That's why I love this manga so much.
Spoiler alert: While that thinking did help Aoi grow to a point, it also became his downfall. It was such a good lesson he had to learn the hard way that he is different from Kuribayashi. There are people outside of football that helped get him to where he was now before he became a valuable player and he can't just discard them like that, they are his source of strength.