i want to be king

Chapter 137 The Future Center Template

The small town of Paterna in the northwest suburb of Valencia, Spain.

Valencia's Sports City is located in this beautiful rural town, adjacent to the surrounding rich villas.

Three low training buildings, seven standard football fields, several small football fields and fragmented fields, Valencia, from the first team to the youth echelon, all gathered in this sports city for training.

At this moment, Valencia coach Benitez is sitting in the office of the first team training building, watching the video of the game on TV attentively. The pictures are all about a No. 36 player.

Su Dong of Sporting Lisbon!
Benitez watched very attentively, as if his whole person was immersed in the game screen, even a few of his right-hand men came to the office and sat down beside him, but he didn't notice it.

Anyone who is familiar with him knows that this is the real Benitez.

He is always like this, not fascinated, but constantly thinking and deducing various possibilities.

It was not until the video was played that Benitez sighed unsatisfactorily and noticed the arrival of the assistants.

"coming."

Benitez glanced at the assistants and motioned them to look at a player report submitted by the club's scouts. He leaned back and rubbed his astringent eyes.

"Su Dong, currently ranked first in the Portuguese Super League scorer list, and tied for first in assists list."

As soon as Benitez finished speaking, the chief assistant coach Paco Yesterdan was a little surprised, "Just?"

"Well." Benitez replied with certainty.

"It's not easy." Yeserdan praised.

The Portuguese Super League has really not been very good in recent years. The European rankings are relatively low, so that their champion teams cannot directly enter the Champions League group stage, but are forced to play in the peripheral qualifiers.

To be honest, this is no longer a second-tier league in Europe, or even close to a third-tier league.

Of course, this year it seems that the Portuguese Super League team is quite competitive in the UEFA Cup. The defending champions Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Boavista, who failed to qualify for the Champions League group stage, all entered the UEFA Cup round of [-].

Obviously, the Portuguese Super League team also knows in their hearts that if they don't earn more points in the European war, they may lose their qualification for the third round of the Champions League qualifiers, and the situation will be even worse by then.

And Su Dong is a player from the defending champion Lisbon.

"This kid has been getting a lot of attention recently," said scout Eduardo Macia.

Benitez looked at the chief scout, "Have you known him?"

Macia nodded, "I've watched the videos a few times, and I feel pretty good. He's very characteristic. He's 1.9m tall, and he's good at physical confrontation, but the main thing is that he's fast and has superb skills at his feet, which makes him very comprehensive. He's a bit like Ajax's Swedish center Zlatan Ibrahimovic."

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the most recognized talented rookies in European football. Being able to be compared with him is also an affirmation of Sudong's ability and potential.

"Some say he's like Batistuta, some say he's like Kluivert, now you say he's like Zlatan Ibrahimovic..."

As he spoke, a slight smile appeared on the corner of Benitez's mouth.

He doesn't like to laugh very much, but he really thinks this thing is very funny.

"None of these people have his speed and explosive power." Benitez made a judgment.

Marcia thought about it and nodded.

Whether Batistuta or Kluivert, including rookie Ibrahimovic, these people are not speed players, but Su Dong's speed and explosive power are very fast.

This is very interesting.

……

Valencia's La Liga champions last season were somewhat lucky.

Its own strength was not very strong, nor did it perform very well. It was more because of problems with competitors such as Real Madrid, Deportivo and Barcelona, ​​which led to the Bat Corps finally winning the championship.

Even, behind the championship, Valencia's own problems are also exposed, and that is offense.

As the champion of La Liga, Valencia scored only 47 goals, tied for seventh in La Liga.

Therefore, this season, Benitez focuses on strengthening the team's offense. He has tried centers such as Carew, Mista, Sanchez, and Salva. He also beat Basel [-]-[-] in the Champions League.

But soon, Valencia's offense fell into a quagmire again.

There is no problem with the defense, there is no problem with the midfield organization, there is a slight problem with the frontcourt and wing, but the most serious problem is the center.

Although Carew, Mista, Sanchez and Salva are all superior in strength and have outstanding advantages, their shortcomings are also obvious.

The center forward that Benitez wants is one that can contain the back line, can respond to the two sides, can retreat to support the midfielder, and at the same time can attack from the back row. It is best to have a strong ability to seize opportunities in front of the goal.

But these features are actually contradictory.

For example, dropping back to respond to the midfielder's heel and attacking, which requires speed.

But fast players often find it difficult to suppress the opponent's defense, because they are thin and not good at strength confrontation.

There are fast and strong center forwards, but they are often rough and cannot cooperate with Vicente and other wide players, and some of them are not even good at grasping opportunities in front of goal.

Benitez has heard more than once that he is too demanding of a center forward. He is not static, but is constantly adjusting his tactics to adapt to the characteristics of several center forwards in the team.

Until he saw Su Dong.

"The young marshal in Porto is also very interested in him. The two of you have very similar tastes." Yesterdan laughed.

Benitez and Mourinho have met before, not only as opponents, but also in some UEFA coach exchange activities. After all, they are both new young coaches, and the two are faintly confronting each other.

"This is the template for the future center forward." Benitez said very confidently.

"That will be troublesome." Marcia rubbed her hands together and said with a wry smile.

Benitez was taken aback, and looked at the right-hand assistant.

"As far as I know, at least half of the four major league teams are staring at him. Some can't wait to make a move, some are waiting for the opportunity, and some are ready to miss him at any time. Frankly speaking, we don't have much advantage, and we don't have much transfer budget this summer."

This summer is the year of Valencia's presidential election, and the two major candidates are currently trying their best to build momentum.

One said to bring in Trezeguet, the other threatened to bring in Ruud van Nistelrooy;

But no one can give a specific figure. How much transfer budget does the team have this summer?
Since the chairman of Real Madrid, relying on Figo, defeated Sanz to be elected chairman, the presidential elections of various Spanish clubs have never lacked stars, and the two candidates of Valencia have been inferior in comparison.

"Eduardo." Benitez looked at the chief scout. "Find some time and go to Lisbon to see for yourself and find out about his situation. It is best to observe one or two games to see if he is as reported and recorded."

Reports are unreliable, and game video highlights may not be reliable, so in many cases, clubs still have to watch live when they select players.

"Okay, I'll get ready." Marcia agreed.

"And Quaresma." Benitez thought temporarily.

Marcia smiled wryly, what a big problem.

Needless to say, Su Dong is very popular now, and Quaresma is also popular. It is said that Barcelona is the most fiercely chased, and they want to bring the new Figo to the Nou Camp.

Although there is a precedent for Simao's failure, who dares to say that Quaresma will not succeed in Barcelona?
…………

…………

Two days later, Arcocheti, Lisbon.

After the team finished training, Su Dong and others still stayed for additional training on their own.

This has become their daily routine.

Training with the team, everyone is together, it is difficult for Su Dong to have time to train his weaknesses and shortcomings in a targeted manner. Only during extra training can he arrange some training items he needs.

By the time the extra training was over, the sun was approaching.

Everyone dragged their tired bodies back to the dressing room, and Su Dong went to take a shower first.

In the middle of washing, Tonito suddenly rushed in and shouted at Su Dong excitedly: "Su, guess who I met just now?"

After speaking, the kid ran out like crazy.

Covered in foam, Su Dong was so frightened that he covered his key parts with a dazed expression, he almost yelled, you met a ghost, so excited?

"Guess who I met just now?" Tonito's voice came in from outside.

Everyone looked at him like that and asked questions curiously, but this fellow was still pretending to be mysterious and secretive.

It wasn't until Su Dong came out wrapped in a bath towel that he walked to the head coach's position and coughed heavily, as if he had something big to announce.

"I see Eduardo Macia!"

Everyone was stunned.

Who is this?
Tonito was very embarrassed. After he finished speaking, he didn't wait for the long-awaited surprise and discussion, but remained silent.

I don't know everyone, so embarrassing!

"Eduardo Marcia, don't you know him?" Tonito was very depressed, this group of guys who didn't know.

"Speak directly, who is it?" Ronnie laughed outright.

"Valencia's chief scout, Rafael Benitez's capable man."

The crowd understood.

"But does this have anything to do with you?" Pepe was surprised.

"Valencia, Benitez, Macia..." Tonito found that the brains of these guys were really slow. He could only point out these few key words, and finally patted himself on the chest, almost saying, and me.

Everyone didn't know that this kid had one heart for Benitez, and he was bragging all day long. When Benitez was coaching Tenerife, he almost bought him back. Now when he saw Marcia, he was probably thinking that Benitez finally didn't forget him and remembered him again.

This is somewhat like the feeling of a mistress who is being fostered expecting a man to spend the night.

"You should die, they have Aimar." Ronnie pointed at Tonito angrily.

Tonito didn't care, and said with a smile: "I can be a substitute for Aimar."

It seems that not only can he, but he is very willing to do it.

(End of this chapter)