"Rehhagel: Our tactics aimed at Deng Kai completely failed. The players reported to me that defending against Viana was much simpler than against Deng Kai. We will conduct an in-depth study on Deng Kai after our return. This team has an extraordinary number of talented players, far beyond everyone's imagination; such a team achieving any sort of success would not be surprising."
After returning to Germany, Rehhagel kept his word and quickly carried out research on Deng Kai, watching a large number of his match videos.
The conclusions drawn by the expert group made Rehhagel feel pessimistic.
"This player's starting point is not particularly high, but his progress is rapid, and he seems to be improving at all times."
"Normal players might improve once or twice in a year or two, which is considered quite good. But Deng Kai's competitive state sees a significant improvement every month or two."