Chapter 55 Is there a place for him in our first team?
After finishing the morning recovery training, Boloni went straight to the technical director's office.
This is the notification I received before the training session.
On the way, Lionel Pontes, now a member of the technical team, caught up from behind.
"Have you heard what it is?" Boloni asked with concern.
The technical department has regular routine meetings, which are mainly used to discuss various football matters. Meetings like today's, which are held on short notice, are usually held only when something happens.
Pontes shook his head. “I only found out about it before training. It seems to be the situation on the second team.”
After hearing this, Boloni's brows were still furrowed.
The situation of the second team can be solved by contacting the head coach of the second team, James. Why should he participate too?
It’s definitely not that simple.
…
The two walked side by side to the office of technical director Aurelio Pereira.
As soon as I knocked on the door, I found that the second team head coach Jean James was already sitting inside, along with another technical team member Nuno Nare.
But the real surprise was that director of football Carlos Freitas was also there.
The football director and the technical director are two different positions. In the club management system, the football director can be regarded as the superior of the technical director, because the technical director is only responsible for technology and youth training, while the football director has some operational powers, even including the appointment of head coaches, player contract renewals and transfers and other life and death powers.
If Aurelio Pereira called them to a meeting, it should be a technical matter, but the director of football was also there, which meant that what was to be discussed next was related to the ideas of the club's leadership.
"Sit down." Aurelio Pereira saw the two people come in and immediately asked them to sit down.
Although he is the technical director, in fact, he and Carlos Freitas are more of a division of labor and cooperation. Because Sporting Lisbon also has a women's football team, the football director's authority will be greater.
But Aurelio Pereira has been working at the club for many years, specializing in technology and youth training, and can be considered a veteran.
After Boloni and Pontes sat down, Pereira made each of them a cup of coffee before starting today's high-level meeting.
"I invited everyone here today mainly to discuss some of the problems the team has encountered recently."
Aurelio spoke first, opening the topic of today's meeting.
"I don't know if you have noticed that in recent days, there are often some fans watching outside our training ground. According to our patrol staff, many of them are scouts from other teams, and some are even from other countries."
Arranging scouts to gather intelligence on the military is very common and not surprising in professional teams.
But Aurelio obviously meant more than that.
Sporting Lisbon has vigorously promoted young players in recent years, especially in the past two years, a group of outstanding players have emerged, among which Quaresma is the most eye-catching, which has made many European teams pay attention to Sporting Lisbon.
"Since last year, German media giant Kirch Group has encountered a debt crisis, which has torn off the illusion of prosperity in European football over the past few years. Now many Bundesliga teams are mired in financial difficulties, and even teams in other European leagues are struggling to take care of themselves."
Director of football Carlos Freitas took over from Aurelio and analyzed the current situation in European football.
"On the one hand, a group of top teams, led by Real Madrid and Manchester United, have begun to globalize. They have the most influential superstars, the highest influence in the world, and amazing financial income. They are able to pay sky-high prices to buy the best superstars, especially for membership-based teams like Real Madrid."
"But on the other hand, the Kirsch Group's debt crisis is just the beginning. Many mid- and even upper-middle-level teams have encountered financial difficulties. It is said that many Premier League teams have fallen to the point where they have to mortgage their players to banks in order to get loans. Other leagues are also in a bad situation."
At this point, Carlos Freitas sighed, "Our situation at Sporting Lisbon is also not ideal. Although it is not so bad that we have to mortgage our players, we must also operate with caution."
Everyone nodded, this was the general tone.
As early as last year, or even before Sporting Lisbon decided to build the Alcochete training base, this was the decisive operating tone.
"Some giants, led by Real Madrid and Manchester United, as well as Serie A teams like Roma and Lazio, have invested heavily, which has made the supply of stars in the entire transfer market very scarce. Many teams with insufficient financial resources have shifted their targets and focused on young players. Teams like our Sporting Lisbon and Ajax are often their targets."
Sporting Lisbon certainly cannot compare with top youth training teams like Ajax, but with the rise of Portugal's golden generation headed by Figo and Rui Costa, Portugal's youth training strength, and as the best stepping stone for South American players to land in the four major leagues, the Portuguese Super League has naturally received considerable attention.
"What the board means is that we still can't invest in the transfer market this summer and we still have to dig internally. Not only that, we may have to cut some expenses or even sell some players early."
This was the real purpose of Carlos Freitas attending this meeting.
When Boloni heard this, the first person he thought of was Jardel.
Many people thought that the much-talked-about transfer during the winter break was orchestrated by Jardel and his agent.
But think about it, hasn’t Sporting Lisbon ever thought about this?
No, they have thought about it and they really want to sell it.
Although it may sound a bit cold-blooded and cruel, to some extent, running a club is like running a company, and the players are the products of this company.
From a competitive perspective, Jardel has scored quite a few goals since joining the team, which is a success. However, if we analyze it from an economic perspective, Jardel, who will be 29 years old after this season, has been a consumable since joining the team. He does not have much value-preserving properties and will only get cheaper.
In other words, every goal is consuming Jardel's market value.
It would be best not to buy it in the first place, but since you have bought it, you should stop the loss as soon as possible.
But other clubs are not stupid either. They are also unwilling to offer Jardel a generous transfer fee while paying his high annual salary. This is the core factor that prevents Jardel from transferring to the four major leagues.
In fact, when the club wanted to buy Jardel, many people opposed it. Boloni opposed it from a technical perspective, and others opposed it from an economic perspective, but in the end the club chose to buy him considering the immediate interests.
As a result, I bought a hot potato that is difficult to get rid of.
This sounds contradictory.
A striker who scores goals like crazy has become a star that the team is eager to sell. Who would believe it if I told you this?
But for a team like Sporting Lisbon, it is such an irony.
…
"Yesterday, Amadora's head coach Jorge Jesus talked to James about Sudon and he was very interested. Then Amadora called us to find out about Sudon's situation. They can accept a transfer and a loan, or a loan first and then a transfer."
Aurelio Pereira told another story.
"Jesus is a very capable head coach. Without him, Amadora will be relegated. The players he values are generally not bad, so I don't think it is a good decision to sell Sudon to them, even though the price may be good." Pontes expressed his opinion.
"How is he doing?" Aurelio asked.
"It's progressing very fast, even..." Pontes pondered his wording, "...I was surprised."
Aurelio turned to look at Boloni, wanting to know what the first-team coach thought.
If there is no opportunity in the first team, then loan or transfer are both good options.
This transfer is likely to earn Sporting Lisbon hundreds of thousands or even millions of euros.
"Su Dong's performance in the first-team training and group confrontations is still relatively poor, but this is normal. Like all young players who have just entered the adult team, he needs a period of adaptation, getting used to the close combat of adults, the cruel competition, and the fast-paced offense and defense. This is a cruel and long process."
"Physically, I have an advantage over my peers, but in the adult team, I feel I am just average. However, I have some very good qualities, such as some things that cannot be trained, such as smart positioning, a keen sense of timing, and the ability to judge at critical moments. These are all outstanding."
"Speaking of his physique, although he is not noticeable in the adult team, his height is over 1.9 meters. However, unlike other tall players, he has very long legs, but he is very fast and very flexible. His balance and running endurance are also outstanding, and he has excellent emergency stopping ability, which is very unscientific."
At the end, Boloni himself couldn't help laughing.
But Aurelio, Pontes and others all revealed a tacit understanding look.
When Su Dong first joined, they had already experienced this unscientific impact.
"But what really impressed me was this part of his game." Boloni stretched out his hand and tapped his temple gently. "He is really smart. His ability to capture offensive opportunities is as sharp as that of an old fox who has played professional football all his life. His comprehensive skills also give him the potential to be an offensive organizer."
When Boloni said this, the second team head coach Jean James also took over the conversation.
"Yes, in the most recent match against Amadora, we were very passive in the first half. In the second half, I tried to let Sudong play as the core of the frontcourt offense, and let Marcelino and Ronnie attack around him. As a result, we scored two goals in a row and reversed the opponent. Sudong is the kind of player who can open up offensive space for the team in a stalemate."
After a pause, Jean Jamès smiled and said, "I guess Jorge Jesus saw this in him because the Argentine center forward Campos he brought in did a terrible job in this regard."
When Aurelio and Freitas heard this , they basically understood the coaches' evaluation of Su Dong.
That is, he has good strength, extraordinary potential, and very likable characteristics.
But the key question is...
"Is there a place for him in our first team?" Aurelio reminded everyone.
