Chapter 25 System of Reward Standards

Seeing Messi's surprised expression, Xavi and the others were also a bit astonished.

Even Messi himself thought they looked alike?

"How does it feel? Does it resemble your playing style a lot?"

Young Iniesta approached and asked.

Messi nodded seriously, "It does resemble, even to the point where his dribbling skills are not inferior to mine!"

This evaluation surprised Xavi, Iniesta, and the others greatly. Messi actually had such a high opinion of the other player?

"Which team is he from? He seems familiar..."

"He's Guardiola's protégé, our Barcelona academy player. He used to play in the youth team and was loaned to the Bundesliga two months ago. He's currently playing for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga."

The eldest of the trio, Xavi, explained.

While others might not be very familiar with Lin Quan, as the designated successor to the team, Xavi paid close attention to the younger players in the youth team.

"Our player? Why don't I remember such a talented winger in our youth ranks?"

Messi asked in confusion.

Due to his meteoric rise, many players in the Barcelona academy received significant attention. Among them were players like Bojan, who performed exceptionally well in the youth team but struggled to make an impact in the first team.

If there was indeed such a talented winger in the Barcelona youth team, he should have been famous by now, and Messi shouldn't have completely overlooked him.

"Well, he used to play as a defensive midfielder before. It's only after he joined Werder Bremen that he started playing as a winger."

Xavi explained.

Everyone was speechless. Could this even happen? Switching from a defensive midfielder to a winger?

...

Equally astonished were Barcelona's Sporting Director Zubizarreta and the Youth Team Coach Enrique.

"Thomas Schaaf actually moved him from a defensive midfielder to a forward position?"

On the TV screen in front of them was a replay of Werder Bremen and Kottbus's friendly match. Since Lin Quan only came on as a substitute in the second half, the two skipped the first half and started watching from there.

Seeing Lin Quan, who came on as a substitute, not taking up the defensive midfielder position but standing as a winger, Enrique was dumbfounded.

"Humph, this shows that Schaaf has vision and knows how to use players. Look, this kid is thriving as a winger. I have a feeling his value will skyrocket!"

Clearly, Zubizarreta had already watched the game and fast-forwarded directly to the segment where Lin Quan dribbled past the entire opposition defense and scored.

"Take a look at this!"

After watching, Enrique was left speechless.

If he had some doubts before about Lin Quan's ability to play as a winger, he had none now. The winger position seemed tailor-made for him.

Lin Quan showed no signs of discomfort in this position. On the contrary, he blended in seamlessly.

This made Enrique start to doubt himself: Did he lack the ability to judge people? Did he misjudge the player?

"Coach Enrique, I have to remind you that Lin Quan's contract with the club has less than a year left, and his buyout clause is only €5 million.

Once he performs as well in the Bundesliga as he did in this match, there will be a line of clubs knocking on our door, and unless the player himself wants to stay, we won't be able to keep this rising star!"

The head of market operations and marketing, Carlsada, said seriously to Enrique and Zubizarreta.

He didn't understand what these two were thinking. Why didn't they renew the contract with the player before sending him on loan?

Now, the other party was gaining momentum, while they were in a passive position regarding the contract.

"Don't worry, Manager Carlsada.

This is just a friendly match, after all. The real Bundesliga matches are completely different from these warm-ups. Lin Quan won't have such a crazy performance!"

Although Enrique was actually quite anxious, he pretended to be calm and said, "Once he encounters setbacks in the Bundesliga and fails to deliver such outstanding performances, the media and the public won't be as interested in him.

By then, we can extend an olive branch to him, call him up to the first team as a substitute, and he will surely choose to return to Barcelona and renew his contract with us!

After all, no one can resist the call of Barcelona!"

This statement was confident and assertive, and no one present objected.

Barcelona's impressive performance over the past few years, winning the UEFA Champions League twice and remaining in the top four since the 2007-08 season, spoke for itself.

In La Liga, Barcelona even achieved a three-peat.

Although they lost the championship last year, it was just a momentary setback!

With Barcelona's current team strength, no one doubted their ability to win the Champions League again.

With such a strong track record, coupled with Barcelona's appeal as a powerhouse, there was no doubt that the other party would be tempted.

Persuaded by Zubizarreta and Enrique, Carlsada managed Lin Quan's loan out, and since these two weren't in a hurry, he didn't need to be anxious either.

...

After the match, Lin Quan lay on his bed and accessed the system with his consciousness.

Opening the system's marketplace interface, he indeed saw that the score, previously at 0, had changed to 1.

With the change in score, some items in the system marketplace became available for exchange.

Lin Quan glanced briefly and found that besides the energy drink that could sustain him for half an hour, which somewhat attracted him, other items were of no use to him.

And this kind of energy drink required a few points to exchange, which seemed a bit too expensive for Lin Quan, who only had one point in total.

With just one point to his name, he obviously hesitated to spend it on exchanging for stamina potions.

Moreover, the coach currently didn't intend to let him start.

As a substitute, his current physical condition was enough to handle the matches, so there was no need to exchange for such items.

Compared to consumables like stamina potions, Lin Quan wanted those top-tier talents and some luxurious equipment more.

For example, he set his sights on the talent of being immune to injuries, as speed-type players are most afraid of getting injured.

Once injured and with a decrease in explosiveness, their threat would be greatly reduced.

Although Messi is not a speed-type player, his breakthrough also requires powerful explosiveness.

Without explosiveness, Messi's ability to breakthrough would significantly decrease.

This was very evident before and after Messi's injury in 2013.

If he could get this talent, then Lin Quan wouldn't have to worry about injury problems. With that, he would have fewer concerns when dribbling past opponents.

During challenges, he could dare to contend with some fifty-fifty balls.

However, the price of such top-tier talent was extremely high, requiring 100 points to exchange for it.

Lin Quan's current points only reached one percent of the purchasing requirement.

This made Lin Quan feel a bit melancholic: the gap was too big!

"System, does winning each match only give one point?"

If that was the case, he'd have to win 100 matches.

Even if he counted all warm-up matches, cup matches, league matches, and so on.

At least it would take two to three years of matches to possibly exchange for this talent.

If the team's performance wasn't good, then this time would continue to be pushed back.

[Different levels of matches have different point rewards. Winning a match at the top five league level rewards 2 points.]

[Winning a match at the Champions League level rewards 3 points!]

[Winning a match at the World Cup main stage rewards 5 points!]

[Additionally, the top scorer and assist king in the league, Champions League, and World Cup also have rewards.

Specifically: League Golden Boot awards 20 points, Assist King awards 10 points; Champions League Golden Boot awards 30 points, Assist King awards 20 points; World Cup Golden Boot awards 50 points, Assist King awards 30 points.]