87 Brother, You're in Trouble!

Barcelona, in the coach's office.

Villanova hung up the phone and fell into deep thought.

The caller was Spain's national team coach, Bosque, who inquired whether Barcelona planned to terminate Lin's loan early and bring him back to the team during the winter break.

He also wanted to know if Lin would have enough playing opportunities at Barcelona, indicating that if the player did not get enough playing time, Bosque would consider calling him up to the national team and U-21 team to keep him active.

Villanova, not wanting to interfere with the club's decision, expressed that he was unaware of the club's plans. He promised to inform Bosque as soon as he received any updates from the club.

After hanging up the phone, Villanova began to ponder.

Truth be told, he had hardly considered the issue before Lin was selected for the national team.

The reason was simple; Barcelona already had Messi.

Due to his relationship with Guardiola, he naturally knew and was acquainted with Lin.

However, personal relationships would not influence his professional judgement.

Having not worked with Lin, he was uncertain of the player's abilities.

However, with Messi's god-like performance under his management, he could not easily replace his absolute core.

Unless Lin was willing to accept being a substitute for Messi, which, at his age, would be better to have more playing opportunities than sitting on the bench at a top club.

Therefore, Villanova had no intention of recalling Lin during the winter break.

He was not sure what the club planned to do.

With this in mind, he decided to make preparations in case the club unexpectedly recalled him.

Villanova found Messi on the training ground and asked for his opinion.

If Messi was willing to have Lin back, Villanova could consider redesigning tactics to ensure the coexistence of these two players on the field.

Argentina, to which Messi belonged, had just lost to Venezuela in the World Cup qualifiers a few days ago, putting him in a bad mood.

However, when he heard the news that Lin might return to the team in the second half of the season, he immediately showed strong interest.

"Lin? I've watched his games, and he did very well at Werder Bremen!"

"Can we coexist? Of course, there's no problem at all. In fact, I'm looking forward to working together with him!"

Villanova was surprised by Messi's keen interest in Lin and felt relieved.

After thinking for a moment, he called his old friend Guardiola, who was on vacation, to ask for his opinion.

On the other hand, Barcelona was working on Messi, while Real Madrid was working on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Florentino personally approached Ronaldo, convincing him, saying, "Cristiano, I know how much you desire trophies and how dissatisfied you are with the team's current strength, especially the lack of firepower up front. I promise you I will bring in a top player to help you and the team achieve more honors!"

Unhappy with his time at Real Madrid, where the team's European performance was not as expected, and they were consistently overshadowed by Messi's Barcelona, Ronaldo felt deeply lost. His original intention was to prove himself in Spain and defeat his opponent directly in a head-to-head match, and now he was disillusioned.

"A top player? Are you referring to the fast winger from Tottenham or the recently rising Spanish youngster?"

Florentino smiled at Ronaldo, "Which one do you think suits you better?"

After thinking for a moment, Ronaldo earnestly said, "If possible, I want them both!"

The President of Real Madrid felt awkward at Ronaldo's response.

After bidding farewell to his national team teammates, Lin did not stay long in Madrid. He took a flight back to Germany the next day.

The eighth round of the Bundesliga was about to begin, and after just completing national team games, he needed rest.

As for transfer rumors, Lin himself did not pay much attention, but his agent Perey was keeping an eye on it, and there were contacts made.

However, Perey knew that Lin was not currently interested in leaving Werder Bremen, so he did not bother him with these matters and allowed him to concentrate on preparing for matches.

It took nearly four hours for Lin to fly from Madrid to Bremen.

Although the journey was not long, Lin felt very exhausted.

Fortunately, the next game for Werder Bremen was a home game, so he was spared the fatigue of travel.

When he returned to the club, Lin saw De Bruyne practicing alone on the field.

Belgium's international match day featured only one match, and De Bruyne had returned to the club three days earlier than Lin. He was in much better spirits and physical condition than the visibly fatigued Lin.

 De Bruyne seemed to be in a good mood, setting up the props for a free-kick while humming a tune and stepping back to prepare to take the kick.

After one or two months of practice, De Bruyne's knuckleball had improved significantly.

Now, he had a more than fifty percent chance of hitting a knuckleball every time he took a free-kick.

This boosted the threat of his free-kicks, becoming a key weapon for Werder Bremen to score goals.

"Well, you seem to be in a good mood. Let me guess, are you in love or did you score for the national team?"

Lin approached, greeting teammates while teasing.

De Bruyne seemed to have his secret guessed, blushing a bit and feeling a bit embarrassed as he lowered his head.

Seeing his reaction, Lin clicked his tongue, "Hmm, it seems you're in love and scored in the national team, right?"

Lin didn't watch the Belgian national team games, but he remembered De Bruyne had been selected for the Belgian national team as early as 2010.

At that time, the Red Devils' lineup wasn't as strong as later, and with the head coach promoting young talents, players like De Bruyne, talented and promising, had the opportunity to play without surprise.

De Bruyne didn't have the habit of lying, so after being seen through by Lin, he directly nodded in admission.

Lin wanted to tease him a bit, but suddenly thought of the incident with Ding Ding and became unable to laugh.

Could it be that his current girlfriend was the woman who gave him the green hat?

As a friend, he should warn his friend not to be cuckolded.

However, Lin didn't know if the incident had happened yet. The incident of the wife's friend came out in '14, happening during De Bruyne's loan to Werder Bremen in the '12-13 season.

As he didn't know the exact date, Lin couldn't directly tell De Bruyne that his girlfriend would cheat, or De Bruyne would surely think he's crazy!

"Wow, nice! I didn't expect you to be this kind of guy, moving fast!"

Lin observed De Bruyne's response while subtly inquiring about the girl.

De Bruyne chuckled, "I met her when I played for Genk before, but we didn't confirm our relationship before. You know, I'm not good at communication..."

Genk? The club where Courtois and De Bruyne played together?

Lin felt something wasn't right!

"How did you meet her? Is she a fan of yours?"

De Bruyne nodded, "Her family are fans of Genk, and she often came to watch the games, so we got to know each other!"

That seemed pretty close to the truth!

Thinking about this, Lin decided not to beat around the bush and directly asked:

"What's your girlfriend's name?"

De Bruyne was puzzled; why did Lin seem like he was conducting a family investigation? But their relationship was good, so he answered truthfully:

"Her name is Caroline."

Hearing De Bruyne's answer, Lin rubbed his forehead; indeed, this name was the leading lady from the friend's wife incident.

"Has she recently been to Madrid?"

De Bruyne paused, why did this question suddenly pop up?

"It seems like no? I didn't see any photos of her in Madrid in the travel logs she posted on social media!"

Lin remembered Caroline meeting Courtois during a trip to Madrid, hitting it off, and ending up in bed, which led to the green hat situation.

Since Caroline hadn't been to Madrid, the incident of the wife's friend hadn't happened yet.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

De Bruyne, seeing his friend's expression, curiously asked.

"Well, I just think that since you're not in your home country all the time and can't always be with your girlfriend, is a long-distance relationship really okay?"

Long-distance relationships are problematic in any country, and De Bruyne himself was a bit careless.

To find out you've been wearing a green hat for two years is quite something, plus he chose to forgive her, leaving one unsure how to comment.

"I don't have a problem. After all, I have to play matches all the time, with little free time, so I don't feel lonely. But as for Caroline..."

De Bruyne hadn't thought about this question before and, hearing Lin, realized the seriousness of the situation.

"Here's the thing, I suggest Caroline moves to Bremen!"

De Bruyne thought about it and came up with what he thought was a good solution.

Lin nodded; living together was also a good solution.

As long as Caroline didn't go to Madrid, there shouldn't be any chance of her getting involved with Courtois, right?

 However, he felt that things might not be so easily resolved. Caroline wasn't the type to be content and faithful; she could have an affair with Courtois while traveling, so is it impossible for her to cheat on someone else once in Bremen?

Nevertheless, this was De Bruyne's private matter, and Lin couldn't ask him to break up with his girlfriend, could he?

All he could do was to keep an eye on De Bruyne and prevent him from getting hurt and remaining unaware.