Chapter 1 Sassania's Call

Sassania received a call from Advocaat. Advocaat said only one sentence: "Don't sell him for less than ten million euros."

Sassania knew that the Dutch head coach had agreed to his plan to sell Chen Yingxiong for money.

He decided to first test how determined Villarreal and Cologne really were to acquire Chen Yingxiong. So he asked for twenty-five million euros.

This price directly caused Villarreal and Cologne to shrink back in fear. They didn't dare to respond anymore...

Sassania was still waiting for them to bargain with him, but who would have thought that they would just not make an offer at all, completely giving up the idea!

This made him extremely depressed.

Of course he knew that the asking price of twenty-five million euros was a bit high, but isn't that how business is done? If you think my price is too high, why don't you haggle?

Besides, Chen Yingxiong is only nineteen years old, the top scorer in the Russian Premier League last season, broke Veretennikov's Russian Premier League single-season goal record, and just won the 2007 Russian League Best Player award. Now he is performing so well in the UEFA Cup, having already scored six goals.

Zenit's UEFA Cup matches haven't ended yet, and this kid still has a chance to score. Because the core idea of Zenit's tactics is—how to help Chen Yingxiong score more goals.

Chen Yingxiong is so good at scoring goals, and he's young and has potential, so this price shouldn't be too outrageous, right?

Who would have thought that Cologne and Villarreal would just shrink back, making him a little unhappy, too insincere!

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On the other side, Dekura compiled Chen Yingxiong's twenty-seven goals in the Russian Premier League and six goals in the UEFA Cup into a CD, wrote a letter of recommendation, and sent it to major European clubs to test the waters.

But the feedback was disappointing for Chen Yingxiong.

Dekura basically sent them to teams that he thought met the requirements of a top club, according to Chen Yingxiong's requests.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea in England. Milan duo and Juventus in Italy. Only Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain, and Bayern Munich in Germany. France? He didn't consider it at all.

None of these top clubs gave Chen Yingxiong a reply.

All the CDs sank into the sea, without a trace.

He didn't even know the reason for this.

Dekura knew a little bit. For top clubs, forwards of Chen Yingxiong's level were too easy to find. In the goal highlights, Chen Yingxiong's most prominent skill was heading, which would definitely leave the top clubs with the impression that "this big guy is useless except for heading," although that was practically the case...

Anyway, simply put, although Chen Yingxiong was very strong, he was not strong enough for the top clubs. At least, he hadn't reached the point where they were moved. What would they do with a center forward who only knew how to head the ball?

In addition, there were many other factors that restricted the top clubs' interest in Chen Yingxiong. For example, a work permit. Chen Yingxiong, who had not yet played in an international A-level match for the Chinese national team, would of course not be able to obtain a work permit. Special talent clause? How many Premier League top clubs would use the one special talent clause they had per season for a center forward who only knew how to head and had terrible footwork? That was a question.

For other leagues, Chen Yingxiong's non-EU status was also the main reason restricting him. Top clubs had many targets, and naturally there were many non-EU players among them, but the number of non-EU spots was limited. Each one used was one less. For Italian top clubs, there was only one fixed non-EU spot and one floating non-EU spot each season. Why did they have to give it to a Russian league player?

Getting more specific to each top club, there were even more reasons to analyze. For example, Arsenal didn't need a center forward with such rough footwork, and Arsenal's tactics didn't emphasize crosses from the wing. For Barcelona, not only was his footwork too rough, but he was too tall! For AC Milan, he was too young. For Inter Milan, he wasn't Argentinian. For Real Madrid, he was too unknown… And so on.

Reality was so cruel—Chen Yingxiong wanted to go to a top club, but the top clubs didn't think much of this "unknown nobody."

At this time, Chen Yingxiong especially wanted to look up at the sky at a forty-five degree angle, while brushing his teeth and silently shedding tears—I sincerely offered my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon shines in the gutter!

Chen Yingxiong thought: Good! You think I'm not famous enough and look down on me! Then I'll desperately score goals! Until you don't dare to ignore me!

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Of course, it wasn't all bad news. Because while Dekura was sending CDs to the top clubs, he also sent CDs to those clubs that he thought were possible. Anyway, he cast the net, and he would see how many fish he could catch in the end.

Indeed, some mid-table teams or quasi-first-class teams expressed their interest in Chen Yingxiong to Dekura.

For top clubs, they might have many requirements for a joining player. But those first-tier teams had very simple ideas. They didn't care how rough Chen Yingxiong's technique was, nor did they care that Chen Yingxiong only knew how to head the ball, and they didn't even care whether he would occupy a non-EU spot. If this Chen Yingxiong was good at scoring goals and was indeed the player they needed, then they would buy him. As long as the price wasn't too expensive. After buying him, they would see how he performed. If he really had potential, they would cultivate him. Later, when he performed well, scored more goals, and attracted the attention of the top clubs, they might even be able to make a lot of money by reselling him.

It was just that Chen Yingxiong might not like such teams...

In such a contradictory relationship, the new season of the Russian Premier League had already begun.

This time, as the defending champion, Zenit received a lot of attention.

And as the top scorer who broke the historical record last season, Chen Yingxiong was also highly anticipated.

Before the season, Russian National Television once again produced a trailer to create an atmosphere, promote its league, and at the same time solicit advertising for their league broadcasts.

So the photography crew that had come to St. Petersburg last year came to Zenit again.

Chen Yingxiong saw the photographers and reporters and grinned.

The smiles made the two of them feel uncomfortable inside and out.

No one had forgotten the story from a year ago.

"This time, no matter what I say, you won't cut it out, right?" Chen Yingxiong asked with a wide grin, revealing a mouthful of teeth that were particularly white and dazzling in the sunlight.

The expressions on the two people's faces were extremely awkward.

The reporter was the first to react, with an extremely awkward smile on his face, he laughed dryly: "No, no, we won't cut it out..."

Chen Yingxiong nodded: "That's good!"

Then he asked the cameraman: "Is the camera on this time?"

The cameraman quickly nodded: "It's on, it's on!"

Chen Yingxiong cleared his throat: "This season, I want to defend the title of top scorer!"

The two of them were stunned for a moment, and after a while the reporter asked: "That's it?"

Chen Yingxiong nodded: "That's it."

The two breathed a sigh of relief, ended the filming work and hurriedly said goodbye, as if staying here for one more second would be torture.

Of course, the people they had underestimated in the beginning were now successful, and although he hadn't done anything, everyone felt their faces burning...

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Advocaat was overjoyed after seeing this promotional video!

Chen Yingxiong said he wanted to defend the league's top scorer? Did he think he had suddenly changed his mind and planned to stay for another season?

He quickly asked Sassania to talk to Chen Yingxiong about renewing his contract.

As a result, Sassania called him after asking, and was furious: "That's not the case, he still wants to leave!"

Advocaat was confused: "Then what about him saying he wants to defend the league's top scorer?"

"Maybe it's just habitual arrogance and self-importance, don't you know what kind of person he is?"

Advocaat felt strange, and he decided to ask him in person to clarify the matter.

So he left Chen Yingxiong behind after training once again.

"Have you changed your mind, Hero?"

"No, sir. I still want to go to a bigger stage."

"Then what about the league's top scorer thing..."

Chen Yingxiong suddenly understood: "Oh, I think half a season should be enough, right?"

Advocaat didn't know what to say after hearing his words.

He covered his forehead: "Don't you ever care about the schedule, Hero?"

Chen Yingxiong shook his head, looking confused: "I'm not a coach, sir..."

"Um... okay, let me tell you. If you really plan to leave this summer... you only have eleven league games to play. The twelfth league game is on July 5th, at that time I think you should have already left the team, right? Do you plan to become the league's top scorer in eleven league games in advance?" Advocaat looked at the dumbfounded Chen Yingxiong with a "you're screwed" expression.

Chen Yingxiong's mouth and eyes were wide open.

He had never thought he would encounter such a situation!

Damn it!

He used to think that he could play for half a season, which was fifteen league games, which should be about the same. Scoring twenty goals was still possible, but who would have thought... there were only eleven games!

Becoming the league's top scorer in eleven games? He thought about it and felt it was unlikely... But now that he had spoken so loudly, all of Russia had heard it. Yesterday's St. Petersburg newspapers were also excitedly talking about this matter, and everyone said that with Chen Yingxiong's current state, winning the league's top scorer again was really not a problem!

They didn't know that he was leaving this summer, and they were still assuming thirty games for a full season. If there were thirty games, Chen Yingxiong felt that being the top scorer was not a big challenge at all.

He just thought that getting the top scorer in half a season was a particularly challenging thing. Successfully doing challenging things gives you a special sense of accomplishment.

Scoring goals like crazy in the first half of the season, and then transferring in the middle, leaving everyone with an unrestrained and incomprehensible figure, and everyone would exclaim "Oh my god! Chen Yingxiong transferred and left Russia, so what about his top scorer declaration! He definitely can't become the league's top scorer!" But when half a season passed, his name was still high on the Russian Premier League's scorer list... How challenging and refreshing would that be!

As a result, now such a refreshing thing was going to turn him into a big joke!

What to do?

Just admit defeat?

No!

This was definitely not Chen Yingxiong's style!

Even if he knew he was going to lose, he still had to be stubborn to the end. Even if he knew he was no match, he still had to dare to show his sword, right?

If you don't even have the courage to show your sword, how can you survive in this cruel, demanding, and highly competitive real society? Moreover, he wanted to live better, better than most people.

Chen Yingxiong didn't care whether he had the ability to do all this, or how to do it, anyway, he just wanted to do it.

He decided to show his sword.

"I want to try, sir." His eyes flashed with fierce and sharp light, his expression firm, and he said decisively. "Eleven league games, get the top scorer!"

This time, Advocaat's face was full of surprise.

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ps, asking for monthly tickets, clicks, and recommendations aaaaaaaa!