Chen Hero didn't have time to think about which team to go to; that was definitely something for his agent to handle. He paid him five percent of his income every month, after all, not to just feed him for nothing.

He had other things to do now.

Namely, allocate his talent points.

After winning the league's top scorer award and breaking the record, Chen Hero leveled up directly to twenty-one. He immediately put that level-up talent point into "Immovable as a Mountain" to the fifth level, maxing it out. Then, before the new season even started, he diligently practiced center-forward back-to-goal skills as requested by Advocaat. The training in the instance dungeon made his experience grow fast, so he leveled up again not long after the beginning of January.

After leveling up, he added the talent point to "My Ball Protection is Like Dadi," but it was only at level one, so the effect wasn't very obvious.

Now that he had leveled up again, to twenty-three, the talent points he gained of course had to continue to go into "My Ball Protection is Like Dadi."

Two levels of "My Ball Protection is Like Dadi" increased his ball protection success rate to ten percent. Coupled with his physique, this success rate was actually far more than ten percent in practical application.

Now he could use his feet to provide support in the frontcourt, instead of just using his head to redirect the ball.

He was becoming more and more like a true center forward.

※※※

The second leg match against Marseille came as a pleasant surprise to Advocaat. The ball control and back-to-goal ability that Chen Hero displayed made him vaguely see the figure of a future super center forward dominating the penalty area.

Especially his goal where he hung on Loric Cana and completed a powerful shot after turning around, was truly shocking and domineering!

With such a center forward, why worry about not achieving better results in the UEFA Cup?

He even started considering the Champions League in the second half of the year.

He wanted to persuade Chen Hero to stay even more, to stay and play in the Champions League. He felt that this reason should be tempting enough, right?

But just at this moment, the team's general manager, Sasania, brought him bad news.

"We've received offers from two teams for Chen Hero."

Advocaat was stunned for a moment, then reacted. This didn't surprise him too much, because he knew it was only a matter of time. With Chen Hero's outstanding performance, it would be strange if he didn't attract the attention of other teams.

"Which two?" he asked.

"Villarreal and Cologne."

Advocaat had a very bad feeling. The fact that the club's general manager came to talk to him about this meant that he actually wanted Chen Hero to leave. Otherwise, he could have directly rejected the offers.

He had just been thinking about how to keep Chen Hero, but Sasania came to tell him that clubs were interested in him. His feelings were very complicated.

"Hero is very, very important to the team," he could only remind the other party.

Sasania nodded. "I know, Dick. But it's not that we don't want to keep him, but that he doesn't want to continue staying at Zenit. Once July 1st arrives, we'll only have half a year left on his contract, and he can freely contact those teams. They can sign agreements in private, and then join during the winter break in the European leagues when the contract expires. If that happens, we won't get a single penny."

He explained the stakes to Advocaat, telling him what the situation was.

"If we don't make a decision before July 1st, we won't earn a single penny by then!"

Advocaat frowned inwardly. As expected of the club's general manager, in charge of operations, he was always talking about money.

But he cared more about the team's performance.

"Or... satisfy the conditions proposed by his agent..."

His words were interrupted by Sasania's exclamation: "Are you crazy? Dick! Four million eight hundred thousand rubles a week! No one in the entire Russian league can enjoy such a high weekly salary!"

The four million eight hundred thousand rubles that Sasania mentioned was 100,000 euros. The EU uses the euro, but Russia doesn't belong to the EU, and they insist on using their own currency.

The Russian National Center for the Study of Living Standards believes that a monthly income of 5,500 rubles (in early 2008, one ruble was equivalent to three yuan) is considered middle class, equivalent to two hundred dollars. But in reality, in Russia, a monthly income of 12,000 to 27,000 rubles, and in Moscow a monthly income of 35,000 to 70,000 rubles is considered middle class. Such families should have matching housing, cars, large bank deposits, and can vacation in comfortable environments, including traveling abroad. This is the real middle class life. According to official statistics, there are only 13 million such people in Russia (accounting for nine percent). And there are 2.2 million rich people (1.5 percent).

If they agreed to this condition, the money Chen Hero earned in a week would be the money that many middle-class people earned in a lifetime, and he could completely join the ranks of the wealthy.

Letting Chen Hero earn so much money alone wasn't something Zenit couldn't afford. But Chen Hero would set a very bad precedent. He was popular in the team, and his income couldn't be kept secret at all. When everyone knew that this kid earned 4.8 million rubles a week, equivalent to 100,000 euros, what would others think? We are also main players, and our contribution to the team is not small, so why is our income so much lower?——Until now, Zenit's average salary level has basically remained at the level of 25,000 euros. The club only raised salaries for a few main players and core players last time.

If they raised Chen Hero's salary again this time, the agents of Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Dominguez, Tymoshchuk, and others would definitely try their best to raise the salaries of their players.

So this precedent must not be set again.

Sasania would rather sell Chen Hero and earn a lot of money than raise Chen Hero's salary to 100,000 euros a week.

Now, in his eyes, Chen Hero and his agent Dekula were as terrible as floods and beasts.

Seeing Sasania's decisive and impatient refusal, Advocaat was silent.

Sasania began to persuade Advocaat to take it easy: "Dick, the situation now is that we can't keep him. His ambitions are very big, and the Russian league can't satisfy him. In that case, it's better to sell him while he can still fetch a good price, and then we can use the money to buy a few equally capable players. I don't think there aren't any players in football as good as him..."

Advocaat said in his heart: "I'm afraid you'll really find it hard to find a second player like him..."

But he didn't say anything out loud.

Sasania tried to persuade him for a long time, but Advocaat just wouldn't agree. After a long time, he said: "I want to talk to him face to face."

Sasania knew that this person was not giving up, and at the same time he knew that Chen Hero was determined to leave and would never be persuaded to stay by a few words from the coach, so he waved his hand: "Okay, go talk to him."

He didn't say what he was going to do. Of course, he would stall for time. He felt that this matter wouldn't wait too long. Because once the talks between Advocaat and Chen Hero broke down, the club would have to start Chen Hero's transfer negotiations as soon as possible. They couldn't wait until the UEFA Cup was over before talking about this matter. By then, there wouldn't be enough time, and if the other club dragged it out, they would have to give in. It was only early March now, and there was still plenty of time to slowly deal with the opponents and try to get more money from Chen Hero.

Although Zenit didn't spend money to cultivate Chen Hero, nor did they spend money to poach Chen Hero from other teams, but we fucking spent more than two million euros a year on his salary! This doesn't even include those terrifying bonuses of his!

If he didn't earn back these costs, he, the general manager, would be too much of a failure!

※※※

Chen Hero was left behind by Advocaat after training.

The two of them didn't go to Advocaat's training base, but talked face-to-face on the training ground.

"I have something to tell you, Hero."

Chen Hero hummed in acknowledgement, waiting for what was next.

"Two teams have made offers to the club, they want to buy you."

Chen Hero grinned, but not in a smile, just to show that he knew.

"I don't know the exact amount, I didn't ask. What do you think?"

Chen Hero didn't express loyalty as Advocaat expected, saying something like: "Don't worry, sir. I will definitely not leave Zenit! I am Zenit's person in life, and Zenit's... dead person!"

He blurted out: "Which two teams?"

Advocaat took a deep breath to steady his emotions. "Villarreal and Cologne."

Of course, Chen Hero wasn't a fool either. He knew what the coach wanted to do by talking to him about this matter.

"My opinion is, well, in this UEFA Cup, I will do everything I can to help the team, maybe help the team reach the final? Maybe win a championship?" He shrugged. "When I'm wearing the Zenit jersey, I'm a Zenit player." He patted his chest. "But, sir... I want to go to a bigger stage."

"Does the Champions League count as a bigger stage?" Advocaat asked.

Chen Hero nodded: "Of course."

"Zenit will participate in the Champions League in the second half of the year."

"But the Champions League is not the only big stage, sir," Chen Hero replied.

Arshavin had also privately revealed to Chen Hero his thoughts of leaving the team. He had the opportunity before. In 2005, Moscow Spartak offered eight million dollars to buy him. At that time, Moscow Spartak was the undisputed giant of Russian football, and St. Petersburg Zenit was not comparable to it at all. For Arshavin, Spartak was a bigger stage than Zenit. But the club rejected the deal and instead recommended Arshavin's good friend Bystrov. Since then, most of Arshavin's celebrations after scoring goals have been to put his hand in front of his mouth, making a "shut up" gesture. He was expressing a silent protest to the club.

Some people might say that Chen Hero has no feelings for the club that gave him the opportunity, that he is too ruthless and too stupid. But in Arshavin, you can also see this kind of "ruthlessness." You must know that Zenit not only gave Arshavin the opportunity, but was also the team he supported and liked since he was a child, and was the club that cultivated him into a professional football player. Faced with such a club, in the face of his own future, Arshavin would still not hesitate to choose a bigger stage than Zenit.

Arshavin was like this, let alone Chen Hero, who had only been with the team for a year and a half.

After hearing Chen Hero's answer, Advocaat suddenly felt very powerless. Just like Sasania said, this person was determined to leave Zenit.

What could he say? Blame Chen Hero for being too ruthless? Ungrateful?

He wouldn't think that way, because those were childish thoughts that only a three-year-old would have. Professional players are professional players, and since they are professional, they must have some professional spirit. The Zenit stage is indeed too small for a talented person like Chen Hero. He has tried his best when playing for Zenit, so there is nothing to blame.

As for where he wants to go, that's his own business.

He could only blame Zenit for being a Russian team, not an English, Italian, or Spanish team.

Maldini only played for AC Milan in his entire life, and is synonymous with loyalty in football. But the main reason is that AC Milan itself is a great enough club to accommodate Maldini's ambitions and aspirations, not a third-rate team in the Italian countryside...

※※※

ps, Chen Hero's departure is unstoppable, everyone guess which team he will eventually go to?

Also, this is an extra update for 3650 monthly tickets, although it's only 3641 monthly tickets, but I released it in advance, I know everyone is waiting hard, anyway, the difference of nine tickets, everyone just needs to work a little bit, and it will be there, right?

Also, the guaranteed update in the afternoon should be automatically updated, I'm going out again...

I'm also going out for a gathering at noon tomorrow, a gathering of Qidian gods in Chengdu, I'm going to mooch a meal. This October is really busy...

So tomorrow's two guaranteed updates will be automatically updated, if there are extra monthly ticket updates, please wait for me to come back tomorrow night, I hope everyone understands!