Midfielder Ruler

After completing the contract with Nike, Tang Zheng attended the following routine interview accompanied by the Vice President of Nike Europe, Younan McLaughlin.

The content of the interview is actually very simple, that is, "What is the special feeling of being a signed player under Nike", "Whether you will feel pressure in the next career", "As the first Chinese football player who came to Nike headquarters to sign a contract, what do you think about the future? What's the outlook?" and so on.

For this, Tang Zheng was well prepared and answered meticulously.

By the end of the interview, it was almost noon, and Nike showed the demeanor of a large international company, and invited the reporters present to have a meal in the cafeteria.

It is also the so-called working meal in the fast-paced life of Americans. This kind of working meal has always been the favorite of media workers.

However, as a professional player, Tang Zheng was very strict on the intake of food and nutrients. However, Nike was considerate. What they provided Tang Zheng was not a work meal, but a nutritious meal.

It was about 2:30 p.m. local time in the United States. Tang Zheng changed into a Nike jersey and sneakers at the campus center of the Nike headquarters, and started shooting a simple print advertisement.

Since this was Tang Zheng's first time shooting a print advertisement, he seemed a bit reserved, so that Eddie Adams, a special photographer for Nike, had to frequently rest Tang Zheng's body movements.

Eunan McLaughlin, vice president of the European region who stood by and accompanied him, said with a smile: "I never imagined that Tang, who is full of confidence on the court, would feel nervous when shooting a print advertisement, haha..."

Tang Zheng, who was standing in the backlight, pouted and said, "Aren't I afraid that I won't be handsome enough?"

Suddenly, everyone let out a burst of good-natured laughter.

However, Tang Zheng's progress surprised photographer Eddie Adams and vice president Younan McLaughlin, because Tang Zheng's progress was so fast, just like his ability to read games on the football field , You will soon discover the shortcomings and make corrections.

"Sure enough, you are a born big-time player! I wish you the Golden Globe Award in the future!"

After shooting the latest Nike print advertisement, photographer Eddie Adams gave Tang Zheng a high thumbs up.

After filming the print advertisement, since the vice president of the European region, Younan McLaughlin, needs to report some work to the headquarters, the accompanying work is handed over to the deputy general manager of the public relations department, Hilary Duff. She will be in charge of everything before Tang Zheng leaves the Nike headquarters. Work, including introducing the history and unique culture of Nike.

During this period of time, Hilary Duff led Tang Zheng to visit the 'Nike Lake' of the Nike headquarters, and sixteen research and development buildings named after famous athletes.

In addition, I also went to the football equipment research and development center, but the building has not been named yet. Hilary Duff, who was in charge of the company, smiled and said to Tang Zheng: "If your contribution to Nike is large enough, then... the future of this building The building will be named after you, just like the previous buildings named after 'Michael Jordan', 'Tiger Woods'..."

What surprised Tang Zheng was that there were two Chinese statues in the Nike headquarters, namely Liu Xiang and Liu Tong signed by Nike.

The entire visit lasted for an hour and a half. Before Tang Zheng and Chen Jia left the Nike headquarters, Yunan McLaughlin, vice president of Nike Europe, introduced them to Roland Wolfram, vice president of the Asia Pacific region, because he They will also go to Beijing to be in charge of the press conference held in China.

Chen Jia was very satisfied with this arrangement of Nike. First, the vice president of the European region accompanied him to sign the contract, and then the vice president of the Asia-Pacific region accompanied him to Beijing to hold a press conference. Compared with the arrogant Adidas, it was a bit better.

No wonder Nike's global performance is much better than Adidas.

At this time, the president of Adidas Europe regretted it very much. At first he thought that Tang Zheng would not be able to go far away, so his attitude was a little arrogant. He learned these routines from the profound Chinese culture, and he wanted to play hard to get, but the result was very different from his imagination. ...

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Tang Zheng returned home this time,

It was completely different from the obscurity of the summer of 2008.

Winning the European Golden Boy award before the winter break made him a sought-after young player around the world, especially in his home country.

The continuous reports are overwhelming, and those ordinary people who don't usually watch football know that there is a young man who plays football very well in China. He won the European Golden Boy Award in Dortmund, Germany.

Although many of them don't know what the European Golden Boy Award is, they always feel that this title is very honorable and honored.

Now that he has signed with Nike, Tang Zheng returned to China and held a grand press conference. Domestic fans and media all know about it.

In fact, as early as the day Tang Zheng and Nike signed the contract, the fans and media who followed Tang Zheng's dynamics knew the news. After all, the transmission of the information age is very fast.

So outside the Capital International Airport, there were many reporters and fans who heard the news.

Looking at the reporters and fans surrounding the exit of the airport, Roland Wolfram, vice president of Nike Asia Pacific, said with a smile: "Don, you are no longer an unknown person, especially in China."

In the latter half of the sentence, Roland Wolfram emphasized his tone.

However, the reporters and fans didn't notice Tang Zheng. In this winter, there are not a few people like him wearing high-necked down jackets and thick scarves.

He and Chen Jia followed Roland Wolfram through the VIP channel, then boarded a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle that had already been prepared, and went straight to the hotel where the press conference was going to be held.

Tang Zheng, who made a rare trip back to China, will stay in China for at least a week. The first four days will be given to work, and the next three days will be given to family and friends.

According to what Tang Zheng's father said, as long as you have enough money, you won't be able to take it with you when you grow old anyway, happiness is the most important thing.

During the four days of business trips, except for the first two days, which were given to Nike’s press conference and promotional activities in China, half a day of the remaining two days was given to CCTV to record talk shows, and the last day and a half was given to other commercial companies. events and charities.

Time control is particularly tight.

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On Christmas day, all major Nike stores in China were uniformly replaced with large posters of Tang Zheng, which were very eye-catching.

At the same time, Tang Zheng participated in the recording of the new "Football Night" program of CCTV 5, which was also very successful.

In addition, the two public service advertisements that Tang Zheng took over were also very good, about youth football and poor children going to school.

When it comes to choosing commercial endorsements, Chen Jia has a unique eye and chose Huawei from Shencheng. The endorsement fee is not high, only 8 million RMB a year, and the two parties sign a two-year contract.

After finishing his work, Tang Zheng returned to SH overnight.

The second half of the 2009-2010 Bundesliga season will start on January 17th, and the team's re-training will be on January 9th, which means that if Tang Zheng wants to, he can stay at home until the 7th before returning to Dortmund.

Christmas is equivalent to New Year's in European and American countries, but there is no holiday in China for this festival, so staying at home with Tang Zheng is also very boring, so he disguised himself and came to Datong Middle School again.

The same as returning to his alma mater last summer, the first place he came to was the football field.

Of course, he didn't go to the coach this time, because his popularity is too high now, and he was afraid of causing too much sensation.

It's not that he is now famous and playing big names, but that he should relax in the face of the rare vacation.

Like other parents who came to the football field of Datong Middle School, he sat in the stands to watch the students train.

However, what Tang Zheng didn't expect was that he found a young man with great potential. Judging from the young man's appearance, he was only fifteen or sixteen years old at most. Many domestic players do not have the special.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

That night, he bought a high-resolution camera, and the next day he came to the football field of Datong Middle School again to shoot the young player playing football.

Sometimes fate is so strange, you never know that someone passing by will change your fate.

Even Tang Zheng didn't know that his unintentional move changed a person's fate.

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According to Tang Zheng's plan, he will spend New Year's Day at home and then return to Dortmund to continue taking the driver's license exam.

But the plan couldn’t keep up with the changes. On the morning of December 31, Tang Zheng received a call from Aguile Castillo, the editor-in-chief of the Uruguayan “National”, informing him that he had been elected as the South American Footballer of the Year in 2009…

After Tang Zheng hung up the phone, he sat on the sofa for a long time and didn't recover from it.

If he didn't join Dortmund this summer and stayed in River Plate, it would be understandable that he won the South American Footballer of the Year, but the problem is that he has completely zero matches in South America throughout the second half of this year.

So he turned on the computer immediately and logged on to the official website of the Uruguayan "Nation".

There is a photo of Tang Zheng wearing a River Plate jersey in a prominent place on the front page of "The Nation". On the photo is a red and bold Spanish line, to the effect: 2009 South American Footballer of the Year winner: Tang!

The "Nation" here where the club belongs is not about Dortmund, but River Plate. That is to say, the reason why Tang Zheng won this year's South American Footballer of the Year is entirely due to his outstanding performance in River Plate in the first half of the year.

There are also pictures and titles in the eye-catching positions. The following are the detailed reasons and basis for Tang Zheng's election.

It turns out that the players who played for South American clubs this year have a lot of different states throughout the year. Those players who performed well in the first half of the year were sluggish in the second half of the year, and the players who performed well in the second half of the year were sluggish in the first half of the year. They are not convincing at all. Only Tang Zheng, who led River Plate to the double crown in the first half of this year, will be voted for.

In terms of voting scores, Tang Zheng got 109 votes, followed by Falcao from River Plate who is currently playing for Porto and got 64 votes.

Since Tang Zheng had a forty-five vote lead over Falcao, he also became the South American footballer with the greatest advantage in the history of South American footballers.

At noon on New Year's Day, Tang Zheng, his parents, and Chen Jia headed to Pudong Airport non-stop after lunch. He will go to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, to accept the South American Footballer of the Year trophy awarded by "Nation".

(To be continued.)