Duke Lore Street, Tang Jose Apartment.
Rony returned to the apartment, took a refreshing shower, and felt completely reinvigorated.
His roommate, Semedo, had gone out partying again.
In Lisbon, as long as you flashed the badge of a Sporting Lisbon player, a whole line of beautiful women would be waiting to throw themselves at you.
For young girls, it was absolutely a golden opportunity to rise to the top overnight.
Every year, countless girls made the front pages of Portugal's major newspapers after getting involved with professional footballers. As for what happened afterward, that depended on each person's abilities.
Some girls could never escape the halo of being a certain player's girlfriend, and could only appear in public by clinging to their boyfriend or husband. Others quickly carved out a place for themselves, or even stepped on their boyfriends to rise higher.
There were simply too many cases like that.
Rony had seen through it long ago, which was why he disliked going out. Otherwise, with his status and looks, the girls pursuing him could have lined up from Marquis of Pombal Square all the way to Alvalade Stadium.
For now, he was more focused on football.
Especially after the two rivals within the team had both been promoted to the First Team, he had become even more anxious.
If that incident had not happened and caused him to miss preseason preparations, he would probably have made the First Team as well.
But how could there be any ifs in this world?
After sighing, Rony did not dwell on the matter for long. He soon called Lionel Pontes, mainly to discuss some matters concerning Su Dong.
They had not seen each other for a week, and Su Dong's improvement had surprised Rony.
"He's really reached the level of our U16 age group?" Pontes was very surprised.
Rony gave a hum on the phone. "He's not comprehensive enough yet, but I feel he can hold his own."
Pontes was clearly silent for a moment before praising him. "He's improved so quickly!"
Who could say otherwise?
A little over a month ago, the guy had been a kid who could barely stand out even on an amateur team.
"I think the main reason is that he's truly been training like his life depended on it lately," Rony said.
Pontes hummed in agreement on the other end, because he had watched it all unfold.
Hadn't Rony himself undergone a complete transformation in just over a year?
He still clearly remembered how poorly Rony had performed when he first joined the team. Yet Rony had boldly declared that he would defeat the team's two super-talents, Ricardo Quaresma and Edgar Marcelino.
That statement had long been the team's favorite joke.
But times had changed. Now, the three were known as the three most outstanding talents in Sporting Lisbon's Youth Team. Looking back, who did not admire Rony's grand declaration?
And behind Rony's rise was precisely his near-mad training.
As a fellow native of Madeira Island, Pontes had witnessed all of it with his own eyes.
Would Su Dong be the next Rony?
Pontes had never seen anything like it and did not dare say for certain, but Su Dong did seem to be another young player held back by poor youth training.
After reporting Su Dong's situation, Rony presented his own idea, but Pontes opposed it.
"To be frank, going to the gym to train your strength at sixteen is too risky."
"But that's how I trained," Rony said matter-of-factly.
"You're a monster. That doesn't mean everyone else is one too," Pontes said with a laugh.
In fact, he had always opposed Rony's excessive gym training, but the kid had been too competitive.
After catching up to Quaresma and Marcelino, he had immediately set his sights on Andres Cruz.
Who was that?
The number-one powerhouse of Sporting Lisbon's youth academy, the Sports Tower.
And Rony had actually caught up to him.
The "glorious achievement" everyone on the team loved to talk about—Rony staying in the gym until two in the morning, when security finally threw him out—had been accomplished during that period.
"Your body has the fast-twitch muscle fibers associated with African ancestry, but Su Dong doesn't. What you did back then was extremely risky in itself. One wrong move could leave an irreparable hidden injury. Su Dong can't do that," Pontes analyzed.
"Then what should he do?"
"It's simple. Start with basic exercises, such as sit-ups, push-ups, and squats. There's also resistance training. When running and playing football, gradually add weight to his body and take it step by step."
Pontes's advice was more scientific, though somewhat conservative, and Rony accepted it.
He valued Su Dong as a friend. Any potential risk that could lead to Su Dong getting injured had to be avoided.
Back then, he had treated himself with far more recklessness and impulsiveness, without thinking things through.
"All right, I understand. This will save us some gym fees, too." Rony laughed.
After hanging up with Pontes, Rony received a call from Su Dong.
Rony had given Su Dong his number earlier for precisely this purpose.
Su Dong was calling to invite him and Jose Semedo to dinner.
"What's this? You signed a contract and struck it rich?" Rony teased with a laugh.
Su Dong laughed heartily. "I got a hundred euros as a signing bonus."
The first thing he had thought of when he received the money was inviting Rony to dinner, along with Jose Semedo.
Of course, Rony did not refuse. He agreed with a laugh and also passed along Pontes's advice.
They arranged to buy the necessary equipment at the mall after dinner the next evening.
By then, the hundred euros would probably be almost entirely spent.
Although the new season had already begun, Su Dong and Rony still arrived at Edward VII Park at five every morning to train.
Rony was very proud and had not told Su Dong directly, but it was not hard to guess which team he played for.
With the best youth training in Portugal and a stadium undergoing reconstruction, there was only one club in Lisbon that fit the description: Sporting Lisbon.
Neither Benfica nor Belenenses had anything similar. Sporting Lisbon was building a new training base in Alcochete, which reportedly would officially open in 2002.
Like most professional footballers, Rony's academic results were terrible. After completing the compulsory education required by UEFA and the Portuguese Football Federation, he left school.
But because he had taken a week off during the season and missed valuable preseason training, Rony had not been called up to the First Team. He was still training with the Youth Team, which held only one session a day, in the afternoon.
Su Dong's Sporting Portugal was an adult team, but a semiprofessional one. Many of its players worked part-time and had jobs of their own. Thus, unlike professional teams, Sporting Portugal also held only one training session in the afternoon, with the players arranging the rest of their time themselves.
As a result, Su Dong and Rony could train in Edward VII Park throughout the morning and noon.
It was not until after three in the afternoon that the two went their separate ways.
Rony took the subway north from Marquis of Pombal Square to Alvalade Stadium, while Su Dong jogged two kilometers back to the club to report for the team's afternoon training session.
Despite having many part-time players, Sporting Portugal's players had all come through professional youth academies. Some had even emerged from academies like Benfica's and Belenenses's.
Such players had extremely solid fundamentals, along with considerable technique and ability.
As a newcomer, Su Dong did not dare grow complacent. Gorba led him to the First Team's shabby locker room.
Every transfer window, a club like Sporting Portugal would see some players arrive and others leave. This year was no exception.
The players had grown accustomed to it.
As for Su Dong, however, his teammates were mostly curious because he was only sixteen.
Entering the First Team at sixteen, even for a club in the third tier like Sporting Portugal, was worth taking note of.
The team captain, Marco Matello, introduced Su Dong to his teammates. He appeared to hold a fairly high position in the locker room.
Thirty-three-year-old Matello was a goalkeeper who had come through Belenenses's youth academy. However, he had made only nine Portuguese Super League appearances for Belenenses at the age of twenty-three, reportedly because the First Team's starting goalkeeper had been injured. He then moved among several lower-division clubs before eventually joining Sporting Portugal.
That résumé was already quite impressive for a semiprofessional team.
Besides being the team captain, Matello also handled the club's administrative affairs part-time. He was reportedly studying for his coaching license as well. Thus, he was one of the few players on a full-time contract, earning the club's top salary: four hundred euros a week.
Perhaps salary did not represent everything, but a comparison revealed Sporting Portugal's predicament.
Rony earned three hundred euros a week at Sporting Lisbon, plus appearance fees and bonuses. In total, he made about as much as Matello, who received no bonuses.
But Rony had said that once he entered the First Team, as long as he performed well, his next contract could easily add another zero to the figure.
"Su performed exceptionally well in the preseason assessment and is also a young player the team will focus on developing. Everyone should help him as much as possible. Hopefully, the team can perform better this season."
Matello held considerable authority within the team, and everyone responded to his words.
Su Dong was unfamiliar with everyone and was new to the team. After introducing himself, he chose a locker near the corner and began arranging his things on his own while listening to the topics being discussed in the locker room.
The new Portuguese Super League season was about to begin, and the opening round was already a headline clash: Sporting Lisbon would host Porto.
Neither team had performed well the previous season, allowing the dark horse Boavista to pull off an upset and win the club's first Portuguese Super League title. This had left the traditional big three deeply ashamed.
"Benfica still seems as lukewarm as ever, without much ambition. Porto has last season's top scorer, Pena, and will probably be stepping things up this season. Then there's Sporting Lisbon. Boloni spent big to bring in his fellow Romanian, Niculae, and is reportedly still working on Jardel. This opening match is sure to be a good one."
Jardel was a famous striker in Europe who currently played for Galatasaray in Turkey. However, he was being pursued by several major clubs, including Inter Milan. There were rumors that Sporting Lisbon intended to use the Belgian winger Mbo Mpenza, Croatian striker Špehar, and Czech midfielder Horváth as additional pieces to bring in the Portuguese Super League's top scorer.
Rony had mentioned this to Su Dong before.
To Su Dong, Pena, Jardel, Mbo Mpenza...
Each of those thunderous names belonged to figures floating high above, completely beyond his reach.
Starting tomorrow, there will be two updates a day. I'll schedule them in advance, for 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
While the new book is getting started, I'm begging everyone for rewards, collections, and recommendation votes! Thank you!
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