Chapter 1 An Unpleasant First Meeting

Cassano's first meeting with his new teammates could hardly be described as pleasant.

Many faces changed after he said his opening remarks. Some were embarrassed, while others were furious.

Mazzarri had to smooth things over. "Alright, guys. From today onwards, Antonio is your teammate. I hope you can cooperate sincerely and be united..." Even he didn't believe what he was saying. "In short, you're a whole, remember that, a whole!"

He could only constantly remind them to focus on the bigger picture and that the team's locker room must not be divided.

Mazzarri was well aware of Cassano's bad temper, but he believed that with his status in Cassano's eyes, he could suppress it. If the atmosphere in the locker room was better and guided in a positive direction, Cassano might turn over a new leaf. When he was at Sampdoria, the locker room atmosphere was alright. He didn't believe it would change drastically in Naples...

He had accounted for everything, except for the fact that the Napoli players would talk badly about Cassano in the locker room and that Cassano would hear it!

With Cassano's temper, not turning around and leaving on the spot was already giving the coach a lot of face...

Paolo Cannavaro was a little embarrassed, as it was clear that Cassano had heard him badmouthing him... But as captain, he still had to step forward to familiarize the new player with the locker room, greet his new teammates, and make introductions.

He braced himself and went over.

"Hello, Antonio. I'm the team captain, Paolo Cannavaro..." Cannavaro extended his hand, wanting to shake hands with Cassano.

He greeted all new players like this, and the new players would usually extend their hands for a pleasant handshake.

Who would have thought that Cassano would ignore him? "Hello, Captain. Thank you for your comments about me..." After saying that, Cassano walked straight to the locker with his name on it and began to change his clothes as if no one else was there.

Leaving the captain standing at the door like a stone statue in the wind.

Mazzarri felt a pain in his temples.

How was he supposed to handle this kind of locker room relationship...?

※※※

On the training ground, the players who had changed their clothes were preparing to start training. But the coaching staff hadn't come out yet.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, everyone gathered in groups of three or five to chat, while Cassano sat alone on the sidelines, looking very out of place.

Chen Hero was surrounded by many people. As the head coach revealed his intention to build the team around him, his status in the locker room also rose rapidly—as the head coach's favorite and the club chairman's "adopted son," this golden thigh was undeniably thick for others to cling to.

The focus of their discussion was still Cassano. Since he had already overheard them talking behind his back, there was no need to hide anything now. A group of people gathered together and continued to badmouth Cassano in low voices.

Some shook their heads and sighed, feeling very worried about the future of the team's locker room. As players, they were well aware of the importance of locker room relationships. If a team's locker room relationship wasn't good, they couldn't form an effective fighting force. When the time came to play, they would be scattered like sand and could only be slaughtered.

Others were offering wild ideas: "Why don't we just completely isolate him? If he can't stand it, he'll naturally get lost!"

"Yeah, yeah, force the team to sell him or loan him out during the winter transfer window. Anyway, we can't let him stay on the team!"

"Look at the way he introduced himself just now, it's really unbearable! What Italian Golden Boy, bullshit! He's not even an Iron Boy anymore!"

Cassano sat on the grass with his back to his new teammates. He could hear everything they were saying, and they didn't seem to be trying to avoid him.

He had come to Naples in response to his mentor's call. He had never imagined that his first day in Naples would be like this... It seemed that no one in the locker room welcomed him.

He wasn't sure how long he could last on this team. He even thought that if Mazzarri couldn't help him, then he would choose to transfer. Transferring after only one season might be something that others would hesitate to do, but Cassano would definitely have no pressure.

※※※

Reporters gathered outside the training ground, all aiming their cameras at the players on the field waiting to start training.

Obviously, anyone could see that Cassano was very out of place. The original Napoli players stood together, while Cassano sat alone on the side. No one went up to talk to him, and he didn't seem to want to integrate into the team.

"Tsk tsk, I was right! Mazzarri thought he could control this bad boy, but reality is cruel!"

"Napoli's locker room this season will definitely be more interesting than the field!"

"Alas... Napoli finally had a chance to go to the Champions League, but they ran into a guy like this. When the locker room turns into a mess, the competitive results will definitely not be good..."

"Mazzarri made a very bad move! He's too confident in his relationship with Cassano... But it's not the first time Cassano has disappointed or even despaired those who trust him!"

The reporters were also discussing animatedly.

They all expressed that they were not optimistic about Cassano's prospects in Naples.

Judging from the reactions of the players and reporters, Cassano's impulsive transfer to Naples was definitely a failed choice. Many people asserted that he would definitely regret this transfer in the future, just like he regretted going to Real Madrid...

He went to Real Madrid back then because his mentor Capello was coaching at Real Madrid. As soon as his mentor called, he ran over happily, but he didn't expect to find out that it wasn't easy to get by in a powerhouse. Want to get a chance to play? No way! Even his friendship with Capello, which had lasted for many years, was ruined, and the former mentor and disciple turned against each other.

Wasn't this a repeat of his initial move to Real Madrid?

Why didn't he learn his lesson?

But then again, it was too normal for this to happen to Cassano. The structure of his brain seemed to be a little different from ordinary people. Didn't he claim to have six or seven hundred women?

Do you know how the fans mocked him?

They put up signs like this in the stadium: "Cassano has slept with seven hundred women, but his brain is still a virgin, untouched."

Someone joked, "Why is Cassano closest to Montella's three-year-old son?"

Answer: "Because their IQs are comparable."

No one would think it was too much to ridicule Cassano like this, because Cassano gave people the impression that he was just that kind of person.

※※※

The coaching staff finally seemed to have finished their temporary meeting and appeared on the field. When they saw Mazzarri, the reporters got excited.

There were too many topics to hype up about Cassano's arrival at the team, and Mazzarri was definitely a key figure in it.

The media wanted to see what kind of expression Mazzarri had at this time.

"Walter! Walter! Can you accept an interview? Don't worry, it will be very short! It won't take up too much of your time!"

"Pre-season training, let's talk about the team's goals and blueprint for the new season!"

"What do you think about the Champions League qualifiers?"

The reporters used very normal questions to lure Mazzarri.

Mazzarri had a good relationship with the reporters, and he knew that he couldn't easily offend these people... Originally, he didn't want to accept an interview at this time, but thinking about Cassano's arrival, it would definitely cause many rumors unfavorable to the team to spread in the locker room. If these reporters seized the opportunity to hype it up...

I should still satisfy these reporters' interview requests.

※※※

As Mazzarri walked towards the reporters, assistant coach Viviani stood in front of the players: "I will be responsible for the training for now. First, we will start with warm-up exercises..."

After saying that, he led the players to start jogging warm-ups on the field.

With the players warming up in the background, Mazzarri accepted an interview with the reporters on the sidelines.

Everyone was quite normal when they shouted questions to lure Mazzarri over, but when Mazzarri really came over, they tore off their disguises and revealed their sharpness.

"According to our observation just now, Cassano seems very out of place with the team as a whole... Is he having great difficulty integrating into the team's locker room? How do you plan to solve this difficulty?"

"Aren't you worried at all that Cassano, this locker room cancer, will destroy the team's locker room atmosphere after he arrives?"

"Lavezzi and Chen Hero's feud last season made the entire Napoli locker room smoky. Will Cassano's arrival repeat the scene from last season?"

…

All the questions the reporters asked were about Cassano!

Obviously, they were not interested in the Champions League qualifiers or the blueprint for the new season. They just wanted to know if Cassano was still that bad boy and if he would turn Napoli's locker room upside down!

※※※

After the warm-up, the team started group training. The training content was different for different positions on the field. You can't ask the goalkeeper to keep training shooting with the forwards, right? You can't ask the forwards to practice defending.

As offensive players, Cassano, Chen Hero, Arshavin, Zalayeta, and Sanchez were assigned to a group and trained under the guidance of a coach specializing in offensive training.

First, they did passing training while running. Within a designated area, everyone had to keep running, and after passing the ball, they had to run to the next designated spot, then catch the ball and pass it on. Running back and forth in a crisscross, circular pattern.

This could practice the players' skills and awareness of passing and cooperating in a small area.

This kind of training was quite ordinary and not difficult.

But when Arshavin's pass to Cassano was a little too big, making it a little difficult for him to catch, the taste quickly changed.

Cassano barely managed to catch the ball, almost doing a split.

Of course, he would think that this was his new teammates deliberately trying to make things difficult for him, but in reality, Arshavin had no grudges against him. His Italian was still not good enough, and he had not participated in everyone's discussions.

But Cassano didn't care about that!

He directly kicked the ball back with an angry shot of power!

Arshavin couldn't dodge in time, and the ball hit him right in the shoulder. This blow was not very damaging, but the attitude was terrible!

It was absolutely not allowed to deliberately kick the ball to attack your teammates!

Arshavin was a little dazed after being hit—he didn't know what had happened. It was just a pass, even if he didn't master the pass well, it shouldn't be treated like this, right?

Before he could react, a tall figure next to him had already rushed over!

At the same time, he threw a punch at the enraged Cassano!

"Hero!!"

Someone exclaimed.

※※※

"Not getting along? No, no, there won't be such a thing... Antonio has just arrived at the team and is not very familiar with his teammates. He is a little shy... Yes, I understand him. He is just a little shy." Mazzarri himself didn't believe what he was saying. But what could he do? He could never reveal the team's locker room conflicts in front of those reporters.

"The relationship between Hero and Antonio? There won't be any problems. I think they will become very good friends, they have no conflicts. There will be no problems in Napoli's locker room... I must state one point: Antonio is definitely not a 'locker room cancer'!"

At this moment, he suddenly heard a coach shouting, "Walter! Walter!! Something bad happened—!"

Mazzarri frowned, thinking, who is so blind, yelling like that!

Then he heard the coach shout, "Hero and Cassano... are fighting!!"

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ps, two consecutive days of updates are here again!

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