Chapter 120: A Foreboding Omen

Center Forward

“Naples? The Naples where Maradona once played?”

At the mention of that name, everyone immediately pricked up their ears. Naples—a name that seemed distant, yet had once been unimaginably glorious; a name that had witnessed the peak of the legendary Maradona’s club career; a name that had not appeared in Serie A for a very long time. But any fan familiar with Serie A and with Maradona knew exactly what that name represented.

It was a glorious memory. It was where famous stars such as Ferrara, Zola, and Cannavaro had begun their careers. It was once the standard-bearer of football in southern Italy. Taking two Serie A titles away from the powerful northern trio had been the club’s signature achievement.

Although the club had since declined, spending most of the years after its relegation in the late 1990s muddling through Serie B, and although its current strength was hardly much better than that of the other clubs interested in them, Naples meant something entirely different to Chinese fans and players.

China had begun broadcasting Serie A relatively early, second only to its broadcasts of the Bundesliga. And that period had coincided with Serie A’s golden age. Chinese fans had developed a special attachment to the league, and many who had started watching football in those years still remembered the glory days when Serie A was known as the “Little World Cup.” Chinese fans had always regarded Serie A as the most difficult league in the world. The reason Nie Fei was now regarded as China’s number-one star, with a reputation far greater than that of Sun Chenghai, Adriano, or Deco—players whose ability was hardly inferior to his and might even have surpassed it—was that his foothold in Europe had begun in Italy.

To put it bluntly, when Dai Guangming went to Sporting de Gijon, Wu Bufan to Antwerp, Zhou Wei to Rapid Vienna, Li Jie to Hoffenheim, Hu Gandang to Go Ahead Eagles, and Zhang Yi to Metz, the major web portals and CCTV Sports might offer only a few brief reports. But when Long Bisheng went to Naples, he would receive a prominent position and considerably more coverage. More importantly, just a few days earlier, Chu Ran—the former starting goalkeeper of Yunjia Tianyu, now with Inter Milan’s youth team—had also been loaned to Naples. It was extremely rare for a European club to have two Chinese players, and that would provide yet another selling point. The media certainly would not let such a gimmick pass them by.

This was the age of media supremacy and information explosion. As long as the major web portals and sports outlets gave prominence to Long Bisheng’s move to Naples, it would be impossible for him not to become famous.

“Can I really go to Italy and play football?” Long Bisheng asked, still unable to believe it. Although he had already mentally prepared himself for the possibility that a European club might take an interest in him—Liu Lin and Ning Xi had said earlier that all seven of them had attracted attention from European clubs—he still had never expected the club interested in him to be the most famous of them all.

“Who would make something like that up? An old Naples scout named Bruno Pesaola happened to see you play. Naples is not in good financial shape at the moment, and their only main center forward is the Argentine Sosa. They need a substitute, but they have no money to sign an established player. Besides, when they loaned Chu Ran a few days ago, they did not use up a non-EU registration slot. Players from outside the European Union who are brought in from elsewhere in Italy do not count against that quota, so they took an interest in you. After all, bringing in a young player from Asia costs practically nothing. And a player of your type is genuinely useful. With your physical attributes, you could establish yourself in any country’s league.” Ning Xi smiled, his gaze full of confidence.

Long Bisheng no longer felt angry when people praised only his physical attributes. After his conversation with Pei Wei, he had come to understand deeply that there was no need to feel ashamed of possessing only physical strength. It was not a failing; it was another talent Heaven had given him. Providence was often fair.

Whenever it took something away from a person, it always gave something else in return. Besides, he had never relied solely on his physique. He had trained relentlessly, working to strengthen his weaknesses in technique and reactions, while never neglecting his physical conditioning. Since this was a gift from Heaven, why should he waste it?

“But there will certainly be difficulties. Naples has not promised you a starting position. And there is a reason Italian football is regarded as the most difficult league in the world. They have the best defenders on earth, and many world-class defenders have slowly fought their way up from the lower divisions. You will encounter far more trouble there…” Liu Lin looked at Long Bisheng meaningfully. “Are you psychologically prepared to face all that?”

“What kind of thing is that to say?” Zhou Wei objected. “Just look at what A-Long has been through over the past six years! He started out at the bottom of the whole class, and now he is one of the seven best players. To be honest, there isn’t much else about A-Long that I admire. What I admire is his attitude and his hard work! I’ll bet every one of you that as long as A-Long keeps going like this, he’ll find his place at any club, wherever it is!”

“Zhou Wei is rarely reliable, but this time he is, and I agree with him.” Dai Guangming smiled. “Anyone with eyes can see how hard A-Long works… I’ve heard of Pesaola too. He is Naples’ most renowned scout and is nearly eighty now. His standing at the club is extraordinary. Anyone he recommends would surely be viewed in a different light even by the head coach, Reja.”

“A scout nearly eighty years old? That’s incredible,” Zhang Yi said in astonishment.

“Dai Guangming is right,” Hu Gandang said. “A-Long, believe in yourself… You can do it. You’re not an ordinary person!”

“Oh, get lost. I’m not Little Jiang from the mess hall,” Long Bisheng retorted with a laugh. Then he turned to Ning Xi. “All right, I’ll go to Naples… Whatever happens, I’ll work hard to earn playing time. Maybe I’ll even get the chance to play in Serie A!”

“Since you already know something about the clubs that want you, we can begin preparing for negotiations.” Liu Lin closed the documents in his hands. “You’ll be returning home in a few days. The club has arranged half a month of leave for you to visit your families. You’re about to go to Europe to play football, so go home, spend time with your parents, and explain everything clearly… And don’t go around telling everyone that you’re heading abroad. Quite a few of our transfers have been affected because the media made them public before negotiations had even begun. That can hurt the talks. Wait until everything is nearly settled before you start boasting about it.”

Everyone laughed and agreed. This sort of thing had happened before. A European club would take an interest in a player while negotiations between the two clubs had barely begun, but once the media got hold of the news, the entire city would be thrown into an uproar. The European club would then assume that the Chinese side was desperate to send the player abroad and would slash its offer during negotiations. In the end, both sides would part unhappily, and the transfer would collapse.

“We’re going home! By the time we come back to Europe, we’ll be overseas professionals!”

When Long Yuyun heard that his son might go to Naples to play, he nearly went mad with delight. Although his son was now almost ten centimeters taller than him, he still threw an arm around him, lifted him off the ground, and spun him around wildly.

Long Yuyun was a lifelong football fan. He knew what Naples represented in Italian football. He had originally been satisfied simply to see his son become a professional player in China. Now his son might be going to Europe—and he was not even seventeen yet. His future was limitless!

Long Bisheng could only say awkwardly, “Nothing has been settled yet. We don’t even know whether the final negotiations will succeed.”

Long Yuyun waved a hand grandly. “How could they fail? Yunjia Tianyu is very capable when it comes to handling these matters, and besides, they were the ones who approached us first… It will definitely succeed. There’s no way it won’t.”

Long Bisheng agreed with his father. Barring some unforeseen accident, there was no reason the deal should fail.

After spending several days at home, Long Bisheng returned alone to Yunjia. His mother, Yin Xiuping, had felt sorry for him and had even planned to accompany him to Italy to look after him. But Long Yuyun stopped her. He knew how capable his son was at living independently. Long Bisheng had endured all those years on his own, and his income in Italy would certainly not be very high at first. Long Yuyun did not want his wife to suffer, and Long Bisheng felt the same way. Unable to overcome the united opposition of father and son, Yin Xiuping could only give up.

After returning to Yunjia Tianyu, Long Bisheng continued training with his teammates every day. He and Dai Guangming often discussed their futures in Europe. Everyone knew that they did not have much time left together. Once they arrived in Europe, they might not have many opportunities to meet, and that made them treasure the present all the more.

During this period, they rarely saw Liu Lin and Ning Xi. These two young men, who were already displaying the makings of outstanding agents, spent every day at the side of Yunjia Tianyu general manager Jiang Hao, flying back and forth across Europe as they worked to secure better contracts for Dai Guangming and the others.

No matter how much they cherished their remaining time together, time continued to fly. Before long, Dai Guangming and Hu Gandang had finalized their contracts. In mid-July, the two of them flew to Spain and the Netherlands to sign, followed by Li Jie, Zhou Wei, Zhang Yi, and Wu Bufan.

Watching his friends leave one by one left Long Bisheng feeling miserable, but it also made him more eager for his own contract to be finalized.

Yet there was still no news.

An indistinct sense of foreboding began to stir in Long Bisheng’s heart.