Is It Really That Exaggerated?

"I have to go back to Alcochete today."

At his home in downtown Lisbon, Lionel Pontes was having breakfast as he spoke to his wife, who sat across from him.

"Aren't you on holiday?" his wife asked, puzzled.

The league had stopped, and Christmas was in two days. Why was he going to the training base at a time like this?

"I just got the notice. That rather interesting fellow is going over today, and I want to take a look," Pontes said with a smile.

"The Chinese player you've been mentioning so often lately?"

"Mm."

"He really joined Sporting Lisbon?" his wife asked, a little surprised.

Pontes nodded with a smile, his expression filled with relief and excitement.

He had started observing Su Dong in August, and more than four months had passed since then. Though he had never met Su Dong, not even once, he had kept track of his situation all along, watching him go from an amateur player who could not even get a game for a semi-professional club's youth team to the promising star now highly valued by Sporting Lisbon.

It had been an incredibly magical and wonderful process.

As a youth coach, there was nothing that made Pontes prouder or more excited.

That feeling was even stronger than when he had watched Rony, Quaresma, and the others enter the reserve team, even the first team.

Because Rony and the others were widely known talents, gifted from the moment they joined the team. Su Dong was not.

He was an unlucky kid who had carved out a path by risking everything.

Pontes was a youth coach, and in his eyes, nothing could prove his own value more than Su Dong's success.

"I've never met him before. I want to go and see him today," Pontes said, full of anticipation.

Of course his wife supported him. Over this past period, Pontes had mentioned Su Dong plenty of times.

This was probably the "work" her husband had felt proudest of since he began coaching. It was only normal that he wanted to go in person to watch Su Dong sign.

"Dad, do you think this person you're talking about can make it in the team?"

His son, sitting opposite him, was only seven, but he had heard quite a few things about Su Dong.

"Of course. I believe he'll succeed—not only in Lisbon, not only in Portugal. In a few years, he'll shock all of Europe," Pontes said with absolute certainty.

"Then get me his autograph. When he's famous later, I'll show it to my classmates." The child looked full of expectation.

"Sure, no problem."

After finishing breakfast and putting on his coat, Pontes left the house.

He drove from the city across the Vasco da Gama Bridge and arrived in Alcochete.

Sporting Lisbon's training base was actually very small, because the club's finances were limited.

The entire training base was surrounded by a residential area and laid out in a T shape. To the north was a standard football pitch, the training and match ground for the youth teams. To the south was also a standard football pitch, the first team's dedicated training ground.

Between the two football pitches were fitted a long, narrow comprehensive training field and two small football pitches the size of tennis courts.

A row of bungalows stood to the west of the first-team pitch, also serving as a trapezoid stand.

This was the entirety of the Alcochete training ground.

Compared with the training grounds of Europe's major clubs, Sporting Lisbon's training ground was indeed terrible, but though the sparrow was small, all its organs were complete. It had all the software and hardware facilities it ought to have.

Pontes parked at the entrance and had just walked into the training ground office when he saw U17 Youth Team head coach Joao Couto, coach Paulo Cardoso, and Oswaldo Silva standing by the doorway.

The three of them were gathered around reserve-team head coach Jean James, talking.

When they saw Pontes come in, everyone was a little surprised.

"Lionel, aren't you on holiday?" Paulo Cardoso asked, somewhat taken aback.

Pontes smiled slightly awkwardly. "Had something to do. Came over to take a look."

The others raised their brows at one another, sharing an unspoken understanding.

The matter between Pontes and Su Dong had long since spread within the team.

Of course, no one would criticize Pontes for it. After all, he had not done anything to harm Sporting Lisbon.

On the contrary, this time, as for why Su Dong had joined Sporting Lisbon, Mendes had said that Pontes's guidance was one of the key reasons Su Dong had considered, so to some extent, Sporting Lisbon would probably make good use of Pontes next.

This coach from the Madeira Islands was still very capable.

"Why are you here too?" Pontes walked into the group and asked Jean James.

The latter shrugged. "He's going to be my player from now on. Of course I have to keep a close eye on him."

It was a powerful reason, but everyone knew it was rather forced.

As they were speaking, the sound of a car parking came from outside.

Everyone thought Su Dong had arrived, but when they turned to look, they discovered that it was Nuno Nare pushing the door open and coming in.

"Hey, Nuno, why are you here too?" Oswaldo Silva asked, very surprised.

Wasn't it just a new player joining?

How had every backbone figure in the entire youth-team system ended up here?

Wasn't this a little too exaggerated?

Back when the club had spent three hundred thousand Euro to bring in the midfield genius Hugo Pina from Belen, this group had not been anywhere near this enthusiastic. Why had they all come now?

When Nare saw everyone, he scratched his head a little awkwardly. "Aurelio told me that we'll be tailoring a training program for him next, and since he's coming to the club today to sign, he'll definitely have to undergo a medical. So I thought it was necessary to come in person and get a feel for the situation, to make the work afterward easier."

That reason was strong enough.

After hearing it, everyone burst out laughing.

In truth, they all understood perfectly.

Apart from Paulo Cardoso and Oswaldo Silva, the two coaches responsible for the medical, the other three had come specifically for Su Dong.

"Two youth-training experts, the reserve-team head coach, plus the two of us. This lineup is even bigger than when Jardel and Niculae joined half a year ago," Paulo Cardoso said with a smile.

Medical examinations for senior players were all carried out at the hospital. Sporting Lisbon generally only arranged for the team doctor to go along, and the later tests at the training base were relatively simple.

Purely in terms of the lineup, Su Dong's treatment could truly be called extravagantly luxurious.

The coaching-team lineup was luxurious, and Su Dong's accompanying team was no weaker.

His agent Mendes and his partner Manuel went without saying. Rony and Jose Semedo had both given up their plans to go home for Christmas, staying in Lisbon specially to accompany Su Dong to the club.

Everyone knew Rony and Su Dong were as close as could be, but for them to be close to this extent was indeed surprising.

The management also attached great importance to it. Technical Director Aurelio Pereira, Football Director Carlos Freitas, and senior executive Mario Lino, the three giants, were all waiting on time at Alcochete Stadium.

What interested Sporting Lisbon most about Su Dong was not merely his current strength, but also his astonishing potential.

In just a few short months, he had transformed from an amateur player into a star of hope. Such a degree of progress was astounding.

In fact, if Sporting Lisbon had not had players and coaches involved in the process from beginning to end, probably no one would have believed it.

But it had truly happened.

Because of this, everyone at the club was especially expectant, wanting to see just how great Su Dong's future potential would be.

As per usual procedure, before signing the contract, Su Dong had to undergo a series of medical tests at the training base.

All of Su Dong's physical indicators were outstanding. The only relatively major problem was that, at 1.9 meters tall, he weighed only 70 kilograms. That was absolutely below standard.

And this was after he had spent several months persistently grinding through the physical strengthening program Pontes had designed for him.

"According to scientific research, there are indeed certain developmental differences between Easterners and Westerners. For example, Easterners generally develop two years later than Westerners. In other words, he can still grow taller," Pontes analyzed seriously.

"He's already one meter ninety, and he can still grow?" Jean James was somewhat stunned.

Was he aiming for two meters?

Looking at him like this, he should not have come to play football. He should have gone to play basketball instead.

"Yes. I think he can still grow, so when we prepare a special strengthening program for him, we must fully take this into account. My personal suggestion is two sessions a week, with muscle gain, endurance, flexibility, and coordination courses progressing together."

Pontes was still fairly satisfied with Su Dong's physical condition. Apart from being a bit too thin, there was nothing wrong with him.

But for a center forward who was 1.9 meters tall, being thin was a very big problem.

Being thin meant lacking muscle, lacking strength in physical confrontations, and being unable to pin down opposing defenders. This was a very serious issue.

Previously at Sporting Portugal, the opponents had all been players from lower-level leagues, so the physical confrontations had not been particularly obvious. But after coming to a team like Sporting Lisbon, with future ambitions in the Portuguese Super League, he would be facing the best in every aspect. The pressure could not be compared to before.

"Also, I suggest that his physical training courses be strictly controlled. Don't let it become like Rony back then," Nuno Nare suddenly reminded them.

When everyone heard this, they all turned their heads at once and looked at Rony, who was accompanying Su Dong through the medical.

The club had previously also drawn up a detailed muscle-gain training program for Rony. In the end, this guy had gotten greedy. Over at the youth team, he tricked Coto by saying he had not trained with the reserves; with the reserves, he tricked James by saying he had not trained with the youth team.

As a result, what had originally been two sessions a week became four sessions a week.

It was only much later that the coaching staff discovered his "scheme" and stopped his training on the spot.

Fortunately, the entire process had caused no damage. Otherwise, regret would have come too late.

"Rony has African ancestry and well-developed muscles. Su Dong can't do that," Pontes said, also very cautious about this.

Jean James heard the suggestions from the youth-training experts, but he frowned slightly at Su Dong's situation.

"He's already one meter ninety, he'll keep growing, and he needs to gain muscle. Don't train him into a second Gisvi." After saying this, the reserve-team head coach let out a long sigh.

Gisvi was also a player developed by Sporting Lisbon's youth academy. He had performed extremely well all the way up, but when he reached the stage where his body was growing, his height suddenly shot up at a terrifying rate.

Once his body grew taller, his agility dropped, and his speed declined along with it. In the end, he became the current Aerial Dominator type of player.

Would Su Dong also become like that?

Pontes smiled and patted Jean James on the shoulder, saying confidently, "You'll know in a moment."