Body Transformation Complete

That night, when Lin returned home and lay down in bed, he heard the voice of the system:

[Body transformation begins]

[Time required: Eight hours]

Without giving Lin any time to think, tiredness struck him, and he immediately entered into a deep sleep.

He slept for the entire eight hours and woke up feeling refreshed and energized.

Was the system's body transformation complete?

Looking himself up and down, he found out that his height hadn't changed. He measured himself and found that he was still the same height as before, 1.72 meters.

Previously, he had worried that the system's transformation would make him the same height as Messi, but now it seemed like he had worried for no reason.

However, Messi's sharp breakthroughs and dribbling skills were closely related to his height. Messi's fast pace, coupled with inherent ball sense, allowed him to touch the ball faster and make a larger number of ball contacts than others in the same given time. Therefore, while others could do only two movements in the same time frame, Messi could complete three.

Using this change in rhythm, Messi could pass through most of the defending players. This was where Messi's prowess lay—taking the variation in rhythm to the extreme.

He was unstoppable, leaving others clueless. They knew he was going to pass them, but their bodies couldn't keep up with their minds, resulting in moments like Boateng stumbling over himself.

Therefore, Lin was deeply concerned, worrying that his height increase might affect his breakthroughs, dribbling, and other skills.

Was Messi still Messi at 1.72 meters?

No, he had to try it out on the field!

So, Lin eagerly grabbed a football, rode his bike, and rushed to the soccer field.

"Why is this kid up so early? Isn't the youth team's training scheduled for 9:30? It's barely 6:30 now!"

Seeing Lin rushing off, Serra, Guardiola's girlfriend, said to Guardiola, looking somewhat puzzled.

Guardiola pondered; he remembered his conversation with Lin the day before. The boy was growing up, forming his own ideas, and perhaps training diligently at this point was his preparation to leave Barcelona.

Thinking this over, Guardiola decided to use his connections to help Lin find a good team. If Lin indeed wanted to leave Barcelona, he at least ought to be sent to a better team, so as not to hinder his professional career.

... 

Lin arrived at the training grounds very early; apart from security personnel, there was no one else in sight. After greeting the security guard, Lin eagerly rushed onto the training field, immediately starting his ball training.

He really wanted to experience what it felt like to play football the Messi way.

Before touching the ball, Lin didn't notice anything strange. But the moment the ball came to him, he immediately felt the difference.

He clearly felt that his pace was much faster than usual. If previously he could take only two steps in a second, now he could manage at least three or four steps!

In addition to his increased pace, he felt a significant improvement in ball control. After receiving the ball, it seemed as if the football was stuck to his foot. Every touch maintained precise ball control, preventing the ball from straying more than half a meter away from him after each contact!

This distance meant something, especially to a midfielder like him!

When Messi dribbles, it's difficult to steal from him. First, his ball touch is rapid, almost one step, one ball, ensuring that he always manages to touch the ball before the opponents, flicking it away. Second, his fine ball sense makes each touch precise, making it difficult for defending players to steal the ball from him within this limited distance.

Therefore, the best way to deal with Messi is this: don't let the ball reach his feet!

After a series of experiments, Lin was surprised by the results. The system actually replicated Messi's attributes onto himself!

He then tried some of Messi's signature feints, such as the ball-scoop feint, inside-outside cut feint, stopping and turning, and others. Although these feints weren't exclusive to Messi, his good ball sense and rapid ball control frequency made these feints more menacing when used by him than by other players.

"Hey, Lin, why are you here so early?"

After practicing on the field for an hour, having breakfast in the cafeteria, and taking a shower back at the changing room, Deulofeu and others finally arrived. Seeing Lin practicing alone on the field, Deulofeu was somewhat taken aback.

This guy, in his view, wasn't particularly hard-working, so why was he so early today? Seeing Lin drenched in sweat, clearly having trained for a long time already.

"I want to play for the first team!"

Facing Deulofeu's question, Lin replied seriously.

"Ah, are you kidding me? You're only sixteen this year, not even seventeen. How could you possibly establish yourself in the first team at this age?"

Deulofeu previously substituted in the 11th round of the La Liga last year when Barcelona won 5-0 against Mallorca. However, when he entered the field, the score was already 4-0, and Messi had already scored three goals in the first thirty minutes, putting an early end to the suspense of the game.

That's why Guardiola substituted him in—to get a feel of the atmosphere and train the young players. But during these few minutes, he was on the field, he keenly felt the huge gap in strength between the first team and the youth team. This deeply made Deulofeu aware that his ability was still lacking. He still needed to continue working hard, improving his soccer skills and strength, or else he wouldn't be able to establish himself in the first team.

Deulofeu is a year and a half older than Lin and he feels that he himself can't establish himself in the first team. Lin, who is even younger and has a thinner build, has even less chance.

"Of course, I'm not joking, and I didn't say I have to establish myself at Barça!"

"You want to leave Barça?"

Deulofeu was startled. As a player who came to La Masia, he dreamt of staying here, dreaming of stepping onto the Camp Nou field to play. But Lin, a true-born Barça person, actually wants to leave Barça, which surprised him greatly.

"Of course, if I don't leave Barça, how can I play in the first team? Also, La Masia's youth players are in high demand outside, so I won't have trouble finding a team! "

"I think you should also consider if you don't wish to stay at Barça!"

Deulofeu remembers how he struggled during his time at Barça, coming in and out several times, and ultimately not being able to make it.

So Lin wisely warned his friend, but whether he would listen or not was not his decision to make. It's like someone dreaming of playing for Real Madrid since childhood, but with Barça's increasingly glorious record, many young players have the Barça dream, dreaming of playing for Barça.

That's where Deulofeu belongs to. At this point, the youth team coaches came up, motioning for the players to move the equipment and prepare for today's training.

In five days, they will go to the away game to challenge the league opponent Almeria. The opponents are currently ranked seventh in the Segunda División, and the Barcelona youth team is ranked eighth. Although the difference in position is only one, their points are 14 higher than them, showing a much stronger strength than them.

But the team has already suffered two consecutive defeats, and even suffered a 4-1 defeat to Celta in the last round, causing embarrassment for the Barcelona club.

So the club has issued a death order on them, they must win Almeria by all means, ending two consecutive defeats.

This made the coaching staff of the youth team feel enormous pressure, and they attached great importance to their upcoming match.

Therefore, they plan to conduct an internal training match, taking the best state players to the away game to participate in the match.

They never hesitate to have such training matches. As the team's main defensive midfielder, Lin usually wears the symbolic blue vest that represents the main team. But today, the team's assistant coach gave him a substitute yellow vest. What does this mean?

Lin looked at the youth team's head coach Enrique but saw him sucking up to the club's president Rosell.

Is Rosell up to something?