"You and Hans... are in cahoots!" Lu Yang said, his eyes sharp.
"Just like you and Hans," Soto said without hiding anything. "And Maniero... In fact, it was Maniero who recommended me to Hans. He really is a wise man, both on and off the pitch."
Lu Yang nodded. "I knew it. Live Football News always has stories about your feuds and rivalries that nobody else can get their hands on. You make the most of off-field factors and the bonds between players to boost their fame."
Soto said, "But we've never once put on a fake performance in a match. Every time we've met, we've given it our all."
"I believe that," Lu Yang said.
"Why? You're just going to take my word for it? What if..."
"Because I've played with you. I believe in football!"
Soto fell into thought for a long time. Lu Yang's words had moved him deeply.
In fact, Soto hadn't partnered with Hans from the beginning. Back then, he wasn't any kind of top star, just an ordinary Milan midfield workhorse.
Maniero had felt that Soto had put too much pressure on him and caused him too much trouble during matches.
Maniero thought that such an outstanding player shouldn't be overlooked. Milan's fans deserved to know what a great man on their team had done for them.
Just as Juventus's fans needed to understand how important Maniero was to them.
On the other hand, Maniero also needed a rival to keep himself in the headlines.
He'd realized long ago that only people who made headlines attracted more media and fans, and that was how you stayed famous for longer. Fans would be more forgiving, and every player needed a forgiving public.
Because no matter how good you were, you'd still lose sometimes. You'd still have bad games.
If you weren't even allowed one bad game, how could you ever grow into a superstar?
In football, no player was born a star.
So Maniero helped build the image of himself and Soto as lifelong rivals, and both of their reputations soared as a result.
Soto didn't have to give up anything.
Maniero didn't need him to go easy on the pitch. They were both fiercely loyal to their teams and had sky-high expectations of themselves and of football.
The fact that Hans's influence began to decline after Maniero and Soto retired showed that Maniero really had orchestrated this pair of lifelong Serie A rivals.
Without Maniero, Hans gradually lost his standing in the news media.
Hans had considered starting over according to Maniero's original plan, and creating another pair of rivals: a Brain versus a Butcher.
But he'd failed.
Arnold was his third failure.
Perhaps the two had developed at different rates, and one grew jealous of the other, refusing to keep playing along with the publicity.
Perhaps one of them had faded into obscurity, leaving no room or value for Hans to work with.
Or perhaps some idiot had kicked Hans to the curb for three hundred euros.
Arnold would never know what he'd lost.
He'd lost the chance to stand alongside Soto and Maniero.
In short, Hans couldn't make it happen.
He had no real control. He was only a channel for getting the word out, a middleman with too little involvement in the process.
Only someone involved in every part of the process could control it all and create a legend.
In other words, only the players themselves could do it.
Hans could only play a supporting role.
A while ago, Hans had excitedly told Soto that he'd found another ADC of his own, someone who might be no worse than Maniero.
Soto had scoffed.
Not just anyone deserved to be compared to Maniero!
But when Hans said Lu Yang's name, Soto fell silent.
In his eyes, Lu Yang was a completely different kind of player from Maniero, but they shared the same magical quality: they were both... good at creating miracles.
So...
"Tell me what you're thinking. I need to make sure we're working toward the same thing," Soto said bluntly. Unconsciously, he spoke to Lu Yang as if he were an equal, a contemporary.
Sixteen?
Sixteen, my ass!
Anyone who treated Lu Yang like a sixteen-year-old kid would pay dearly for it.
"It's simple. Vedian's leaving next season. The team can't keep him, and there's no reason or way for us to hold on to him," Lu Yang said. "So why not make him look more valuable?"
"We'll need some transfer funds next season, and Vedian can make that easy for us. Otherwise, even with your Milan connections, we couldn't afford the fee."
Lu Yang's last words made Soto's hair stand on end.
He knew even that?
"Don't look at me like that," Lu Yang said with a smile. "I can even guess that you're planning to bring in either Latuidi, the veteran Juventus midfielder, or Chiellini, Juventus's former captain!"
At that, Soto could no longer sit still.
"Damn it! When did you bug my phone? Tell me, how many cameras have you put in my place? Have you got footage of me taking a few female fans back to a hotel?" Soto looked like a lion about to devour someone.
Lu Yang's mouth fell open. "Now that would be a sensational story. You're sleeping with your fans?"
"Shh, shh, shh!" Soto clapped a hand over Lu Yang's mouth to keep the players in front from hearing them. "I'm a man too. I have needs. I'm thirty-eight, I'm not married, and there are a lot of things I need to take care of. You get it?"
Lu Yang nodded, impressed. "That's incredible, bro."
"Back to business. I can accept Vedian leaving next season because I know a winger with top-tier pace—someone even faster than Vedian!" Soto revealed.
Vedian, sitting in the row ahead, seemed to hear his name. He turned to look at Lu Yang and Soto, who were talking seriously. He knew Brother Lu was arguing with Soto on his behalf.
Maybe the coach would drop him in the future and keep him off the pitch.
That was what a lot of teams did to players who wanted to transfer: they forced them to stay by any means necessary!
Young, unknown players were at a disadvantage.
But the truth was that Lu Yang and Soto were having a two-thousand-word discussion about how to pad stats.
When it came to playing dirty, Lu Yang wasn't bragging: footballers of this era couldn't hold a candle to him!
After all, he was a man who'd watched the NBA in later years.
What deranged ways of padding stats hadn't he seen?
And why were there several notorious selling clubs in football where ordinary players put up spectacular numbers, only to fade into obscurity as soon as they left?
Adaptation was one factor, but those clubs padding stats was an undeniable fact.
It was just a little difficult to pull off.
But then again, as San Remo's main attacking threat, the team had no choice but to help Vedian pad his stats. Everyone needed him to score, and his pace was still the biggest weapon in the lower leagues.
Lu Yang couldn't use a Moment Card in every match.
And... not every opponent deserved a Moment Card.
A legendary moment shouldn't be wasted on just any unknown nobody.
The conversation soon ended, not nearly as long as everyone had imagined. Soto spent most of the remaining time sleeping. He couldn't possibly blame Lu Yang, because Lu Yang had said exactly what he'd planned to say.
Let the Serie B teams get a good look at what Vedian could do. He was a better bet for those wealthy clubs than Arnold.
Lu Yang's spectacular thirty-three-meter bicycle-kick goal had also boosted the impact of San Remo's match.
Words and actions went hand in hand. It wouldn't be hard to send Vedian to a wealthy club.
After Soto fell asleep, Lu Yang began to claim the rewards from the match.
It was his first brace, so he'd received two random packs.
As usual, he opened them right away.
"Ding! You received a player skill: Lion's Header."
"Ding! You received a star skill: Marcelo's Instep Trap!"
Lu Yang nearly leaped out of his seat.
Marcelo?
Was it you, big-haired one?
Marcelo was a Brazilian international and Real Madrid's first-choice left back, one of the members of their three consecutive Champions League-winning squads. He'd won almost every club honor there was. The reason for that qualification was that his international honors were comparatively sparse.
He'd never lifted the World Cup Trophy, nor had he ever been selected for the Copa América.
But you had to admit that for a time, Marcelo had been a strong contender for the world's best left back.
He was most famous for his supernatural trapping and ball control. He was the quintessential South American showboater.
In one match, he'd received a long pass from a teammate. The moment he brought it down, the whole stadium fell silent.
The ball seemed never to have bounced at all, as if it had been firmly stuck to his instep.
Lu Yang was so excited not because the star skill would help him score, but because it would take him even farther down the road to showtime.
No player dared casually take a touch near their own penalty area. The instant they did was when they were most likely to miscontrol the ball or get tackled, especially when bringing down a high ball.
To stay safe, defenders had to hoof the ball clear or head it away instead of bringing it down.
But both trapping the ball and kicking it long could lead to mistakes.
A great many of the blunders we saw from defenders—the own goals and other disasters—came from this.
But once Lu Yang had Marcelo's Instep Trap, he'd have another reliable option for receiving the ball in the penalty area.
And it would definitely take the pressing players by surprise.
Just like the V-Pull, it would give Lu Yang more room and options to turn, and even help the team's attack.
The Lion's Header, meanwhile, was a heading move. Its name alone made it clear that it improved Lu Yang's heading ability.
And that meant more than just attacking headers.
It also included defensive headers and knockdowns.
After taking in the two skills, Lu Yang opened his stats panel to take a look.
His stats had improved significantly.
Aside from his skills, the reason was that he'd used the Ibrahimovic Moment Card. He'd received Ibrahimovic's gift. The experience had stayed with him, adding to his natural ability.
Lu Yang
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Attack:
Attacking Positioning: 50
Dribbling: 50
Ball Control: 60
Finishing: 55
Heading: 55
Defense:
Tackling: 55
Interceptions: 50
Physical:
Speed: 60
Acceleration: 55
Jumping: 50
Strength: 50
Balance: 60
Tight Possession: 55
Vision: 99
Mental:
Aggression: 99
Composure: 99
Stamina: 99
Teamwork: 55
Leadership: 55
Stats from 50 to 59 were within the professional-player range. Lu Yang had several stats at 55 or even 60, which meant some of his attributes were above average in Serie C.
That was why he'd handled both of his Serie D matches with relative ease.
The only tricky opponent had been Bisceglie's number nine, a big center forward. Lu Yang really struggled to stop that kind of heavy tank in a head-on defensive duel. But he could use his agility and speed, along with his link-up play with Moric, to offset some of the disadvantage.
As long as the opponent wasn't a giant tank, Lu Yang could defend against him.
He was especially good at containing speedy forwards.
In the lower leagues, it was often speedy players who ran riot.
With the poorer quality of defending, speedy players got far more chances than other players, making it easier for them to shine.
Top possession-based teams, on the other hand, wouldn't give you even one chance to counterattack at speed over the course of a match. That was a whole other level.
He shut down Arnold, and he meant it!
<Arnold finished with zero goals and zero assists, then went off injured. His tormentor was an unknown!>
<Soto leads the team to two straight wins, works his magic against the league leaders!>
<Another sudden drop! All units, beware: the cannon-legged defender is coming!>
San Remo's legend sets sail!
<Ping-pong wall passes: even Serie D has beautiful teamwork!>
<One goal and one assist, and Vedian is just one goal away from becoming Serie D's top scorer! A new king is about to be crowned?>
<Two goals and one assist, dominating the match—you won't believe he's a center back!>
<A stunning thirty-three-meter bicycle kick! Another masterpiece from the Lumberjack Shot scorer. However the Puskas Award is judged this year, it has to go to him!>
<The longest bicycle-kick goal in football history, scored by a Serie D wonderkid center back! He once kicked the Milan Butcher Soto out of the match!>
<Maniero: "Looks like I'll have to get used to seeing Lu Yang's news and goals in the media. He's an excellent player with an unlimited future!">
<Serie B's Benevento: "We think highly of San Remo's Vedian. He's tremendously talented and would fit our tactical system perfectly!">
<Serie B Empoli: We've been following Vedian for a long time. He belongs in Serie B!>
<Serie B Perugia: Vedian was one of our youth players. Now it's time for the boy to come home! Perugia will always welcome you!>
One headline after another seized the newspapers across Liguria.
It had been a long time since San Remo had seen such excitement.
Fans said they were eager to return to the stadium to watch a match.
Even Brownie, the owner of the GOAL Bistro and a die-hard fan, said he would be in the South Stand at San Remo Municipal Stadium for San Remo's next home match against Catania, who were fifth in the league.
That was the territory of San Remo's most devoted fans!
Everyone could hardly wait to see San Remo's next match.
Because everyone could hardly wait to win again, and again, and again!