Serie A Level Defense, Comprehensive Tryouts Will Decide

"You..." Aguilar was furious. He stood up, regained control of the ball, and charged toward Lu Yang.

One minute—as long as the opponent didn't gain possession, it would be a victory.

Under normal circumstances, Aguilar would constantly dribble, dodge, and weave to avoid being dispossessed.

But he had just been "ambushed" by Lu Yang, and he felt humiliated.

So, he wanted to humiliate him back.

He was going to shake Lu Yang off!

However, unexpectedly, Lu Yang's shoulders swayed rapidly, making it impossible to judge his true intentions.

The right side!

Aguilar keenly sensed Lu Yang's thought process; Lu Yang seemed more inclined to defend his right side... he was preparing to plant his foot... a perfect opportunity!

Aguilar dribbled to break through on the left.

Yet, just as he nudged the ball, a foot appeared in its path and hooked it away.

A perfect tackle!

It looked as if Aguilar had intentionally passed the ball to Lu Yang's feet.

Twice now!

Lam, the young center-back from the Liverpool youth academy, frowned.

Lu Yang's defense was incredibly strong, not at all at the level of Serie D or Serie C. Even in the second-tier leagues, such clean and precise defensive work would be considered top-tier.

Lam even doubted whether he could pull off tackles and interceptions like Lu Yang.

Soon, ten minutes had passed.

Aguilar was no longer as arrogant as before.

Because in this one-on-one, he had lost, and he had lost miserably!

He had possessed the ball five times, and Lu Yang had successfully tackled him every single time!

Perhaps if he had just run around the pitch with the ball, he could have made Lu Yang fail once or twice, but he couldn't bring himself to do that.

As for Lu Yang, in his five possessions, aside from the one time Aguilar tackled him, he had successfully held the ball for a minute in the other four.

His method of consumption was simple and brutal, relying mostly on his strong physique.

As long as Lu Yang leaned into Aguilar, it was difficult for Aguilar to win the ball back.

Lu Yang's physical confrontation ability was arguably second to none among the youth players.

Standing at only 1.83 meters, in terms of physical duels, only big strikers and tall defenders could potentially get the better of him.

And Aguilar was clearly a technical player, not a physical one.

He could bully Baizami, but he could only be bullied by Lu Yang!

This was the food chain of competitive sports!

Even if someone is only slightly better than you, they are still an insurmountable mountain.

Furthermore, Lu Yang possessed decent footwork; his V-Pull, Rabona, and Knee-Tap Lift were executed with great fluidity, teasing Aguilar several times and inciting cheers from the crowd.

Without realizing it, all the cameras were now aimed at Lu Yang.

Having defeated Aguilar, Lu Yang didn't go on to show off; instead, he ignored him and walked straight to Baizami, extending his hand. "I am Lu Yang, the starting defensive midfielder for San Remo. If all goes well, we will be fighting side by side for the coming season."

"You are a forward; you only need to focus on running and scoring goals."

"I am a defensive player, so I am responsible for the safety of the team and the players."

"With me here, no one can bully you in any way, whether on or off the pitch!"

"Of course, I hope that one day, you can teach those people a lesson yourself... preferably through football. Because that would mean our team has gained a powerful reinforcement! I long to achieve more glory with my teammates!"

"Welcome to the team, Baizami!"

Baizami looked at Lu Yang's outstretched hand, stunned for a long moment.

For some reason, he was reminded of the time he left his hometown to join the Inter Milan youth academy.

Those children might not have had malicious intent, and the coaches there might have thought it was just kids joking around.

But the "n-word" and other slurs directed at Baizami by others still stung him.

From that moment on, the once talkative and cheerful Senegalese boy, Baizami, became the cool, aloof person who ignored everyone.

He didn't reject kindness; he was simply preemptively avoiding the harm the world had inflicted upon him.

Because of this, his football had no room for anyone else.

Whenever he had the ball, he was never willing to share it.

This style of play was effective for a time, especially when his level was far above everyone else on the pitch.

But once he reached adulthood and began participating in higher-level competitions, it no longer worked.

Consequently, after a season and a half of attempts, he was completely abandoned by Inter Milan and sold to San Remo.

Baizami once felt that his life was over.

But the moment Lu Yang reached out his hand, he felt that perhaps San Remo was not such a bad choice after all.

At the very least, the people here were not that annoying.

Baizami reached out and shook Lu Yang's right hand: "Hello, I am Baizami."

Lu Yang smiled: "This is Moric, the absolute core of our team. His passing is top-notch. Trust me, he will feed you plenty of through balls in the future..."

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Through balls are earned by a striker's own outstanding individual ability, though now that you mention passing, I'm wide awake..."

The three of them walked to the side of the pitch, laughing and chatting, slowly becoming a small group.

Behind the camera, the director watched the constant smiles on Lu Yang's face and sighed: "Such a sunny and handsome smile, yet why is he so terrifying when he gets angry? Can someone really be both an angel and a devil?"

A staff member asked from the side: "Director, how should we handle this video footage? If this is released, it might have a negative impact on Aguilar."

The director didn't even think about it: "Just broadcast it as is. Oh, and edit it to be a bit more dramatic. Keep the suspense. Edit Aguilar like a big villain; after all, no one would expect that the one to save Baizami would be Lu Yang from the Italian fourth tier."

"Aguilar's words were just normal language, not serious discrimination. At worst, he can apologize later and say he misspoke; it won't have a catastrophic impact."

The staff member was speechless.

You call a public apology "not serious"? "Not catastrophic"?

The staff member said: "But won't this affect his standing in the team? I mean Roma. He is competing with other players for the starting right-winger position at Roma this year, but he ended up being frozen out by a player from the Italian fourth tier, he..."

The director laughed: "Roma will only thank us because we helped them prove Aguilar's massive flaws. Otherwise, why do you think Aguilar came to participate in this show?"

The staff member was stunned: "So... Roma sent him here?"

The director smiled without answering.

Those who know, know!

Aguilar is looking for a better opportunity while still holding his current position, but isn't Roma also giving Aguilar one last chance?

Less than half an hour after the conflict between Baizami and Aguilar, Maniero and the others arrived at the pitch.

They had already heard about the conflict that occurred here and knew the outcome.

Regarding this, the Wolf King of Roma, Perotta, looked a bit embarrassed.

After all, Aguilar was a backup forward for Roma, and the coaching staff was even preparing to use him as the starting right-winger next season to give him room to grow.

To be fair, this was bad news for Perotta, who wanted to challenge for the league title.

He needed strong help to compete for honors, not to sacrifice his own prime years helping the team develop young prospects.

Moreover, Perotta didn't really like Aguilar either.

The guy lacked a sense of priority.

He didn't even like passing the ball to the Wolf King, Perotta.

Aguilar's current strength was far from matching his core-style of play, yet he refused to change.

Meanwhile, Carlisle, who was walking with them, felt quite comfortable.

Oh, Wolf King, Wolf King, look at that—this is the successor to the King of the Violets!

He's more impressive than the kid from your team, right? Hahaha!

The Prince of Zebras, Ancarelli, and the legendary Italian left-back Taji had also been watching Lu Yang and Moric. Maniero had just been talking about them too much in front of them.

It was as if he were bragging about his own children.

Were they really that good?

Maniero, as the lead initiator, stood on the pitch to speak: "Welcome everyone to the Star of Italy Training Camp. This place has gathered many young players who are playing in Italy or belong to Italy."

"I hope that years from now, when we look back, we might discover that this training camp held the raw, youthful memories of so many legendary stars!"

"I won't emphasize pitch discipline too much; I have only one requirement: solve football problems with football."

At this, everyone looked at Lu Yang and Aguilar.

The words were pointed; perhaps the five mentors already knew what had happened.

This made Aguilar's expression even uglier.

Maniero continued: "Today we are completing a comprehensive trial. I know some players are dissatisfied with the player rankings released by the production team; this is your chance."

"Your rankings will be re-evaluated after the trials, and in the future, your rankings will be re-evaluated every two or three days. The higher your rank, the more likely you are to enter the next stage. Of course... we will also judge whether a player can advance based on potential, on-field performance, public support, and other aspects."

"Alright, boys, start your trials!"

After Maniero finished speaking, the camera turned to the trial grounds that had been set up earlier.

There were many segments in the trial.

It included juggling, left-and-right dribbling and passing, left-and-right dribbling and shooting, sprinting without the ball, sprinting with the ball, foot power, long-distance endurance, and many other tests.

And the results were often very clear.

First were the five S-rank players; they lived up to their S-rank status. They were proficient in almost all these fundamentals, and their scores were mostly high.

As for those Grade A players, they are often not bad at all; in fact, you can hardly tell the difference between them and Grade S players based on statistics alone.

Take Viola's youth academy midfielder Versace, for instance. His stats in every aspect are no worse than Aguilar's, yet Aguilar is an S-rank while he is an A-rank.

"A team's requirements for youth players aren't high, or rather, for any club, as long as a player's ability reaches Grade A, they are already considered qualified. But whether a player can prove their worth and show they are different from the rest during a loan spell or their time with the first team—that is the key," Carlisle said, standing beside Lu Yang to educate the nearby young players.

Only then did everyone realize.

The five Grade S players undoubtedly all had legitimate league experience.

Whether it was experience as a substitute in the top flight or as a starter in the second division, they had been tested in real matches and generally met everyone's expectations.

As for the Grade A players, they lacked such verification.

Such players also included the likes of Soguer from Milan.

But one person had emerged suddenly, with statistics that were in no way inferior to these Grade S and Grade A players.

That person was... Moric!

"Perfect juggling stats, top-tier ball control! He is remarkably balanced with both feet, a rare two-footed freak. Perhaps his left foot is slightly weaker, but his right-footed outside-of-the-boot passes are precise enough to compensate for what isn't even a real flaw," Prince of Zebras Ancarelli, a technical forward, was shocked by Moric's performance. "His passing and shooting are excellent, and his long-range shots are already quite seasoned!"

"His outside-of-the-boot curling shots are terrifyingly strong; he will surely score many goals that way! His immense leg power is so mismatched with his seemingly frail frame!"

"No, no, he isn't frail. Both his off-the-ball and on-the-ball sprints are faster than a normal midfielder's. He even has the potential to play as a shadow striker! That would maximize his ability to avoid his defensive shortcomings."

Maniero interjected, "Sorry, Ancarelli, but if you had watched his matches, you would know that defense is not his weak point. Unlike me, he has excellent defensive support capabilities, and he is particularly adept at executing sneak tackles from the side!"

"Besides, he is a number ten. He won't be playing as a nine-and-a-half. He is my successor, not yours!"

Ancarelli laughed, neither confirming nor denying.

There was no doubt that Moric's rating would be subject to change.

Lu Yang, on the other hand, had trial results that seemed... unexpectedly consistent with his rating.

Aside from his terrifying stamina, which left him uncharacteristically full of life after the laps, he held no technical advantage over this group of players.

Although his abilities were as balanced as Versace's, Versace's stats were all near the high end of Serie B, while Lu Yang's were all at a level between Serie C and Serie B.

The former was "all-around," while Lu Yang looked more like "all-incompetent."

"This..." the instructors were at a loss for how to evaluate Lu Yang, especially since he was a player Maniero and Carlisle thought highly of.

"It seems that while some players have strong mental attributes and many highlight-reel moments, their fundamentals are truly a bit..." Perotta bit the bullet and said a few words.

"He is a player whose ability and importance cannot be reflected by training data," Maniero said, his face neither flushing nor paling. "He is a match-day player, a big-game player. Once we enter the match phase, you will see what makes him different."

Regarding this, apart from Carlisle, who strongly agreed, the other three remained skeptical.

There are many players who are excellent in training but fail to perform during matches.

But a player who is mediocre in training yet brilliant in matches? That was something they had never heard of.

Because it defied logic.

A flash of brilliance is built upon a certain foundation.

Lu Yang's foundation was clearly a tier below these talented young players.

In fact, this was indeed the true level of Lu Yang's data.

As mentioned before, Lu Yang's well-roundedness might allow him to dominate in Serie C.

But if he were moved to Serie B, he would likely fade into the crowd.

And these players before them, who were hailed as geniuses, included many whose skills and traits were stunning even to Serie A clubs!

The gap certainly existed.

But... just as Maniero said, many of Lu Yang's advantages could not be reflected in data.

He needed matches to prove himself!