<China Youth Team supernova courted by a Serie A powerhouse, potentially becoming the second Chinese player to join Serie A!>
<After Dong Fangzhuo, the second Chinese player set to join a Big Five Leagues powerhouse was about to emerge!>
<Inter Milan has submitted an offer to Greuther Fürth!>
With the buzz from the Youth World Cup not yet fading, Lin Feng was receiving enormous attention back home.
Many fans were eager to know which club he would join that summer, so when news arrived from Italy, major domestic media outlets immediately reposted and reported it.
The moment the fans heard the news, they were all thrilled.
Among the Big Five Leagues, only La Liga and Serie A still had no record of a Chinese player taking the field.
And Serie A, known as the Little World Cup, clearly had a greater influence in China than La Liga.
Although Ma Mingyu had joined Perugia in Serie A five years earlier, injuries and other factors had kept him from ever appearing in a Serie A match.
If Lin Feng truly succeeded in joining Inter Milan and made an appearance for them, he would become the first Chinese player to set foot in the Serie A league.
Although Serie A was no longer as influential as it had once been, it still held a special place in the hearts of many older fans.
Inter Milan had been one of Serie A's elite giants during the Little World Cup era. Many older fans still remembered the glorious years the German Trio brought to Inter Milan, as well as their legendary clashes with AC Milan's Dutch Three Musketeers!
Serie A in that era had gathered the world's finest stars.
Each of the Seven Sisters of Serie A had marquee players, and every one of them had the strength to contend for the title.
The league's standard had truly lived up to the name Little World Cup!
No one was more excited by the news than Inter Milan's fans.
"Lin Feng joining Inter Milan would be great! We Interisti should have risen long ago. We can't keep letting AC Milan next door hog all the glory!"
"Inter Milan hasn't won any decent honors in years. The entire club is the most determined to change. As they say, without breaking the old, there can be no new—times like these are when young players have the best chance to rise!"
"That's right. As long as Lin Feng can perform at his proper level after joining, winning a starting spot won't be difficult. With Cambiasso unable to shoulder the burden, Lin Feng might even be established as the team's midfield core in the future."
Although Inter Milan was one of Serie A's three elite giants, their results over the past few years had been truly dismal.
Since the 1988–1989 season, Inter Milan had gone a full fifteen seasons without winning the Serie A league title.
Over those fifteen years, Serie A titles had been almost completely monopolized by Juventus and AC Milan.
"Moratti has spent so much money over the years. Even if he was just building up good karma, after all these years, shouldn't our Nerazzurri finally pull an SSR card?"
In the eyes of Chinese fans, Lin Feng was undoubtedly a world-class player.
So everyone was extremely optimistic about Lin Feng's prospects at Inter Milan.
"Cambiasso still has some ability. He was a Bargain Bin Player at Real Madrid, but he's performed pretty well since joining Inter Milan. Lin Feng still needs to stay alert!"
"Don't forget that Inter Milan's midfield also has Verón. That guy moves at a leisurely pace, like he's playing retirement football, but he really has something in his feet!"
"I don't think either of them is worth fearing. Lin Feng just needs to build good relationships with the team's big names, like Mihajlović and Zanetti. Besides, Lin Feng is someone Moratti personally named as a target, so he'll definitely receive special treatment!"
Lin Feng had not even joined Inter Milan yet, but the fans were already impatiently offering him advice.
However, even the most optimistic fans had not considered having Lin Feng compete to become Inter Milan's biggest star.
After all, everyone knew that Moratti's favorite was the Brazilian Adriano!
Greuther Fürth was a very small city, with a population of only one hundred thousand—roughly the size of a small county town in China.
Yet this tiny city actually had a professional club and a dedicated football stadium.
Despite its small population, on match days, the stands at Sportpark Ronhof Thomas Sommer were always filled with passionate fans.
For many Germans, watching football had already become part of their lives.
Greuther Fürth was merely a small, average German 2. Bundesliga side.
Yet this ordinary team had become the focus of attention from all sides that summer.
"Inter Milan made an offer to buy me?"
Lin Feng had only just gotten home and had barely sat down when he received a club notice asking him to come in and discuss a transfer.
"Yes. Inter Milan's fax and formal offer have already arrived."
The club president sighed and handed Inter Milan's fax to Lin Feng.
"They're very sincere. They offered a transfer fee of fifteen million euros—almost as much as the club spends in an entire year!"
The president spoke in a subdued voice.
It was clear that he was deeply conflicted.
The team had finally developed such a promising talent. If Lin Feng stayed, Greuther Fürth could build the squad around him and, after a few years of settling in, might have a chance to challenge for the Bundesliga.
But Inter Milan was offering far too much!
To buy a seventeen-year-old player, Inter Milan had directly offered the astronomical figure of fifteen million euros.
The sheer wealth on display was more than a small club like Greuther Fürth could resist.
Moreover, this was only an initial offer. The final price could still be negotiated.
But since their opening offer was already so high, adding several more million during future negotiations would be no problem at all.
Lin Feng's final transfer fee could therefore very well reach, or even exceed, twenty million euros.
That was twenty million euros!
More than Greuther Fürth's annual operating costs!
By selling Lin Feng alone, the club could not only pay off all its debts but also retain a substantial surplus, allowing it to find plenty of cheap, useful players in the transfer market to address weaknesses in the squad.
So after weighing the matter carefully, Greuther Fürth ultimately decided to respect the player's own choice.
If Lin Feng wished to stay, the club would reject Inter Milan's offer, make him the core of the team, and prepare to challenge for the Bundesliga next season.
But if Lin Feng wanted to leave and develop on a higher, bigger stage, the club would also respect his decision and wish him well.
After all, they had not spent a single cent to sign Lin Feng. He had served the team for two years and, even after deducting all wages and bonuses, had still earned them nearly twenty million euros in pure profit. He was absolutely the club's great benefactor!
Lin Feng did not rush to make a decision. This was too important, and he needed to go home and discuss it with his parents.
After all, if he truly accepted Inter Milan's offer, they would likely have to move.
"By the way, Mr. President, apart from Inter Milan, have any other teams made offers for me?"
As he rose to leave, Lin Feng suddenly thought of something and asked curiously.
"Of course. In fact, before the Youth World Cup final had even begun, the club had already received several offers for you!"
The president opened a drawer and took out a large stack of faxed offers.
"That many?"
Lin Feng was startled. He had thought that at most a few teams would make offers for him, but there were actually so many.
"Of course. You were the Youth World Cup's Most Valuable Player, and you even defeated Messi. Isn't it perfectly normal for people to rate you highly?"
Lin Feng nodded. It seemed he had still underestimated the impact of the Youth World Cup.
He took the thick stack of faxes from the president and began flipping through them casually.
Most of those offers came from German clubs, and Bayern Munich was naturally among them.
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