Although he signed a contract with Ribery, Meili did not think that Ribery would have a brilliant future in the future, and he still had to continue to observe and talk about it.

Compared to Ribery, he cared about Chu Zhongtian more because he had been in the UK before. When he came to Metz this time, he simply asked about Chu Zhongtian's situation in the team.

"I'm getting better slowly, I'm playing in the Ligue 1." Chu Zhongtian told the truth, telling Meri about his progress in the past half season.

"Well... don't worry, take your time. It's a good thing to get better. I'll stay in Mays for a while and observe how you and Frank are doing."

On November 27, Metz played against Saint-Etienne at home, and Chu Zhongtian was selected for the 18-man roster again. This was his first consecutive roster this season. It seemed that his performance in the reserve team had entered the eyes of coach Fernandez, which also showed that the training he received in the reserve team helped him correct the bad habits he developed in many amateur games.

For example, he has now learned to look up and observe before receiving the ball. In addition, he moves faster when controlling the ball and passing the ball, and no longer slow as before, allowing his opponent to intercept the ball easily.

In this game, Chu Zhongtian still came on as a substitute at the last moment, and even his playing time was almost the same as in the previous game - sixteen minutes.

Just seven minutes into the game, Metz's central defender Mehdimeniri scored the home team's first record with his head in a corner kick. Six minutes later, Saint-Etienne's defender Julien Sable also took advantage of a corner kick to return.

In the 21st minute, Frank Ribery dribbled the ball and broke through from the left. When approaching the baseline, he pretended to make a cross, but suddenly spiked the ball and broke into the penalty area from the outside of Saint-Etienne's defensive player. The defender of Saint-Etienne had no choice but to directly pull Ribery down. Not only did he get a yellow card, but he also gave Mets a penalty.

Meri, who was watching the game in the stands, had a lit up eyes. Just this breakthrough, Meri knew that Chu Zhongtian did not lie to him - Frank Ribery, who was wearing Metz No. 10 jersey, would indeed have a broad room for development. As long as he was properly operated, he would definitely be able to play for teams like giants, Paris Saint-Germain or Marseille in the future. Of course, it is no problem. If you do it well, you might have the chance to play football in some big clubs abroad... It seems that Chu Zhongtian introduced him to a piece of gold.

After receiving the penalty kick, Grégory Proment, the team's midfielder, the team's top penalty kicker and the second captain, took the penalty. He shot with a strong and heavy shot and knocked the ball into Saint-Etienne's goal from the middle.

This goal made Metz's home court, Saint Hill Forian Stadium, jubilant.

The fans seemed to see hope for the team to win.

Unfortunately, in the 73rd minute of the second half, Saint-Etienne's other defender Vincent Hognon (vincent_hognon) used a corner kick to tie the score.

Both consecutive goals were lost in the air defense of the corner kick, and the shortcomings of Metz's weak air defense capabilities were fully exposed.

Merry, who had seen Chu Zhongtian defeat the opponent in the stands in the battle with Legtwood and pushed the ball into Wimbledon through the goal, was thinking that if Chu Zhongtian was on the court at this time, Saint-Etienne might not be able to get in... After Saint-Etienne equalized the score, Fernandez seemed to finally remember Chu Zhongtian and let him warm up and appear.

With sixteen minutes left in the game, Chu Zhongtian took the game and his main task was still defense.

When he was on the court, there were not many cheers in the stands of the Holy Mountain Forian Stadium. Meili, who had experienced Chu Zhongtian's competition at Wimbledon, felt that Chu really counted nothing here. You should know that in Wimbledon, if Chu Zhongtian was replaced, the entire Kings Ranch would cheer from fans.

"Oh my god, it seems that he is doing very well..." James Merry laughed.

However, Chu Zhongtian's performance after he came on the court still reassured him - Chu Zhongtian was as stable and serious as ever. He worked diligently in the midfielder position, running and defending fiercely. These did not change much from before. What changed was that his movements were more standardized, his running position was more accurate, and his temperament had also changed.

"Well... I look more like a professional player."

He felt it was time to talk to Jean. Mr. Fernandez. As Chu Zhongtian's agent, he had to help Chu Zhongtian get more opportunities to play, so he had to understand the ideas of the head coach of this team. If he valued Chu Zhongtian, why did he have almost half a season and only gave Chu Zhongtian a total of 40 minutes of playing time in the French Ligue 1? If he did not value Chu Zhongtian, why did he insist on loaning Chu Zhongtian from Chelsea?

In the end, Metz played 2:2 with Saint-Etienne at home. After the 16th round of the league, Metz won four wins, eight draws and four losses, ranking tenth in 20.

This result is not bad, mainly because they lost less and only lost four games. This result is not good, because they won more than four games, only winning four games and drawing eight games. They scored sixteen goals and conceded nineteen goals. They were not too many goals, and ranked in the middle of the entire league, but they scored too few goals and could only rank the bottom.

※※The next day, the team will rest.

During the holidays, Chu Zhongtian took Wang Hao, Jiang Ran and Lin Beiyao to climb the hill together as a celebration of his chance to play in two consecutive games.

Merry called Jean Fernandez and the two of them made an appointment to meet in the afternoon.

"I'll talk to your head coach, I want to know what he thinks of you."

"Uh..." Chu Zhongtian was a little worried about whether the relationship would be broken. It is said that the head coach doesn't like agents very much.

"Don't worry, it's just a calm conversation, there's no problem. I want to give my opinion and he expresses his opinion. Nothing will happen, just go and play with peace of mind, Chu."

Merry said goodbye to Chu Zhongtian and called a taxi to the Metz club. Fernandez said on the phone that he would wait for him there.

After arriving at the club, Merry went directly to the head coach's office, and Fernandez was already waiting for him there.

"The weather is good today. I know you British people have to talk about the weather before they start talking, right?" Fernandez walked out from behind his desk, spread his arms and kissed Merri.

"Yes, that's because there are too few good weather like this in London." Because he promised Chu Zhongtian that he would not have a quarrel with Fernandez, Merry's tone was also very peaceful.

"Is Chu okay?"

"He went hiking with two Chinese young players in your youth team to celebrate his appearance in two consecutive games." Meili took the opportunity to get the main topic, "To be honest, I came to you this time for Chu."

Fernandez signaled him to sit down and talk.

Merry sat down in the chair, and Fernandez went to make coffee for him personally. "Most of the people in the club are on holiday today, and there is only instant coffee for the time being."

"It's okay, I don't care what I drink."

Fernandez brought the coffee into May, then pulled a chair and sat down opposite him. "Okay, let's talk about Chu's problem now. I think you must be wondering why he was on loan for almost half a season and only played for forty minutes, right?"

Merry nodded: "I have a question, I don't know what you think of him. Are you optimistic about him or not? If you are optimistic, why only give him such a little playing time, and if you are not optimistic, why do you have to loan him from Chelsea? You should know that before you join, Chelsea club originally planned to loan him to Westeros in the Belgian League, and they promised that Chelsea would give Chu more opportunities to play..."

The latter sentence was completely made up by Merri. Westeros did not make such a promise at all, and Chelsea did not require many games to play in Westeros. In fact, they didn't care about Chu Zhongtian's future at all. But in order to enhance the ability and status of their players, such lies are necessary.

"Well..." After listening to Meri's words patiently, Fernandez pondered for a while. "How should I explain to you, Mr. Meri? Of course, I am optimistic about Chu's potential and future, otherwise I would not ask the club to lend him. I even hope to buy Chu out after a season of loan."

Meili was shocked. He didn't expect the old man to have such a plan.

"I know Chelsea has a very rich boss. His interest is to spend a lot of money to buy famous stars, and he is not interested in the stars of Hope. To be honest, I think Chu has no future at Chelsea. But at Mets, he has a good future - the premise is..." Speaking of this, Fernandes paused, "...the premise is that he gradually adapts to the Ligue 1 and professional football. He used to be an amateur player, and I also heard that he had not touched football for three years. It is already considered outstanding to say that he can still have such a level."

"He needs to retrain. His training level in England for the two seasons was very low and it was not systematic. After he first came to Metz, we found that his physical fitness was completely unsuitable - but this was not because he was not strong himself, but because his training level was too low." Fernandez patiently explained to Meri why he was not in a hurry to send Chu Zhongtian on the court.

"He has never played a high-level game. If he is too anxious to let him play, he will only be at a loss and be criticized a lot. Maybe he will lose confidence and fighting spirit because of this, which is not what I want to see."

"But, Mr. Fernandez. Please allow me to get insulted - Frank Ribery and Chu have very similar experiences. He played in the game when he arrived at Metz. No matter how the outside media criticized him, you insisted on putting him in the main position and never wavered. Why can't Chu do it?" Hearing this, Metry finally couldn't help asking.

Mr. Fernandez smiled and shook his head: "Because Chu and Ribery are completely different types of players and people. Frank has a cheerful personality, is sharp and full of motivation. What he needs is not suppression, but release. So I let him start continuously and let him release his energy with all his energy. Chu is different, Chu is more calm, he has the style of a general, I am not kidding, I am telling the truth, Chu is more like a leader than Ribery, and if Chu can play out in the future, he will definitely be a leader. But now he needs to accept some tempering, he needs patience to slowly hone his skills and mentality. What makes me happy is that except for his impatience and worry at the beginning, he performed very well."

Mr. Fernandez's evaluation of Chu Zhongtian was so high that Merri didn't expect that he even thought he had heard it wrong - Chu Zhongtian could become the leader? This was simply... too incredible. Although he thought Chu Zhongtian would have a good future, he did not dare to think about it at this level.

"I am very optimistic about Chu's talent, but he has not received high-level training before, so I dare not be too impatient and must be cautious and take it slowly. His position is completely different from Frank, and the qualities required are also different. Frank's example cannot be attached to Chu. If he is well trained, Chu's future will not be lower than Frank's."

Merry felt that he was almost dizzy by a ton of gold bars falling from the sky. He was happy to see Ribery was a player Fernandez, a famous coach, and even fought against the media for him. Now he actually said that Chu's future is no less than Ribery? The two most promising players in Metz are all under his name. What kind of luck is this... Wait, James, you can't be happy too early, there are still questions... "Since Mr. Fernandez, you are so optimistic about Chu, then I want to ask, are you optimistic about his ability in defense or... offensive talent?" Chu Zhongtian played three times as a central defender and two midfielders. Anyway, they are inseparable from defense, but Merry always insisted that Chu Zhongtian is more talented in offense.

"Of course I am more optimistic about his offensive potential, but I think it's better to let him play the game from a familiar position. After he gradually adapts to the rhythm of the game, then consider asking him more in the offense."

Fernandez's explanation, Merry nodded repeatedly, and it was true that this was true. Starting from a familiar position, slowly entering the game, accumulating experience, and then completing a gorgeous turn... The two later talked about some specific things, such as when will Chu Zhongtian get a stable chance to play? Fernandez replied that it depends on Chu's own condition and performance.

At the end, Merry said to Fernandez as if he suddenly remembered it, "Oh, by the way, Mr. Fernandez. I will inform you and the Met Club today that I have become Frank Ribery's agent, and the official documents of tomorrow will be submitted to the club."

Fernandez was surprised for the first time during this afternoon's conversation.

Meili laughed. Today's conversation made him feel more confident. It seems that Chu Zhongtian and Ribery have developed well and their future prospects are limitless. This is a treasure he has found.

"I just signed a contract with Frank a few days ago, and I will be his agent in the next two years." He extended his hand to Fernandez, "I hope we will have a chance to cooperate in the future."

"I really don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing..." Fernandez handed it on and shook his head.

"I hope it's a good thing."

"I hope, too."

After seeing off James Merry, Jean Fernandez did not stay in the office. He tidied up a little, locked the door and walked along the artificial river to the opposite Mount Forian Stadium.

After talking to the British agent for an hour and a half today, he suddenly wanted to go to the stadium to check it out. The stadium was actually opposite, with an artificial river less than ten meters wide in the middle. But if you want to go there, you have to take a detour across the bridge.

He walked along the way, thinking about the current situation of the team.

Metz is not a strong team. Although they are excellent in youth training, they do not have enough strong first-team support. The outstanding young players trained cannot escape the fate of leaving Metz to pursue the big stage in the end.

The Cannes Club, where his coaching career started, was a former youth training team. He and Guy Laconb worked together to improve the club's youth training camp and make it run well. Therefore, which team produced a large number of excellent players such as Zidane, Vieira, Miku, Frey... but the first team performance of Cannes was too poor. In 1997, the old friend Laconb was dismissed by the club. A year later, the team was relegated in 1998 and was relegated again in 2001. This summer, the Cannes team was removed from the French professional football club qualification and became a semi-professional team. Only the "Cannes Youth Training Center" was proud to retain it.

It is indeed heartbreaking for such a team that has trained many stars to fall to this point, but if the first team's performance is better and they can participate in the Ligue 1 every year, this should not be the case.

Lyon and Auserel are also strong youth training teams, but their first team has good results, so those young talents can always get better development opportunities. When these young people play in their own first team, perform well, and attract the attention of European clubs, those clubs are willing to pay huge transfer fees for them to take them away. Lyon and Auserel can also use these transfer fees to build teams and continue to train new players, thus forming a virtuous cycle.

Metz does not have such conditions. He doesn't know how long Ribery can stay here, nor does he know how long Chu can stay here. He hopes that Chelsea will look down on Chu Zhongtian, so he can convince the club to buy Chu Zhongtian out at an extremely low price and then slowly cultivate it. One day, he will be confident to cultivate a first-class star.

Standing outside the San Furian Stadium, Metz's home court, the warm sun shone on Fernandez, he seemed to feel a sense of hope.
Chapter completed!