Super Marshal

With Van der Sar's height, no matter where he goes, he is the focus of everyone's attention.

But obviously, he is a regular customer of this coffee shop, so after entering the door, he politely greeted the fans around who recognized him, went to a remote box, and invited the coffee shop owner to explain some.

After that, he sent another text message to Gao Han, passing the address of the coffee shop.

In less than ten minutes, Gao Han, accompanied by the owner of the coffee shop, walked into the box.

"It's a pleasure meeting you, Edwin."

"Me too, Mr. Gao Han."

To Van der Sar's surprise, Gao Han came alone without any assistants.

As if aware of Van der Sar's surprise, Gao Han sat down and explained with a smile, "I'm like you. I just finished presiding over today's training in Harrington. Afterwards, people from the club notified me that I would like to talk to Fulham. It was settled, so I called Mr Coleman and I came to see you."

Van der Sar smiled wryly. He felt that the head coach of the 200 million army was really impatient.

However, standing up and walking is very energetic for young people.

"Edwin, as you know, we sent an offer to Fulham and they accepted it. We hope to invite you to join us as Chelsea and become our goalkeeper." Gao Han said straight to the point.

Van der Sar nodded, "I know, but I'm wondering, why me?"

"Then what do you think, why can't it be you?" Gao Han asked with a smile.

Van der Sar was at a loss for words, he really couldn't say what he was thinking in person.

Fortunately, Gao Han was just joking and didn't make things difficult for him.

"Let me put it this way, in fact, as early as Atletico Madrid, we almost became colleagues, but unfortunately, for some reasons, we missed it."

Van der Sar nodded, he also knew about it, and even had some regrets.

"I know Frans Hawke." Gao Han said.

Van der Sar's face changed slightly when he heard it, he was a little surprised, but soon realized it, "Is it in Barcelona?"

"Yeah." Gao Han nodded.

"You know, what Frans did in Barcelona was unbelievable. He revolutionized the training of goalkeepers in Spain. He not only trained Barcelona youth goalkeepers such as Reina and Valdes, but even influenced Real Madrid, and the goalkeeper training in Spanish football as a whole."

Van der Sar didn't look surprised. "He's a really great guy."

Gao Han's remarks are not exaggerated, but the truth.

The changes Van Gaal brought to Barcelona are far beyond the imagination of ordinary fans. Frans Hawke is one of them. Even after Van Gaal left Barcelona, ​​Frans Hawke still often finds time to give speeches in Spain. Pass on his knowledge and experience on goalkeeper training.

Gao Han heard his assistant Pedro Haro mention Frans Hawke more than once, and almost always had a very admiring tone and expression, which shows that Frans Hawke brought a lot to the Spanish goalkeeper training. How far-reaching is the change.

"Frankly, I'm not particularly familiar with Frans, but I've heard him mention you more than once, and he said that you are the best player he has trained so far."

Van der Sar was a little excited, but soon became lonely again.

"That's all in the past."

"No, no, no!" Gao Han shook his head, "I don't think so."

Van der Sar raised his head and looked at Gao Han strangely, puzzled.

"I have learned about your situation at Juventus. I think it is a mistake for you to go to Serie A. Your characteristics are not suitable for Serie A. They all shrink back and defend. It is impossible to give you so much space to play. And You're not supposed to be a goalkeeper in the penalty area."

Hearing this, Van der Sar's expression obviously changed. He didn't return to normal as before, but was a little excited. He nodded and said, "As you said, I don't adapt to their training methods at all."

In the eyes of ordinary fans, the goalkeeper seems to be the same, the most indiscriminate position.

But in fact, the goalkeeper is also very different.

Just like Cech, he is the typical goalkeeper who dominates the penalty area. He can bring the entire penalty area under his control, and so does Van der Sar.

For this type of goalkeeper, it is impossible to ask them to stay in the small penalty area, which makes them very awkward. Instead of being able to play to their strengths, it will expose their shortcomings.

It's as if a player who is close to two meters is pressed into an area with a height of 1.5 meters, forcing him to bend down. May I ask, in this situation, can he still play flexibly?

Relatively speaking, Italian goalkeepers basically belong to the small penalty area type. This has a lot to do with Italy's retracted defense line. Cudicini is this type of goalkeeper, and goalkeeper Buffon is the same. But Buffon's personal ability is too good, even against the sky, with almost no shortcomings, so he is also very dominant in the penalty area.

But regardless, putting a wicket-keeper in a team defending high is bad in itself, as Cudicini was in Chelsea.

Conversely, putting a goalkeeper like Van der Sar in a team with a retracted defense line will not work either.

What's more, Van der Sar's problem is not just as simple as the area of ​​activity.

When FIFA revised the football rules that year, the goalkeeper could not use his hands when facing his teammate to pass the ball back. Since then, there have been two completely different differences in the training route of goalkeepers.

One kind of view is that the most important thing for a goalkeeper is to keep the goal. It is the hands and the foot skills are the best.

When on the court, teammates pass the ball back and the opponent is pressing, the priority of this type of goalkeeper is to open his feet. The sooner the ball leaves the danger zone, the better.

There is also a philosophy that advocates pass-and-control play. Their philosophy is that the ball should never be easily handed over to the opponent, so they generally do not allow the goalkeeper to use his feet when receiving a pass. Since they cannot use their hands, Then it is necessary to strengthen the goalkeeper's pass and control skills, so that the goalkeeper becomes part of the team's pass and control system.

Frans Hawke is a practitioner of the latter concept, and Van der Sar is also a goalkeeper trained by this concept.

From the time of Ajax, to Juventus, and then to Fulham, Van der Sar's foot skills have always been quite good, especially during the Ajax period, what he is best at is when the team presses out , He also went out to the outside of the penalty area and became a member of the team's pass control system.

But this style of play requires the overall cooperation of the team, especially the defense.

"I watched your game between Juventus and Fulham. I think there are often differences in philosophy and habits between you and your teammates."

"Last season, you made a very serious mistake. You took the ball and were intercepted by the opponent's striker and scored one-handedly. This made you criticized like never before, but when I was watching a video, I was thinking, What are those defenders doing so far, shouldn't they come back to catch your pass?"

After hearing this, Van der Sar smiled, but there was warmth in his eyes, as if he was also happy to find someone who understood him.

"You know, not all goalkeepers have this kind of courage. It's more about avoiding mistakes and kicking forward with a big foot. Anyway, it goes to the front. If you lose it, someone will grab it, but you don't."

When Gao Han said this, he fixed his eyes on Van der Sar, "I like this very much!"

Van der Sar was really moved this time, and it can even be said that he was a little moved.

He knew that Gao Han had really understood him and admired him, otherwise he would definitely not be able to tell these details.

This is something he has never encountered at Juventus or Fulham.

"To be honest, Edwin, you are only thirty-two years old. As a goalkeeper, he is in his prime. I hope you can seriously consider our invitation. I guarantee that you will be able to get a more suitable one at Chelsea." room to play."

Van der Sar regained his composure again, and still looked very calm and calm. After listening to Gao Han's words, he nodded slightly, "I need to think about it."

"No problem." Gao Han didn't intend to make Van der Sar agree today, "We will contact your agent immediately."

Van der Sar nodded, acquiescing to the two sides entering the negotiation process.

In fact, he doesn't have much choice as Fulham have already agreed.

As a professional player, he knew very well that Gao Han came to talk to him in person out of respect for him, which made him grateful. If he refused, it would be difficult to stay in Fulham again.

At least, Chris Coleman is now smugly planning to take the 10 million euros to sign up.

Moreover, the meeting with Gao Han convinced him that, at least, Gao Han understood him better than Chris Coleman.

A head coach who understands him better, a more suitable environment for him to perform, and maybe even a salary increase...

With all kinds of advantages, Van der Sar really couldn't refuse.

…………

…………

In fact, negotiations with Van der Sar's agent went surprisingly smoothly.

The player himself has agreed to join. Chelsea is eager to seek talents. Van der Sar's salary is high for Fulham, but for Chelsea, it can only be regarded as mid-range, and it is acceptable to increase it appropriately.

Therefore, after two rounds of negotiations, the two parties quickly reached a consensus and signed the contract in just two days.

And when Chelsea announced that they would introduce the 32-year-old goalkeeper Van der Sar from Fulham at a price of 10 million euros, the entire English football world was once again shocked by Gao Han's move.

Even, this time was more surprising than any previous time.

Ten million euros to buy a 32-year-old goalkeeper with ups and downs?

If it is said that although Makelele is not young, but at least he performed well in Real Madrid, then Van der Sar's performance in Fulham is definitely not good, at most it can only be regarded as a pass.

But such a player actually cost Chelsea 10 million euros?

Tricky! money laundering! Black gold deal!

All kinds of rumors and revelations began to spread among the British media, and even Chelsea fans became worried.

But Gao Han and Chelsea did not come forward to clarify the various speculations from the outside world, but they all focused on the team's training.

The first round of the Premier League is just around the corner, and Gao Han has no spare time to deal with the media.

But in the eyes of the media and some fans, this is an expression of guilty conscience!

For a while, all the dirty water and sewage were poured towards Gao Han, showing signs of swallowing him.