard somewhat about Werder Bremen's dynamic duo, they hadn't truly felt how strong these two were.
But now, seeing the statistics laid out by the commentators, the fans were shocked:
Were Wer
der Bremen's duo really that outrageous?
Both were close to setting records, one nearing the Bundesliga single-season goals record and the other about to break the assist record.
"Damn, what kind of luck has Werder Bremen had to draw such monster-level players!?"
"Yeah, one is a midfielder and the other a forward, they couldn't do without either!"
"Stop, stop, the other teams are going to be jealous!"
"I've been a Werder Bremen fan for ten years, and although both are currently with Werder Bremen, they're not really Bremen's players—they'll leave after their loan periods end!"
"Sigh, as someone who's watched half a season of Werder Bremen's games, I can't imagine what the Parrot Troop would be like without Lin and De Bruyne!"
"Yeah, without them, Werder Bremen's offensive firepower will definitely be greatly reduced!"
"Not just reduced, they might even fall back into the relegation zone..."
"Sigh, Werder Bremen had its glory days more than a decade ago, and this season's sudden rise, who would have thought it was just a flash in the pan. When Lin and De Bruyne leave, the team's strength will be greatly diminished, possibly returning to its former state."
"Suddenly I feel a bit sympathetic towards Werder Bremen!"
"Sympathy +1!"
...
In fact, there's one statistic the commentators didn't announce: Lin and De Bruyne not only dominated the top two spots in the assist leaderboard.
In the Golden Boot ranking, they were also among the top, ranked first and fourth respectively.
This season's Werder Bremen offense was indeed carried by these two.
Once they leave, Werder Bremen will likely need to seriously adjust their front-line offensive system.
After the misunderstanding was cleared up in the second half, Werder Bremen's duo unleashed their tremendous power once again.
De Bruyne not only increased his cooperation with Lin but also frequently provided him with brilliant passes.
Even though Lin knew scoring would help De Bruyne refresh the assist record, he chose to firmly score the goals.
Tearfully accepting two 'cakes,' he provided De Bruyne with two assists, and Werder Bremen won a big 4:2 victory over Freiburg at home.
Scoring two goals and providing an assist, Lin managed a forced smile and hugged De Bruyne to celebrate the victory, but he sighed inwardly.
This season, his chance at topping the assist leaderboard was gone.
Not only was the title of assist king out of reach, but so were those 10 points!
Thanks to the three assists in this game, De Bruyne's assist count reached 20.
This number had already equaled Ribery's record for Bundesliga assists set in the 2009-2010 season.
Just one more assist in the upcoming matches would set a new Bundesliga record.
Such outstanding performance was drawing increasing attention from other teams.
There were already many scouts at Werder Bremen to observe Lin, and now, seeing De Bruyne's stunning performance, they also took the opportunity to scout him.
For this, Chelsea's senior scout Devieser returned to Germany specifically to assess De Bruyne's condition.
"What exactly is the club thinking? Why not recall Kevin? His performance in the Bundesliga is so outstanding, nearly setting a new assist record. Isn't that enough to prove his strength?"
Junior scout George Evans, because of his long-term tracking and observation of De Bruyne and Lin, had now been made a permanent employee.
Club manager Emenalo was very satisfied with his work, just regretting not taking his advice earlier to bring in Lin.
Maybe it was because they thought George had a good eye, or maybe they thought he was lucky.
Chelsea had George responsible for scouting all Bundesliga players under 21. If he found a suitable prospect, he would report back to Stamford Bridge.
Stamford Bridge would send senior scouts like Devieser to confirm the situation. If the conditions met Chelsea's requirements, they would consider purchasing the player.
Although Abramovich was known for spending big and favoring star players, the team still needed a lot of young players with both talent and potential to refresh the squad.
These players could act as substitutes, be loaned out, and be slowly groomed.
If any of them turned out to be top stars, Chelsea would profit immensely.
Even if no top stars emerged, selling these players after they'd been trained by Chelsea would almost certainly not result in a loss, as long as they hadn't misjudged the player's potential.
Devieser shook his head and sighed, "The club's situation is quite complex. The choice of main coach hasn't been decided, and the current tactical approach changes too quickly, causing severe slumps in team performance, with fans and players revolting..."
He had been at Chelsea for many years, and such chaos at Chelsea had only been seen once before, when
the former owner Bates mismanaged the club, leading to financial struggles that nearly ended its operations.
But then Abramovich took over, immediately injecting significant funds, helping Chelsea overcome its difficulties and reach its peak.
However, now, the situation wasn't about money but rather Abramovich's whims.
He loved to fire coaches; in just a few years, he had dismissed enough main coaches to form a team.
Chelsea had spent enough on compensations for these dismissed coaches to buy a Torres.
Di Matteo wasn't a strong coach, but Chelsea had performed well under his leadership in the first half of the season.
However, after a wrong call during a match where they lost to Manchester United, the team's mentality collapsed, and they lost several consecutive games.
Abramovich, who was already not fond of Di Matteo, fired him on a whim.
After Di Matteo was dismissed, his successor Benitez performed even worse.
Under his leadership, Chelsea disgracefully exited the Club World Cup, were knocked out of the Champions League and FA Cup, and were on the verge of ending the season with nothing.
This greatly upset Chelsea's fans.
Benitez had only been with the team for just over two months, but Stamford Bridge's fans were already furiously criticizing him.
Moreover, every game at the sixteenth minute, Chelsea's fans would stand and applaud to commemorate Di Matteo's dismissal.
This made Abramovich extremely uncomfortable, completely cutting off any thoughts of renewing Benitez's contract, wanting instead to change coaches as soon as the season ended.
With such turmoil within Chelsea, Benitez was essentially just marking time, having no interest in promoting youth talents for Chelsea.
As for De Bruyne, who was on loan, he would have to wait for the next main coach, as Benitez wasn't concerned with him.
Benitez was also struggling; since leaving Liverpool, his coaching career hadn't been smooth.
In 2010, he was fired by Inter Milan's Moratti after just half a season due to poor team performance.
After being unemployed for two years, he finally found a job.
But once at Chelsea, he completely failed to adapt to Chelsea's tactical style and couldn't control the dressing room.
If not for Abramovich's harsh firing of coaches, which made other coaches reluctant to come to Stamford Bridge, Benitez would have been dismissed long ago given Abramovich's nature.
Chelsea's chaos made De Bruyne also hesitate.
He was doing well at Werder Bremen, and if he returned to the Premier League, he was worried about not getting enough playing time.
If he hadn't proven his ability in the Bundesliga, sitting on the bench at Chelsea would have been acceptable.
But now, after experiencing a very successful season with the team, De Bruyne's mindset had changed.
He believed his skills were now good enough to compete for a starting position. If Chelsea didn't offer him that, he really needed to consider his options.
With a game against Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena coming up, De Bruyne appeared distracted during training, which worried Lin.
So, he took the initiative to ask him about it.
De Bruyne shared Chelsea's chaotic situation and his concerns, then asked, "Lin, do you think I should return to Chelsea after my loan ends?"
His concern was realistic, with the 2014 World Cup approaching. If he couldn't play upon returning to Chelsea, the Belgian national team might drop him.
Although he was loyal to Chelsea and grateful that they had discovered him in a lower league and brought him to one of the top five leagues, between the national team and the club, De Bruyne would undoubtedly choose the national team.
Lin knew that Mourinho might be Chelsea's next coach, but he couldn't be sure.
Historically, Mourinho was dismissed by Real Madrid after losing both the Champions League and the league title.
He wasn't sure how big the butterfly effect of his presence was; if Real Madrid hadn't been eliminated by Dortmund and had made it to the Champions League final, everything could have been different.
Even if they hadn't won, reaching the final would have proven Mourinho's capability, at least showing that under his leadership, Real Madrid was genuinely progressing step by step.
So, he could only comfort De Bruyne by saying, "Don't rush your decision. Wait until Chelsea's coach and tactical approach are confirmed, then see if you can adapt to the coach's tactics.
If you think you can adapt, then I support you returning to Stamford Bridge. If not, I think it might be better to stay at Werder Bremen."
Mourinho had coached De Bruyne for a while, and under his guidance, De Bruyne didn't perform well.
Although De Bruyne's defensive skills had improved, they still didn't meet the standard for a defensive player.
Under Mourinho, except for superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo who had privileges, all other players needed to participate in defense.
De Bruyne wouldn't have as high a tactical status at Chelsea as he did at Werder Bremen;
his position would likely be on the wing.
Wingers had to carry significant defensive responsibilities, at least able to limit the opponent's wingers.
De Bruyne's physicality was weak, and his defensive skills were poor; the Premier League emphasized physicality.
If Mourinho placed him in this position, his performance would undoubtedly decline significantly, certainly not able to match his performance at Werder Bremen.
In Mourinho's eyes, this could label him as a flop, further reducing De Bruyne's chances of playing.
From this perspective, Lin thought De Bruyne might indeed be better off staying at Werder Bremen.
De Bruyne nodded; after all, Werder Bremen was the team they had played for a season, and they had some attachment to it.
He also didn't want his and Lin's departure to immediately cause Werder Bremen's performance to plummet.
However, given Werder Bremen's financial situation, they probably couldn't afford him.
"By the way, how many years did you sign with Chelsea?"
Lin asked, curious since De Bruyne was considering staying with the team.
He remembered when De Bruyne transferred to Wolfsburg, they had paid 25 million euros.
This price was a bit of a stretch for Werder Bremen, but not impossible if they really tried.
Last transfer period, Werder Bremen had made a small profit from selling players, and with the financial surplus from previous seasons, they had about 20-30 million euros in the budget for buying players.
But if the price went any higher, it would likely be out of reach.
A player's transfer price is related to their market value and the remaining time on their contract.
High value means a high transfer fee.
But if a player's contract is running out, the transfer fee could be much lower than their market value.
"I signed for five years; the contract expires in 2017!"
De Bruyne's response dashed Lin's hopes.
"Uh, okay, it seems like the initiative for the transfer is in Chelsea's hands."
Lin sighed; the contract was only one year into a five-year term.
With so much time left, Chelsea was in no rush, while the buying side would be more anxious.
Last year, when the Bundesliga season started, the transfer market estimated his value at 18 million euros.
Now it was probably over 20 million euros, and Werder Bremen would need to offer more than 25 million euros to have a chance.
Chelsea wasn't foolish; they could clearly see De Bruyne's value and wouldn't sell him cheap.
"I'm actually a bit worried about something else!"
De Bruyne suddenly spoke up.
"What?"
"If other teams submit a higher bid to Chelsea than Werder Bremen, it will be even harder for me to stay!"
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