Football: The Elegance of a Classic Defensive Midfielder Begins with Relentless Effort

"Elegance" was once the most fashionable compliment in the football world, like blue and white porcelain after a clear rain... exuding an air of "classical" and "artistic" beauty. It was Zidane's composure during the Marseille turn, Riquelme's elegant "Cruyff turn," Berbatov's seemingly lazy shot... those moments that made fans willingly hold their breath... the ball at their feet seemed to come alive, each touch like a brushstroke on a canvas, carrying a graceful, unhurried beauty. Until Makelele's meteoric rise, elegance gradually became synonymous with "sluggishness," silently swept into the corners of history. James Rodriguez's meteoric rise followed by a decline in his career in 2014 further proved that elegance was dead! From then on, elegance became a cursed possession for coaches. In 2015... a Chinese teenager, deemed "unworthy" by experts, walked into Fiorentina with unwavering determination...