0060 Freedom Fighter Ludyang (Please bookmark, please vote)

"What should we do?"
Boskov asked, somewhat panicked.
The veteran coach was also scared; after all, out-of-control fans were a major issue.
How had Liverpool been banned from European competitions back then?
So many people had come to the airport today that security preparations were clearly insufficient.
"Should we let Luka go and talk to the fans?"
Boskov asked tentatively.
Pellegrini was the captain, after all.
"Better let Deyan go," Pezzotti said.
Pellegrini's career was plagued by injuries and stop-start appearances; if the fans didn't watch every single match, they might not even recognize him.
"Deyan, go calm the fans down?"
Boskov asked uncertainly.
Lu Deyan nodded and walked toward the fans.
To his surprise, this action made the fans even more fervent, and Boskov's heart instantly tightened into a knot.
Unexpectedly, however, Lu Deyan made a downward pressing gesture with both palms, and the fans in the front row gradually quieted down, which in turn brought peace and quiet back to the entire airport.
Suddenly, a few Englishmen stood out even more.
"Ah, this is really..."
Mancini didn't even know what to say. His four-match suspension had just ended, and it felt as though the world had changed.
"Jealous?" Vialli asked.
Mancini shook his head and instinctively said, "Deyan and I are close like brothers. We are family."
Vialli: ...
The Englishmen were quickly subdued by the fans.
The airport fell completely silent.
Lu Deyan shouted at the top of his lungs, "Thank you all so much for coming to welcome us. We won, we won again, but the season is not over yet. The upcoming schedule is extremely perilous, so please, keep the same passion and anticipation as us, and welcome the end of the season together. Now, please let the first-team squad go back and rest."
The fans blocking the airport entrance made way.
Snap—
A tourist from England decisively captured the moment, because he felt that the composition of Lu Deyan raising his hand to speak and causing the fans to part was remarkably similar to a Roman imperial triumph in the movies.
"Phew..."
Once aboard the coach, the entire team breathed a sigh of relief.
Mostly because they had never experienced such fanaticism before, even after reaching the Cup Winners' Cup final last year.
Many of them instinctively looked toward Lu Deyan.
Even the less observant players could sense that the transformation had been brought about by him; this young teammate was already a superstar of the pitch.
It felt somewhat absurd.
Yet upon closer reflection, Lu Deyan's achievements were solid and undeniable.
Except for a small number of superstars playing outside Serie A, Lu Deyan had virtually cut down every obstacle in his path.
He gave his opponents no chances whatsoever.
Every single match featured a decisive performance.
"Deyan, you won't be in the matchday squad for the next game; get ready for the match against Inter," Boskov said in front of the whole team.
The match against Bologna was not important, but the Italian Super Cup was coming up very soon.
And shortly after the Super Cup, they would face the other team from Milan.
Some players were already suffering from injuries, and as the coach, he had to rotate the regular starters, especially the core players.
"Understood, Coach," Lu Deyan nodded and said.
The match against Napoli had been an extreme consumption of both physical and mental energy, and he truly needed a good recovery.
Lu Deyan hadn't looked at the statistics, but he had constantly tracked back and made forward runs; even though he was substituted early, his running distance could not have been less than eleven kilometers—a quite staggering figure for football in the 1990s.
"Fancy going out to celebrate?"
Lanna proposed.
Lately, he was increasingly reluctant to go home; the moment he returned, he would be compared to other players, always feeling as though he had done something to wrong his girlfriend.
The crucial point was that he was already working very hard at football.
"Forget it, I want to go home and eat something sweet, and read a book by the way," Mancini refused.
His primary goal was to go home and check the newspapers to see how they evaluated him.
"Everyone go back and get a good rest; don't run around today," Boskov instructed.
The team bus dropped Mancini and Lu Deyan off at home first.
...
Entering the house, Lu Deyan asked with some confusion, "Why are you back, Monica?"
"You won your match, my classmates are annoying me, my teachers are annoying me, and even the British are annoying me. Three reporters followed me while I was eating in the cafeteria," Monica said helplessly.
There were even reporters paying her roommates to dig up information about her.
"It'll blow over after a while," Lu Deyan said.
"At least we live in an apartment, so no one can break in."
"Would they actually dare to enter our home?"
Monica asked, somewhat astonished.
"Of course. The Englishmen have no bottom line," Lu Deyan replied.
Such things had genuinely happened before.
Before the phone-hacking scandal, reporters had broken into players' villas to install eavesdropping devices.
Interestingly, Manchester United's dressing room had also been bugged several times.
Before the two could chat much longer, Lu Deyan's pager rang again.
He could only shrug at Monica and go make the return call.
"Let's go, help me look over a contract," Lu Deyan said after hanging up the phone.
"A new endorsement?"
"Yes. Englishmen, Germans, Italians, Americans... the whole world is afraid I won't have enough money to spend," Lu Deyan said with a smile.
Monica stood up to touch up her makeup, a surge of pride accompanying the thought.
Even though Lu Deyan made it sound effortless, what player nowadays had so many endorsement contracts?
Her boyfriend was simply the best—yes, in every single aspect!
"You're here, Deyan! Good day, Monica."
Paolo Mantovani was waiting at the entrance of the training ground, rushing over the moment he saw the two before the motorcycle had even come to a complete stop.
"Mr. President."
"Paolo, Paolo!!!"
Mantovani feigned anger, pressing his hand on the motorcycle's handlebars and saying, "Too many people came today. Let me brief you on the current situation first; these people are all competing, so don't agree to anything too early."
"Alright, Paolo," Lu Deyan said.
The elderly president treated the players' affairs as his own, often appearing even more anxious than the players themselves.
"The Americans want you to showcase their footwear more frequently, and they're willing to pay more money," Mantovani explained. "Just candy sellers alone have sent three companies—Ferrero, whom you filmed a commercial for before, also wants to renew, plus sausage vendors, insurance companies, car salesmen, people selling all sorts of things..."
"This is the first time I've heard of such a situation. Not even Hollywood stars are this popular!" Monica exclaimed in admiration.
"Of course, this is Deyan!" Mantovani said with a smile.
With Lu Deyan continually raising his expectations, nothing felt surprising anymore.
Over the next few days, Lu Deyan signed endorsements with Walkers, Ferrero, and a series of other brands, which, combined with his previous deals with Pepsi, Nike, and Suzuki motorcycles, brought his annual endorsement earnings to over six million US dollars.
He didn't know what Maradona's earnings were, though they were rumored to be very high.
Even so, King Lu's annual income was either first or second in world football, and leaving everyone else firmly in the dust was merely a matter of these next few years.
Even Sampdoria secured multiple endorsement contracts, and their training kits finally had a sponsor.
Most importantly, Sampdoria finally acquired an airline sponsor brand, meaning they could fly on private charters in the future!
However, a minor issue arose in the dressing room.
Mancini, who had just finished his suspension, lacked his usual spirit, causing everyone to worry.
He had spent several days searching the newspapers, where Lu Deyan had earned titles such as: Freedom Fighter, Guardian Knight of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Representative Figure of European Football, Conqueror, Caesar, and so on.
Yet there was scarcely any mention of him.
This morning, *Corriere dello Sport* even declared that Lanna providing assists, Vialli playing upfront, and Lu Deyan orchestrating the play formed the true backbone of Sampdoria.
Yet he was the one who had arrived first!