"Don't worry, brother, I will continue to play football for the dream of both of us. I will try to make myself the kind of player you and I should be. I will make you proud of me, just as I am proud of you."

Many people tend to forget the promises they made easily when they were young or when they were young. In many cases, they will look back with a very self-deprecating look, and then make fun of their past ignorance and boredom at others, as if this can show their current maturity and wisdom.

Sandro never had such a thing, because his past was like a scar that could never be erased for him, not only engraved in his heart, but also engraved in his soul. He would never forget the promise he had made, which was his promise to his brother Simon.

Sandro, 22, is from Brazil. He was born in a small village called Ricino, more than 300 kilometers away from the capital Brasilia. It is a very poor country village and village with old brick and tile houses everywhere. There is only a narrow concrete road that can be connected to the outside. It looks a bit like an isolated place.

Sandro's father Vahi was a bricklayer in Riccino, who specialized in helping people in this village and town build brick walls for a living.

Like all small villages and towns in Brazil, although Riccino is poor and backward, football is very popular here. It is probably related to the fact that Riccino has a lot of grasslands, but it is not a artificial grassland like Europe. It is a grassland that naturally grows from the soil. It is a bit hard, but it is indeed a good place to play football.

Sandro's talent in playing football is not very good, but his brother Simon is very outstanding. Many people in the town say that Simon will definitely be able to join the national team when he grows up, play football in Europe, make a lot of money, and let his family live a happy life. Simon has always worked hard with this goal.

Simon's talent even caused many professional teams from Brasilia, even the giant teams, to send people to inspect him, but just when everyone felt that he was about to enter the top club, the doctor detected that there was something wrong with his heart and he had to stop playing football, otherwise he would be in danger of his life.

This was simply shocking news for this family who had just seen hope, and Simon was hit hard.

It was in this case that my younger brother was not very talented and never favored by others. Sandro walked to his brother, very sincere and firmly told him, "I will work hard to play football for our dreams."

How a person with low talent can come out of Brazil where geniuses are everywhere may not be something that everyone dares to imagine, but whether it is Simon or Sandro, they all believe that no one is born a genius. No matter how good the skills or the outstanding talent is, they are all obtained through hard training.

So Sandro worked hard to train, and in order to better treat Simon's illness, their family moved to Pranartina in the eastern part of the capital Brasilia. Simon also began to receive treatment and found a job. The family worked hard to maintain their lives, hoping to make Sandro a professional player.

But often things go against their wishes. Sandro went from Brasilia's team to Rio de Janeiro, and then to Curiciba. He went south alone to play football in a football academy because some professional teams often come to the academy to select talents.

But no one expected that the professional team was indeed coming, but everyone in the same group as Sandro was selected, but he was the only one who was not interested. That period of time was almost a desperate day for him. The only thing that could support him to continue waiting was his phone number to his family every day, because the phone bill was paid by the college.

Finally he joined a small team in Astar, where he played the ball, and then was discovered by the scouts from Brazil International when he was playing the Sao Paulo Cup with Gremio, and they invited him to try out

But for Sandro, it was not smooth to join the Brazilian professional team. When he first arrived at Brazil International, he was injured in a training class and was recuperated for six weeks. This period almost made him feel cold-eyed because there are many players from all over Brazil who are about the same age as him, who are from all over Brazil, who are desperately working for a chance to enter the Brazil International youth training camp.

He believed that if it weren't for his injury and the rules that Brazil International could not ignore him, he might not have been able to stay at Brazil International. However, six weeks later, he was sarcastic and finally recovered with the support and encouragement of his family, and conquered everyone with his almost crazy training and rapid progress.

The strong body and outstanding foot skills are what Brazil International judges him, and he is also the captain of the Brazilian national team, which attracted the attention of Tottenham Hotspur. The North London team brought him from Brazil to Europe and arranged for him to enter Ajax for cultivation.

Three years have passed in a blink of an eye. He has become familiar with Dutch football, Europe, Amsterdam, and Ajax. He has become a Brazilian international and Ajax's main midfielder. He is regarded by many as Gilberto Silva's successor, but more people believe that his offensive ability is stronger than Gilberto Silva.

He looks like a midfield version of Lucio

In the past three years, he has been like a sponge, crazily absorbing everything from coaches, teammates and on the field. He trains hard and improves his strength and skills. He has never been satisfied with everything he has now, even if he has enough ability to bring his parents and brother to Europe and live a comfortable life.

He thanked Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax

I still remember that when I first came to Europe and met Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ye Qiu in Amsterdam, Ye Qiu, who knew about his past, told him a truth: on the football field, talent cannot determine everything, and hard training and hard study is the most precious quality of a top player.

So, since then, he has worked harder and harder in training. He has worked harder to learn from other teammates, such as Edgar or Davis, and Sandro has learned a lot from Davis.

The Eredivisie was over, but Sandro did not go to rest or vacation like others. He continued to come to De Tok Most every day and insisted on training because he was selected for the Brazilian national team roster in the Copa America in July this year. He needed to adjust his condition and then take a vacation so that he could show his condition during the national team training.

The best is to let head coach Meneses give him a main position, and he also dreams of participating in the Brazil World Cup.

That was undoubtedly his and his brother Simon's shared dream

Bobby Hams stopped outside the training ground.

Although the weather was getting hotter, he was still wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He was old and could not tolerate any negligence.

Sandro was training on the training ground. He was a rookie who was very optimistic by almost all Ajax coaches. He was only 22 years old, but he performed well in Ajax. He played for three seasons and became more and more stable. More importantly, he was more and more comprehensive. He was not just a defender.

Of course, the Brazilian has nearly perfect physical fitness, speed, strength, flexibility, coordination, bounce... He has almost surprisingly perfect physical fitness for a professional player, and in the past three years, he has not been just a defender anymore, he has made himself more comprehensive.

Ajax's coaching staff has made contributions to all this, but the players are the ones that really make the decision.

I still remember Ye Qiu used a very vivid and appropriate word to describe the player's growth and progress trajectory. He compared it to playing mahjong. A player with good talent is equivalent to getting a good hand, while a player with poor talent is equivalent to getting a bad hand.

But all those who have played mahjong know that good cards and bad cards are not important at all. The most important thing is whether you can score cards during the mahjong process. If you can score cards, even if you hold a bad card, you can still win. If you can’t score cards, even if you get a good card, you may have to lose.

In other words, good and bad cards cannot be the criteria for whether you can win cards. It can only be said that if you get good cards, the probability will be relatively higher, but that's all.

If you put the card on the football field, it is equivalent to a player's learning and absorption ability.

Learn from teammates and even opponents, absorb knowledge from the coaching staff and all aspects, and then use it for yourself and improve your strength.

Looking at all the top players, almost all of them come out like this, even if their talent is not bad

There is no doubt that Sandro has been able to get to where he is today because of his learning and absorption ability, as well as his hard work in the training field, so in the past few seasons, he has become the best midfielder in the Eredivisie, and he is also very comprehensive, because the Netherlands has always produced all-round midfielders.

From the distant Koku to later Van Bomel, to Sneijder, the Netherlands has always had its own unique features in cultivating all-round midfielders, and Sandro is another comprehensive midfielder launched by Ajax, thanks to his origins from Brazil.

It is hard to imagine that a Brazilian player would have no skills and no offensive desire, which is impossible.

"Sandro" saw that Sandro had finished his long pass training on the training ground and stopped training out of breath, Bobby Hams called out.

Seeing that it was Bobby or Hams, Sandro immediately laughed, ran to the sidelines quickly, and opened his hands to hug him.

"Don't mess around, sweat all over, don't get my shirt dirty, boy" Bobby Hams quickly reached out to block it.

"Bobby, I haven't seen you for a long time." Sandro respected him from the bottom of his heart.

I still remember when he first came to the Eredivisie, whether it was Ajax or his agent, he told Sandro that if he wanted to gain a foothold in the European professional league, it would be better to be a defensive player who was steady and conservative. So the most eye-catching thing about Sandro at that time was defense. He was called the beast waist. Many people think that he was like Gilberto, Silva and Vieira, which was the impression at that time. Until later, Bobby Hams told him that if you want to succeed, you have to go further.

"Do you know why professional football is fast now?"

"Because the transition between offense and defense is constantly compressed, even brittle and dissolved into one."

"That is to say, in modern football tactics, when a player, especially a midfielder, plays an important role in defense, then he is also controlling the team's offense to the greatest extent. By the same token, when a player plays an important role in offense, he is also affecting the team's defense to the greatest extent."

"Many people say that Gilberto Silva is not involved in the offense, but they have never considered that when Gilberto Silva cut the ball down, he handed it to the left, to the right, to the front, or to pass it back. These are all determining the direction of the offense and whether a team's next attack after intercepting the ball will work."

"The players in front are actually just executing the route that Gilberto Silva set for them."

"By the same, when Messi concedes the ball in the frontcourt, whether he will invest in the first counter-robbery? Should he choose to grab from the left of the ball holder, or from the right of the ball holder, or just block his forward ball exit route. These all affect the passing direction of the ball holder, and then determine the team's defense center of gravity, because the defense must be transformed with the opponent's offense."

"Maybe it should be said that any team's players have two parts of abilities, and part of them determines the lower limit of the players and the team. That is to say, no matter how bad they are, they will not be lower than the lower limit. The other part is also the most important part. He determines the upper limit of the players and the team, that is, what heights and achievements they can reach."

"In modern football tactics, for offensive players, offensive ability is only their lower limit, and defensive consciousness is their upper limit; for defensive players, defensive ability is only their lower limit, but offensive consciousness is their upper limit."

"For you, your lower limit is already very clear. Next, you should work hard to increase your upper limit. It will determine whether you play in the Eredivisie or in the four major leagues, and whether you can only be a defensive role player or a midfielder with the ability to be the only one."

It was Bobby Hams's words that made Sandro determined to work hard to improve his offensive ability while maintaining his defensive ability. In the past two or three years, he has greatly improved his strength.

However, in the Eredivisie, Ajax is no longer as brave as he used to be. Coupled with the embarrassment of the midfielder position, everyone talks about Ajax, more attacking players such as Suarez, Hulk and Lucas Omora, and few people notice Sandro.

But Tottenham Hotspur and Bobby Hams have been paying attention to the Brazilian midfielder.

"There is good news and bad news. Which one are you going to listen to?" Bobby Hams, accompanied by Sandro, walked slowly on the path of DeTok Most.

"Good news" Sandro said with a smile. His face was a bit fierce and a bit scary when he smiled, but he was a very enthusiastic and cheerful young man at heart. I heard that his favorite thing was singing.

"The good news is that you're going to Tottenham to report, and they decided to call you back

Sandro was stunned. He couldn't believe it, "Really?" He laughed happily.

"Really," Bobby Hams nodded, "The club will probably notify your agent soon."

"Great," Sandro said happily that he did not have feelings for Ajax, but because he always belonged to Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur will arrange members of the coaching staff to Amsterdam every month to inspect and coach several players on loan. He is also the focus of Tottenham Hotspur.

"But there is also bad news," Bobby Hams said with a smile.

“What bad news?”

The old Dutch stopped, "Tottenham Hotspur is a big team and a giant team, but the performance in the second half of this season was not ideal. Yaya O Toure left the team and caused problems in the midfield. In addition, the coaching staff decided to make major adjustments and reforms to the midfield. Therefore, in this case, the pressure will be great, and it will also be difficult for outside fans and media to do so. You must be mentally prepared.

Sandro has heard of this. In fact, when he hopes to go to North London, he is mentally prepared for this aspect. He is not afraid at all, because he believes that he can have a place in Tottenham Hotspur, and even if he is a substitute at the beginning, he will slowly grab the main position back.

"The competition for midfield in Tottenham will be very fierce, even tragic, because they are also exploring a new set of tactical ideas, introducing several players, and even big-name stars. In addition, several youth training players in the team, for you, you may not be able to occupy the main position at once."

"Yeah," Sandro nodded solemnly, "I understand, thank you, Bobby."

Bobby Hams has been taking good care of him in the past few years.

Of course, this Dutch old man takes good care of everyone on the team and is very good to everyone. He is a very popular person on the team, so Sandro is very grateful to him like everyone else.

"Remember one sentence, at any time and under any circumstances, keep patience and keep a learning heart. I believe you can play at your own level and win a place at Tottenham Hotspur."

Even if Bobby and Hams are very optimistic about Sandro now, Tottenham Hotspur is not Ajax, and the North London team is a giant, the competition is very fierce, and the gathering of the best players in the world is the best. This makes it difficult for anyone to enter Tottenham Hotspur.

But for Sandro, the Premier League is a challenge he has longed for. He hopes that he can create his own name in the Premier League like his predecessor Gilberto Silva.

No, he hopes he can do better and better than Gilberto Silva
Chapter completed!