A Man Whose Last-Minute Kick Failed

Just as Su Dong had told Rony before, an agent was important, but also not important.

Take Quaresma, for example. The fact that he could make the squad list in the first round of the new season, and even come straight off the bench, was certainly due to his own potential and ability, but the effort put in by his agent behind the scenes could not be underestimated either.

First came opportunity. Niculae, brought in for a hefty fee, performed poorly in the summer friendlies, so Sporting Lisbon tried to make amends by bringing in Jardel, even going so far as to send away three first-team players, including winger Mbo Mpenza. That created a personnel vacuum in the attacking lineup on the flanks.

So, under those circumstances, the two young talents, Quaresma and Marcelino, both entered the first team.

Who would play?

There was definitely a power struggle behind that.

This was when an agent's role showed itself, especially a big-name agent like Veiga.

After that, Quaresma made his name in one match, and that became a win-win-win for the player, the agent, and the club.

In the past, Su Dong had not understood any of this. But after spending so much time with Rony and Jose Semedo, he naturally came to understand the rules and operations inside big clubs. He had even heard that some players were clearly very capable, yet for all sorts of reasons, never got the chance to show it.

An agent's value lay in whether he could allow a player to focus on playing football without worries.

Rony was also thinking about renewing his contract and getting a raise, which was actually a perfectly normal pursuit of his own interests.

He believed he deserved a new contract, so he could absolutely have his agent negotiate it. Whether the club would give it to him or not could only be known after talks. But Veiga's current attitude was that Quaresma was developing very smoothly, there was also Marcelino in the first team, and Rony was still young, so they would hold him down for the time being.

But Rony was getting impatient.

Sometimes, conflicts were that simple and direct.

"I had contact with Rony a few times before. I believe you should have heard about that too. He mentioned you to me and praised you endlessly. He said that even if you went to Sporting Lisbon's youth team, you'd be fully capable of becoming a starter, and told me I had to come and take a look."

After hearing Mendes say that, Su Dong finally understood. So it had been Rony recommending him.

He had lent Rony some money before so that Rony could bring his father to Lisbon for treatment. That kid had actually returned the favor.

"What do you think, then?" Su Dong asked with concern.

He was still a little nervous, because he really wanted to know what level he was at in the eyes of these professional agents.

Mendes did not answer. Instead, he turned to look at Jorge Manuel beside him.

"In Sporting Lisbon's youth academy, there are two forwards on the same team as Rony. One is Gisvi, tall and strong, and the other is Lourenço, who's very fast. My preliminary personal judgment is that you and Gisvi each have your own advantages, while you're slightly behind Lourenço."

After hearing Jorge Manuel's assessment, Su Dong did not have much of a reaction. Mendes, on the other hand, looked at his partner in some surprise, his eyes full of inquiry, as if to say, Are you sure that evaluation is fair?

Jorge Manuel gave Mendes a slight nod to confirm it.

Gisvi was an Aerial Dominator developed by Sporting Lisbon's youth academy, while Lourenço's strength needed even less explanation. Last season, he had been loaned to Bristol in English League One and performed very well, which was why he had been kept in the squad this season.

There had been news before that if Jardel could not come, Lourenço would be promoted to the first team as Niculae's backup.

If Jorge Manuel's evaluation was accurate, Mendes felt he should raise his assessment of Su Dong.

"We watched today's match. The strongest feeling it gave me was that Sporting Portugal is already close to being unable to satisfy you," Jorge Manuel said. "My suggestion is that, at the earliest during the Winter Break, or at the latest after the season ends, you should go to a better team and play in a better league. You need to keep up this momentum of improvement. That's very important."

Su Dong understood. He had just turned seventeen, and he was at a stage where his ability was improving rapidly.

Matches, especially matches that offered real developmental value, were crucial to him.

Take Quaresma, for example. Now that he was in the first team, he was playing better and better, improving at an astonishing speed. Rony, meanwhile, was admittedly at ease in the youth team and played with great composure, but his rate of improvement was clearly weaker than Quaresma's.

"To be honest, Su, even without Rony's strong recommendation, I would still be very interested in you. I know your previous agent was very unprofessional, but that doesn't matter. If you're willing, I'll be responsible for your affairs from now on. I'll help you draw up a detailed short- to mid-term career plan as soon as possible, and do everything I can to plan for you."

Mendes's proposal was very appealing to Su Dong.

What he most urgently needed now was, on the one hand, to work hard to improve his own ability, but at the same time, he also needed an agent running around and making plans for him on the outside.

Head coach Gorba had told him before that three or four teams were all paying attention to him, and Su Dong at least needed to figure out what path he should take next.

Transfers were truly important for professional players.

Some players made careless transfers and saw their momentum cut short, such as Benfica winger Simão. Back then, he had gone to Barcelona with the title of Figo II, but what happened in the end? This season, he had come back with his tail between his legs.

It was not that Simão lacked ability, but that his transfer to Barcelona had been a mistake.

Therefore, finding a reliable agent was just as important as improving his ability.

Even so, Su Dong did not come to an agreement with Mendes on the spot, because he did not understand Mendes.

If it had been Jose Veiga, Su Dong guessed he would not have hesitated at all.

After returning to the apartment, Su Dong trained his body for a while longer.

After sticking to physical training for a period of time, all four of his physical attributes had improved tremendously. Even his lowest, strength, had reached 71 points, while his speed had reached 78 points, his explosiveness 76 points, and his stamina 77 points. All of this was the result of the training he had persisted in over the past several days.

Not only that, his technical attributes were also all above 70 points.

During this period, Su Dong had not been idle either. He had saved up quite a few King of Football Points. When he saw earlier that the potential of all four defensive attributes was almost maxed out, he simply raised all of their potential to 99 points. Now, their actual ability was all above 60 points as well.

As a plain, unadorned, and boring virgin man, Su Dong still wanted to max out all his attributes before leveling up.

In addition, Su Dong still had one Star Ability Card he had not exchanged. For the time being, he did not have the time to spare. He wanted to practice Batty Goal until it felt more natural in his hands before exchanging for a new Star Ability Card.

He would become a dual-card, dual-standby man sooner or later!

With his strength improved, training naturally became much smoother.

But faced with Pontes's training, Su Dong still felt enormous pressure, because the difficulty had risen as well.

Take push-ups, for example. He had gone from supporting himself with both arms to gradually narrowing the distance between them, and now he had begun attempting one-arm support, alternating between his two arms. It was easy to imagine how difficult that was.

However, having tasted the benefits of his recent stretch of hard training, Su Dong was able to keep going.

After training his body for a while and working up another sweat, Su Dong took a shower and washed his clothes while he was at it.

Sitting down on the bed and seeing that the time was about right, he called Rony's dorm.

The one who picked up was Jose Semedo.

This guy was always in such a cheerful mood. As soon as he heard Su Dong's voice, he started talking about the match that evening.

"Rony took out three of their players all by himself. Too bad that when it came to the final shot, he completely died."

The price of those words was that Semedo got kicked by Rony, yelped, and ran off.

After Rony took the phone, Su Dong asked a little about the match, but he did not pay too much attention. After all, Sporting Lisbon's youth-team matches were not something an outsider like him needed to worry about.

Su Dong soon brought up Mendes.

"I think what he said makes a lot of sense. This next step is very important for you. You shouldn't rush into a decision."

"According to the transfer rules, the absolute earliest would still be January first. Since that's the case, you still have three months to think it over slowly. The most important thing is to see whether there are matches you can play. If you're just going to sit on the bench, then don't go even if it's Real Madrid."

Su Dong agreed with this deeply.

He still ought to keep his feet on the ground, talk slowly with the other side, and see how sincere they were.

Of course, that should not be something he had to worry about, so it would be best for him to have an agent.

"I've looked into Mendes. He's pretty reliable, and he's a very meticulous person. The way he talks and handles things is good. Most importantly, he takes our thoughts and needs seriously. Veiga can't do that."

"It's still like what we said just now. Veiga is like Real Madrid—big name, famous brand, and he really does have a lot of resources. But for us at this stage, that's not much use. It just looks good."

Rony had a very clear plan and understanding of this.

"Besides, don't take agents too seriously. They provide services for us. In the contract terms, we absolutely have the dominant say. For example, in the contract I signed with Jose Veiga, even though I authorized all my business to him, in reality, if I wanted to terminate the contract with him, all it would take is one fax."

The main reason Rony had not made a decision yet was that he was considering many other aspects, such as Sporting Lisbon.

Recently, he had been communicating with Technical Director Aurelio Pereira. If this Technical Director did not object, he would immediately terminate his contract with Veiga and throw himself into Mendes's arms.

Su Dong had no experience at all dealing with agents.

The con man he had cut ties with before had claimed to be an agent, but in reality he had not been legitimate at all. It was said he did not even have agent qualifications, so strictly speaking, Su Dong's entire overseas transfer had not been standardized, and problems could arise at any time.

Now, hearing Rony say this, Su Dong finally understood that players actually still held a great deal of initiative in agency matters.

Since that was the case, there was nothing much to worry about.

The current Su Dong was only a third-tier league player, and his greatest advantage was his youth.

Since Mendes could be valued by Rony and had also signed Sporting Lisbon's rising star Hugo Viana, Su Dong had no need to worry too much.

He would authorize his player affairs to Mendes and let him make the plans. If it worked out, everyone would be happy. If not, he could change agents later.

Thinking of this, Su Dong no longer had anything to worry about.