0022 Cosmic Milan (Seeking follows and monthly votes)

The defeat to Ascoli cast a shadow over Sampdoria’s new season. The media, which had previously been hyping up Lu Deyang, now uniformly questioned his footballing ability. Doubts were also being raised about Boskov; after all, Lu Deyang’s debut performance had been stunning, yet he had failed to make the matchday squad ever since.

Speculation regarding this was rife. Even Gigi Riva publicly expressed his skepticism during an interview, telling reporters, "I don't know what Boskov is thinking, but I know he must regret it now. If Cagliari hadn't failed to gain promotion to Serie A, he would never have had the chance to sign Deyang."

Seeing the interview, Matthäus remarked with disdain, "An 18-year-old should be cleaning boots for the first team, not acting as some sort of savior."

Klinsmann remained silent upon hearing this. The three Germans had only been with Inter for one season, and they were still in their honeymoon period. However, he and Brehme were quite critical of Matthäus’s loose tongue. Matthäus was indeed a jerk; if you tried to take him seriously, you would be brawling with him every single day. Before being kicked out of Bayern, Matthäus had once shouted at a female basketball player, "Have you seen the size of the black guy's thing on the team? It's this long." He could offend a roomful of people with a single sentence.

The fact that Matthäus had not yet been completely ostracized by his Inter teammates was certainly related to his terrible Italian.

"We should be careful," Zenga warned. "Sampdoria is no weak side; they have a number of world champions."

"Did ugly defending steal the championship?" Matthäus retorted.

Zenga: "..."

*Do you have any idea who you're talking to?* Brehme, sensing that things were taking a turn for the worse, quickly pushed Matthäus away. A few more words, and the match would be irrelevant, as the guy would be hospitalized by his own teammates.

Giovanni Trapattoni witnessed everything on the training ground. The manager with the most titles in Italian football history truly had a love-hate relationship with Matthäus. How could such a talented player have such a damn big mouth? Even if his demeanor wasn't particularly detestable, Matthäus’s ability was simply too immense. Even looking back through the history of football, Trapattoni had never seen a defensive player with more skill than Matthäus, and more importantly, the man was a beast when attacking.

His physical attributes were monstrous. Gareth Bale’s "knocking the ball past the defender and sprinting 3 seconds later" was shocking? Matthäus would knock the ball 50 meters ahead and then crush his opponents with pure speed. Half of his shots were absolute thunderbolts. He was the legendary creator of the 210 km/h shot—compared to Carlos’s 140 km/h.

A player like that carried an aura of oppression just by winding up his leg. In this era, the media loved to compare him to Maradona. People might criticize his character, but no one ever questioned his footballing skill.

Trapattoni was curious about his Yugoslav counterpart, wondering if he would put the youngster in the matchday squad under such pressure. If it were him, he certainly wouldn't. You don't throw a young player you want to develop into the most difficult matches right off the bat.

Napoli was strong, wasn't it? And Inter had a player of Maradona’s caliber, plus a whole group of superstars. In terms of pure strength, Inter was one of the strongest teams in Serie A, significantly more imposing than Napoli. The two Milan clubs were like "universal teams" during this period. If an 18-year-old were to step onto the pitch, he’d likely be kicked into tears within ten minutes.

***

In Manchester, England, the British interest in Serie A stemmed from the "Italian Summer." Paul Gascoigne’s stellar performance had drawn the attention of Italian clubs, prompting them to start broadcasting Serie A matches. Even with the Italian league being incredibly powerful at the time, the British had little interest—the pride of the British Empire was just that stubborn.

However, Ferguson had recently been paying close attention to Italian football. He was in the midst of a crisis regarding his job security; after spending 1.8 million pounds on Mark Hughes the previous season, the team had come up empty-handed and finished only eleventh in the league. The new season hadn't started well for Manchester United either. This led him to question the English parallel 4-4-2 formation and sparked the idea of "continentalizing" the team's tactics.

The English league had little appeal to Serie A players, so his focus naturally fell on players who weren't playing for the giants. In his view, Sampdoria was like a fairy tale—like Southampton assembling a world-class squad, something impossible in the Second Division, even if they did have Alan Shearer. Most importantly, based on news from friends, he felt Sampdoria was a decent side. The players only smoked, at worst.

Yes, even smoking felt like a minor issue to him. After all, there were plenty of players who were alcoholics in the locker room in those days. He had been at Manchester United for a long time, and it was only with the help of captain Bryan Robson that he had barely managed to persuade the players to put down their bottles.

"Boss, should we keep following Cerezo? He’s getting too old," asked Archie Knox, who had been Ferguson’s assistant back in his Scottish national team days.

"Youngsters won't want to come to England to play," Ferguson said with a touch of sarcasm. He could play in European competitions when he coached Aberdeen, but now English clubs were completely disconnected from the rest of the world.

"Alright, I'll find a way to get you a tape after the match," Knox said.

As the best league in the world, many coaches were keeping an eye on Serie A.

***

September 8th. The day before the fourth round of the league.

As training was about to end, the assistant coach walked over with a piece of paper and read out: "Mancini, Mannini, Vialli, Pari... Deyang."

When he finally called out Lu Deyang’s name, a cheer erupted on the training ground. His teammates were genuinely happy for him. In their eyes, Lu Deyang should have been in the squad a long time ago.

Boskov stood on the sidelines, smiling. "I suppose this is what the people wanted?"

"Of course!" Pezzotti nodded. "Times have changed. Young people grow up so fast now; maybe one day even youth team players will be able to attract significant attention."

Boskov shook his head. *Isn't that nonsense?* A 15 or 16-year-old kid’s body hasn't even fully developed. If they started playing with adults that early, they would be ruined by injuries sooner or later.

"Deyang, aren't you going to treat us?" Vialli shouted.

"Exactly! This kid has been eating everywhere, but he hasn't spent a dime!" Mancini grumbled.

Lu Deyang laughed, "That's because I'm popular and everyone likes to treat me. But I'll definitely pay this time. After the match, you guys decide where we go and what we eat!"

A cheer immediately broke out on the training ground. With the match tomorrow, they couldn't go out and feast tonight.

When he returned home that evening, Monica finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news. A day before the match, abstinence was necessary, after all.

***

The next day, Monica woke up early to put on makeup and prepare breakfast. When Lu Deyang woke up, the meal was already on the table, along with a bouquet of roses.

"Where did these come from?" Lu Deyang asked curiously.

"Roberto gave them to Federica, and I asked for one," Monica said with a sweet laugh.

Lu Deyang gave a thumbs up. Mancini buys the roses, and they get to freeload while his family has their romantic moment. With such frugal family values, if they didn't become the wealthiest in football after retirement, they would be doing Mancini a disservice.