Li Yufei wanted to become the GOAT of the Football World. The Ballon d'Or, the highest individual honor tied to popularity, was an absolute must.
And that was precisely because of the Ballon d'Or's popularity factor.
Li Yufei had to seize every opportunity to raise his profile.
His girlfriend's songs were an excellent way to do that!
It wasn't just that Taylor would willingly write songs about the two of them. Even if she didn't, Li Yufei would ask her to.
He knew all too well how far Taylor's songs would spread in the future!
In his previous life, plenty of minor celebrities who were practically unknown became famous simply because they were Taylor's exes and she had written songs about them.
Then the public learned who they were.
Some of them even had Taylor Swift listed as their only ex-girlfriend under "Relationships" on their Baidu profiles.
There was no one else!
No parents, siblings, or anything like that!
It was as if the only reason these people had any information on Baidu at all was the woman listed as their sole relationship.
If a minor celebrity could become known to the world just because he had once been involved with "Mei Mei," what about a football superstar dating global pop queen Taylor?
It didn't take much thought to see that a cross-industry romance like that would generate an outrageous amount of buzz!
Pique had barely been good enough in his prime to enter discussions of the world's top three defenders, yet he had gained enormous fame around the world thanks to Latin pop queen Shakira.
So surely a superstar striker and the World's Best player like Li Yufei, joining forces with Taylor, would outshine the old David Beckham and Victoria Beckham pairing?
At that level, when Li Yufei competed with Messi and Ronaldo for individual awards, he might not be able to surpass them in fame, but he certainly wouldn't be at a disadvantage!
Walcott probably never dreamed that the young man in front of him, who had graciously let him keep the match ball, was already thinking about the Ballon d'Or race.
In Walcott's eyes, the Ballon d'Or—the highest individual honor in football—had nothing to do with a player of his caliber!
He didn't dare hope to win it. He didn't even think he could make the thirty-man shortlist, let alone take home the award.
A person's ability determined the limits of his vision.
Walcott wasn't good enough to set his sights as high as the Ballon d'Or.
Li Yufei could, though, even if he hadn't yet reached the standard of a world-class player!
That didn't stop him from planning for the future.
After all, at the rate he was improving, it wouldn't take long for him to reach the level of a Ballon d'Or-caliber player...
Besides, winning the Ballon d'Or didn't necessarily require the recipient to be as good as a Ballon d'Or-caliber player.
He only needed to be better than the other players that year.
"Better" didn't simply mean playing ability. It meant accolades.
As long as Li Yufei won the most team honors in a single year, especially major club trophies like the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League,
and put up respectable personal stats,
then, with a well-planned media campaign, that would be more than enough to kick Messi and Ronaldo out of the running.
Li Yufei wasn't like Sneijder, Ribery, or Van Dijk, who had no media support.
Ever since he joined Arsenal's youth academy at fourteen, the campaign to build his profile had never stopped.
Otherwise, why would a youth player attract so much attention?
Never underestimate the influence of a modern-day billionaire worth tens of billions of USD. A little support from Li's Father, given almost without a thought, could easily achieve what the teams behind Messi and Ronaldo struggled to accomplish despite all their efforts.
That advantage came from who you were born to. It was in your blood, and it was undeniably unfair. But Li Yufei didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
After all, if Messi and Ronaldo could use their media and platform advantages to steal the Ballon d'Or from others,
then Li Yufei could use his privileged background to steal it from them.
None of them were saints. It all came down to whose backing was stronger and whose methods were better...
At the post-match press conference,
Blackpool's manager chose to avoid the press. He really didn't want to face Fleet Street's taunts and mockery.
Wenger, as usual, reviewed the match without changing his tune just because his team had won by a huge margin.
Perhaps it was because this was a match they had expected to win. Even thrashing their opponents 9–0 was still only worth three points, so there wasn't much to celebrate.
"If I could, I'd rather turn this 9–0 into nine 1–0 wins, because that would mean we got twenty-seven points. One 9–0 win is still only worth three."
"Of course, I know that's impossible. It's just a hypothetical."
Asked about Walcott and Li Yufei both scoring hat-tricks, Wenger said:
"It's no surprise. Theo and Flei are simply that good. They've done what they were always capable of doing."
"I have a lot of confidence in us this season. Arsenal can win the league title."
At the end, Wenger declared his determination right in front of the media.
The Fleet Street reporters were used to it. Wenger had made similar statements at the start of each of the past few seasons.
But every time, the outcome had been the same: failure!
Even the pattern had been identical.
They roared out of the gate, crushing opponents and winning match after match.
Then the dreaded run of fixtures in late December arrived, and they predictably ground to a halt.
That slump usually lasted one or two months. By February, Arsenal had effectively given up on the title and shifted their focus to finishing in the top four to secure Champions League qualification.
The routine was so familiar that Fleet Street's reporters were numb to it.
Wenger had repeated the same promises without ever fulfilling them, and his ambitions had long since become the subject of doubt.
Otherwise, Henry wouldn't have left Arsenal for Barcelona.
The King of Highbury had seen through Arsenal's façade of strength and realized they had no hope of winning the Champions League.
Even during their record-breaking run of forty-nine unbeaten matches across two seasons, they had failed to reach the summit of European football. What hope did they have when they were no longer even competitive in the league?
In the end, Henry's decision had proven right.
After only two years at Barcelona, he had won a Champions League title with Dream Team III.
It really did prove that the right choice mattered more than hard work!
Arsenal hadn't yet experienced Fabregas's defection, but with the club's record over the past few years practically blank, it was hard for the reporters to believe they could achieve anything this season.
They had barely spent anything on transfers and hadn't brought in a single star player.
The reporters didn't think one newcomer, Flei, could make any fundamental difference to Arsenal.
As the saying went, no matter how dazzling Li Yufei's performances were, industry insiders still saw him as just a talented young player.
Football history was full of prodigies who had burst onto the scene and dazzled for a while!
But very few ever grew into true legends!
Whether Li Yufei could become a superstar still had to be tested by time and match after match.
At this stage, at least, industry insiders didn't believe Li Yufei could strengthen Arsenal in any meaningful way.
With their current squad, dreaming of winning the league was pure fantasy.
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