Although Xu Xin's stunning performance has a lot to do with the lack of most of the main players in the team, even in the less competitive U19 league, Diego Simeone has never seen Xu Xin perform like this.

As a result, Diego Simeone, who originally gave Xu Xin the opportunity to train with the first team just for the sake of Fengquan's "face", actually came up with the intention of keeping him in the first team for a long time.

However, in order to more accurately assess whether Xu Xin's true strength has met the requirements of the first team, and not just a flash in the pan, Diego Simeone is ready to let Xu Xin train with the first team until the players selected for their respective national teams return to the team.

After training, when the Atletico Madrid coaching staff summed up the day's gains and losses as usual, and when Diego Simeone said he was going to make Xu Xin a key observer, the team's second assistant coach, Juan Bizcaino, offered a different opinion.

"That's right, Xu of the U19 team did a good job in today's group stage." After a pause, Juan Bizcaino continued: "However, I don't think he would have been on the same team as the wind, and he probably wouldn't have been so good on the offensive end. After all, the wind alone can attract the attention of 2 or 3 defenders of the opposing team. ”

"Therefore, when the wind attracts a lot of defensive strength in the frontcourt, the opponent's pressing in the midfield is bound to drop significantly. Otherwise, Xu's performance on the offensive end is unlikely to be a masterful performance at all. ”

Although Juan Bizcaino's analysis is not unreasonable, how can the somewhat "stubborn" Diego Simeone be so easily influenced by others?

That's right, getting rid of the ball and breaking through the marking of the opposing player can be said to be the result of the wind attracting a large number of defensive forces and weakening the opponent's midfield pressing; However, Xu Xin's mid-to-long-distance passes, which had a success rate of more than 8 percent after taking the ball in the midfield, were really there.

Diego Simeone, on the other hand, has positioned Xu Xin as a defensive midfielder, and the role of this type of player is to build the first line of defense in front of the back line, while at the same time using accurate mid-to-long-range passes to launch a quick counter-attack after completing a tackle.

Therefore, as long as Xu Xin has the above two abilities, he has met the most basic requirements of Diego Simeone for a "defensive midfielder".

…………

When assistant coach Herman Boggs announced the end of the morning's practice, Feng Quan was about to train immediately, but he saw Diego Simeone on the sidelines waving to him. So, the wind came to Diego Simeone quickly.

"Feng, if you are asked to be the head coach of the team now, will you let Xu be officially promoted to the first team?" Diego Simeone asked.

In fact, long before Diego Simeone spoke, Feng Quan had already roughly guessed the other party's purpose for letting him come. After all, without his own recommendation, Xu Xin may not be able to get the opportunity to train with the first team in a short period of time, and it is impossible to perform brilliantly in the group competition.

Moreover, even before the start of the group stage yesterday afternoon, Feng Quan had already "expected" that Xu Xin's performance would definitely attract the attention of Diego Simeone.

"That's a must!" Feng Quan said with a slightly exaggerated expression.

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to be so confident in your little fellow?" Diego Simeone asked, smiling.

In fact, it is not so much that Feng Quan has confidence in Xu Xin, but rather that he has more confidence in the skills of [Great God Light]. If it weren't for Fengquan's [dribbling] and [passing accuracy] bonuses, Xu Xin's performance on the offensive end would have been difficult to impress Diego Simeone.

However, out of the consideration of "promoting" the little fellow, Feng Quan still pretended to be serious and said: "Perhaps, Xu Xin's current strength is still a long way from becoming the main force of the team. But in the second half of the league, he should be able to squeeze at least 18 men into the team's squad. After all, his interception ability in central midfield is still good, and his mid- and long-range passing is also passable. ”

"You think about the same as I do. I also think that Xu's ability may really be able to meet the requirements of the first team very quickly. After a pause, Diego Simeone continued: "However, with his current ability, it will be difficult to make the 18-man squad this season. ”

"BOSS, Xu Xin's overall strength is indeed quite a gap compared with the main players in the first team, but he still has a certain advantage in terms of defensive ability and position diversity."

"Well, that's right. Xu has played away from centre-back in the Under-19 team and has performed quite well. However, we already have four good players in the central defender position, and Xu's ability at central defender is still far behind the four of them. Diego Simeone shrugged his shoulders and said.

After thinking for a moment, Feng Quan spoke: "BOSS, I think you can let Xu Xin try the position of right fullback." ”

Hearing this, Diego Simone suddenly had a feeling that his eyes lit up.

Although the team has Juanfran in the right wing-back position, the Spanish international is in the line-up, but it is obviously unrealistic for him to deal with multi-front operations alone. In contrast to the strong left wing-back position, Diego Simeone has not been able to find a suitable rotation player for Juanfrán.

Although centre-back Alderweireld and left wing-back Insua can both make temporary cameos at right wing-back, the former's speed of insertion, and the latter's lack of right-footed crosses, make it difficult for Diego Simeone to be truly satisfied. That's why Diego Simeone has been looking for a suitable replacement for Juanfrán.

If Xu Xin, who has good defensive ability and a certain amount of speed, can really play as a right wing-back, Diego Simeone will no longer have to worry about Juanfran as a substitute.

…………

In order to confirm whether Xu Xin can play as a right wing-back as soon as possible, Diego Simeone placed him in the right wing-back position in the afternoon group match.

Although Xu Xin is best at the midfield position, when he first came into contact with football, he played at right wingback. Therefore, Xu Xin is still happy to accept Diego Simeone's arrangement.

Moreover, as a full-back, Xu Xin encountered even less offensive pressure when inserting assists than when he played as a midfielder. After all, if you simply compare defensive ability, the wide attacking players are still slightly inferior to the middle players.

As a result, Xu Xin, who served as a fullback, was even more brilliant than when he played as a midfielder the day before.

Unlike the previous day's group match, which relied on precise mid-to-long-range passes, Xu Xin, who played as a right-back, successfully stepped forward near the opponent's penalty area on several occasions, and also used accurate crosses to help Feng Quan and Adrian Lopes score three goals.

After seeing Xu Xin in different positions for two consecutive days, Juan Bizcaino, who thought that Xu Xin's true ability could not gain a foothold in the first team, immediately dispelled such thoughts.