"...Welcome back to 'Tiantianzuqiu'. We've just finished introducing La Liga and Serie A. Next, let's turn our attention to the Bundesliga. First, we head to the Westfalen Stadium.
In the recently concluded marquee match of Bundesliga Round 7, Borussia Dortmund easily defeated Hannover 96 3–1 at home; Jin Hayes, whom our Chinese fans have been following closely, performed as steadily as ever.
Starting the match, he relied on two exquisite assists to help Borussia Dortmund complete a comeback with three consecutive goals after trailing by one in the first half.
In the 19th minute of the first half, the visiting team Hannover 96 struck first. Through a simple long‑ball counterattack, Czech forward Jiří Štajner broke through the goal with a powerful shot inside the penalty area. Hannover 96 took the lead.
Facing a deficit, Borussia Dortmund's morale did not drop. They quickly organized a series of continuous attacks. 18‑year‑old midfielder İlkay Gündoğan put on a sparkling performance. Coming on for Nuri Şahin, he established a great connection with Jin Hayes.
A through ball found Jin Hayes in the attacking third. Facing a three‑man double‑team, Jin Hayes remained calm under pressure. With elegant footwork, he maneuvered through the encirclement. An assist in the box allowed Mario Götze to score, and Borussia Dortmund equalized.
Before the end of the first half, it was Jin Hayes's breakthrough again. His positional interchange with Götze disrupted Hannover's defence. Jin Hayes beat two men on the left wing and passed to Götze at the edge of the box. Götze burst into the penalty area and sent a low cross to Alexander Frei, who easily found the net. Borussia Dortmund successfully took the lead. The fluid attacking combination in the final third was like mercury flowing across the floor.
As the second half began with the teams switching sides, Borussia Dortmund exerted pressure once more. It was the cooperation between Gündoğan and Jin Hayes again. Gündoğan carried the ball forward and found Jin Hayes directly in the half‑space with a precise pass.
Jin Hayes controlled the ball with his chest and performed a series of knee juggles to beat defenders, taking on three opponents single‑handedly in the box. Drawing everyone's attention, Jin Hayes used a header to flick the ball toward the far post. The substitute Marco Reus arrived just in time and finished it in one go. Borussia Dortmund extended their lead to 3–1.
In the end, thanks to Jin Hayes's outstanding performance, the Bumblebees secured three points at home without any major scares.
...
While Borussia Dortmund is riding high at the top of the table, the defending Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, have fallen into a rut. Despite having Arjen Robben, Bayern has temporarily failed to capitalise on the advantages of their two wings.
Under Jürgen Klinsmann's management, the tactical system appears somewhat chaotic. At their Allianz Arena home, Bayern Munich was held to a 3–3 draw by Bochum.
Next, let's return to the match highlights.
In the 2008/09 season, besides the sudden rise of Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg, led by Felix Magath, is also a formidable force. Boasting two super forwards in Grafite and Edin Džeko, Wolfsburg has already completed a seven‑match unbeaten run at the start of the season, trailing Borussia Dortmund by only six points in the standings, currently sitting in second place.
In this round of matches, Wolfsburg drew away against Schalke 04, with Grafite and Džeko each scoring a goal—"
...
CCTV Broadcasting Hall.
Behind‑the‑scenes commentator and host Wang Tao was working overtime in the recording studio to record the voice‑over for 'Tiantianzuqiu'. The Bundesliga matches had just ended on Sunday, and the programme had to be broadcast on Monday.
Wang Tao had been sitting there for almost the entire day, both tired and hungry. After finally finishing the recording, he wiped his sweat and walked out of the studio, where he happened to run into commentator He Wei.
"Yo, what's up?"
"I finished commentating on La Liga yesterday, and I have some administrative weekly reports to write. I'm about to take them to the director—did you just finish recording?"
"Yeah, I'm exhausted, but it felt pretty good. Here's a spoiler: this issue's Top 10 Goals were all taken by Lord Jin."
"Tsk, as expected of my Lord Jin."
Influenced by Tieba, forums, and other internet platforms, people at CCTV Sports had also started calling Jin Hayes 'Lord Jin'. Lately, everyone has been very enthusiastic about their work; Jin Hayes's matches can be seen in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League.
In the past, they could only commentate on and evaluate foreigners, but now it was finally our Chinese player's turn to shine. At sixteen, he led his team to crush Real Madrid and Juventus. In the future, when they encountered foreign journalists, they could hold their heads high.
"That's right, your Fernando Torres is very strong, but we have Jin Hayes too."
It's said that Europe has gone crazy over him. On Transfermarkt, Jin Hayes's market value skyrocketed from €13 million to €35 million, essentially entering the ranks of Europe's first‑tier stars. It was truly unimaginable in the past.
"By the way, the director said he's sending a film crew to Germany to film a documentary for Lord Jin and conduct an exclusive interview—do you have a chance to go?"
"Me? Probably not." He Wei had also heard about this. He really wanted to go to Europe to meet this famous 'hot property' who was renowned throughout Europe. Unfortunately, He Wei currently didn't have much status at Channel 5.
This kind of good opportunity usually didn't fall into his lap.
Unless it was a major event like the Champions League final or the World Cup, he wouldn't have the chance to go abroad to participate in commentary. Still, he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride—knowing that a young Chinese player was the talk of Europe made the long hours in the studio feel a little more worthwhile.
"It'll likely be Brother Xuan."
"Alright, I was thinking of asking you to help me bring back a few jerseys personally signed by Lord Jin."
"It'd be lucky if I could bring you one. How many do you want?"
"The more the better, of course. Stock up on a few now. When Lord Jin becomes a true superstar in the future, won't I make a fortune?"
"Only you would be thinking about this every day." He Wei laughed helplessly. Wang Tao always liked to scheme about this kind of business.
"No way, I have to find a way to see if I can contact Mendes."
"Then good luck to you."
…
"Mr. Mendes?"
Jin Hayes was taking a cold bath at the training base when he suddenly received a call from Jorge Mendes. Usually, Michael Carter from the agent team handled things, and Jin Hayes rarely communicated with Mendes himself.
"Jin! I forgot to congratulate you before. Congratulations on defeating Real Madrid. You played beautifully."
"Thank you."
How long had it been since they last spoke? However, Mendes's tone was very enthusiastic, as if he were a long‑time friend of Jin Hayes's.
"By the way, I'm calling you today mainly for two things. The first is a sports brand endorsement—Puma's endorsement contract was so good before, why didn't you take it? Do you prefer Nike or Adidas?"
When Jin Hayes led his team into the Champions League, Puma had actively approached Mendes, hoping to sign this future star and open up the Chinese market. Mendes was very interested in this cooperation and helped Jin Hayes secure the same treatment as Sergio Agüero, Radamel Falcao, and others—a two‑year, 3 million endorsement contract.
If Jin Hayes continued to maintain his current form, he might even reach 3 million 3 million per year in the future. That was almost at the same level as the 100‑metre champion Usain Bolt.
Mendes didn't expect that the terms he had worked so hard to negotiate would be flatly rejected by Jin Hayes. Millions of dollars were practically free money; he only needed to do a few print ad shoots every year. There was really no reason to refuse.
"Sorry, Mr. Mendes. I just don't really like that brand—"
Jin Hayes couldn't quite say why he had rejected Puma. It was just that whenever Nike, Adidas, Puma, and other international brands were mentioned, he always felt those brands would run into trouble.
One day in the future, they might cause a public relations crisis, and as a Chinese player, he could easily be caught up in it, which might even affect his reputation. To avoid trouble, Jin Hayes simply decided not to get involved with any of them.
"Alright, since you're firm on your stance, we'll follow your wishes. Then do you have a brand you like? We can take the initiative to discuss cooperation. Your commercial value is gradually becoming apparent. Combined with your outstanding appearance and temperament, you'll definitely earn more than David Beckham in the future."
Mendes was eyeing Jin Hayes's personal image. His ideal state was to build the young player into a heartthrob who surpassed Beckham, completely transcending the football world and exploding in the fashion world.
After accumulating enough prestige, Mendes could completely help Jin Hayes establish his own personal brand, just like the CR7 that Cristiano Ronaldo was preparing to create.
"Would a Chinese brand work? I want to support my own country's enterprises."
"But their global influence isn't enough, far inferior to Adidas and Nike—"
"It doesn't matter. If their influence isn't enough, then I'll do my best to create that influence."
"This—" It must be said that Mendes somewhat admired this 16‑year‑old.
Other stars all hoped to use international brands like Adidas, Nike, and Armani to bolster themselves. Jin Hayes, on the other hand, hoped to use himself to boost some brands that were not very well‑known internationally. Any other agent would surely have tried to talk him out of it, telling Jin Hayes not to be too naive. At this moment, Mendes only wanted to say: "What ambition!"
"So you have some preferred choices, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much. If possible, I'd like to contact Anta, Li‑Ning, Hongxing Erke... and for electronic products, mainly Huawei. For cars, let's contact BYD and Geely."
"Wait…" Mendes was bewildered by Jin Hayes. He thought the young man only had a vague concept, but he didn't expect the ideas to be so specific. Although he didn't quite understand these brands for now and couldn't see how they would develop in the future, Mendes still decided to respect Jin Hayes's opinion and do some research first.
"Alright, I'll send someone to look into it and talk to them."
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Mendes."
"Don't be so formal with me. You can call me Jorge. We're friends, right?"
The corner of Jin Hayes's mouth twitched.
Mendes was quite realistic, as expected of a giant among European agents. Before he was famous, there wasn't a single phone call, but right after crushing Real Madrid and causing an earthquake in the European media, he had suddenly become Mendes's friend?
It didn't matter; as long as he could guarantee Jin Hayes's commercial value and interests. Business is business; 'friends' are ethereal things anyway.
"By the way, there's another thing. Your CCTV contacted me. They want to film a documentary of you in Germany and conduct an exclusive interview. What do you think?"
"CCTV?" Jin Hayes was slightly stunned. He had been on 'Tiantianzuqiu' many times. Every time his parents saw him on TV, they would send a text message. He didn't expect CCTV to plan a documentary for him. "Sure, no problem."
"Then I'll have the team communicate the itinerary with them in detail. You don't need to worry about anything; just focus on training and playing well. Leave all other miscellaneous matters to us. If anything comes up, remember to contact Michael Carter anytime; he's available 24 hours a day."
"Thank you, Mr. Mendes… oh, right, Jorge."
Hanging up the phone, Jin Hayes went from the cold pool to the hot pool next door to continue relaxing. He hadn't really felt it that much before, but after communicating with Mendes, Jin Hayes suddenly realised that he seemed to have truly become a bona fide star.
His influence was spreading at an unimaginable speed. Not long ago, he was just a talent show contestant hoping for a trial. Now, the biggest agent in Europe was calling him a friend, and a national television network wanted to film a documentary about his life.
It was surreal!
**
t/n
While rejecting global brands wasn't a good idea to me, it sorta makes sense in hindsight. Since China isn't really open to the world, and the brands he chose are currently in the global stage with cutting edge stuff.
I really love the vehicles and that new Huawei laptop.