Albertini!
When Su Dong and Ronnie finished their morning extra training with Nuno Cruz in the gym and returned to the locker room, they met a stranger with long hair at the door.
"Excuse me, who are you looking for?" Su Dong asked.
When the other person turned around, Su Dong and Ronnie saw the man clearly and were completely stunned.
Everyone knows that Sporting Lisbon is actively recruiting midfielders, but no one would have thought, or no one dared to think, that the midfielder the team wanted to introduce was Albertini.
He was the main midfielder of AC Milan last season!
"You are Sudong, you are Ronnie." Albertini also recognized the two young teammates and walked over with a smile.
Su Dong and Ronnie looked at each other, and mechanically stretched out their hands to shake hands with Albertini, but they still couldn't believe it in their hearts. Didn't they say that he was going to Lazio?
Why did you suddenly come to Sporting Lisbon?
This is unreasonable!
You know, the status and influence of the Portuguese Super League are far inferior to that of Serie A, which is a small World Cup.
"Can you take me in to have a look?" Albertini asked, pointing to the locker room.
Su Dong and Ronnie nodded hurriedly, "Of course, of course."
…
Sporting Lisbon's locker room is similar to those of other teams. Compared with the top teams, the facilities are definitely inferior, but it is new enough and gives a good first impression.
Albertini nodded with satisfaction, apparently accepting this place.
"Have you arranged your wardrobes?" Albertini asked casually.
"Yes, they all have names and jersey numbers on them." Su Dong replied.
The Italian midfielder walked around the wardrobe twice and found that the wardrobes that were used by others were indeed labeled with names and jersey numbers.
"It turns out that number four is occupied." Albertini was a little disappointed.
He wore the number four jersey at AC Milan, but at Sporting Lisbon it belonged to defender Queiroga.
"Number eight is also occupied."
It belonged to the team's captain, Barbosa.
"Number 18..."
"Here." Su Dong took the initiative to walk forward and pointed to the locker No. 18, "Right back Luis Felipe."
Albertini smiled gratefully at Su Dong, "What about number 28?"
Ronnie took a step forward awkwardly and raised his right hand, "I'm number 28."
"Number twenty-four?"
"It belonged to backup goalkeeper Beto last season. He was loaned to a satellite team not long ago and is currently empty."
"Oh." Albertini nodded. "Then let's go to the 24th."
His tone seemed casual and he was obviously not picky about his jersey number.
However, the number 24 is not the main number in professional football.
This surprised both Su Dong and Ronnie.
Is he really Albertini?
The vice-captain of AC Milan and the Italian national team, the world's top midfielder?
Su Dong and Ronnie looked at each other in disbelief.
Jardel is the biggest player in the team, but his greatest achievement in his career is just the European Golden Boot.
It’s not that this award is not important enough, but it depends on who you compare it with.
If compared with Albertini, who has won the Champions League, Serie A and World Cup runner-up, he is indeed much inferior.
"Um... Mr. Albertini..."
"Call me Demi."
"Oh, Demi, are you really going to come to Sporting Lisbon to play football?" Su Dong asked with concern.
Albertini turned his head and looked at Su Dong with interest. He had heard of this Chinese kid, who emerged as a dark horse in the second half of last season and made a name for himself in the Portuguese Super League. He was only seventeen years old and had a bright future.
The Italian media once reported on him. Some said he was like Batistuta, nicknamed the Little God of War, but others said he was like Kluivert, a perfect center forward with unlimited potential.
After seeing Su Dong, Albertini was quite interested in this young Chinese player.
At least he looks really good.
"I'm standing here, do you think there is any problem?"
Su Dong was a little embarrassed, "But you are in AC Milan..."
"Some people feel that they no longer need me," Albertini said coldly.
It was as if he was saying something that was a matter of course, but his tone was as cold as a knife.
"I heard you were going to Lazio..."
"I will not go to any Italian team other than AC Milan, this is my bottom line."
When Ronnie heard this, he also asked: "Why is Sporting Lisbon?"
"Because apart from the Serie A teams, Sporting Lisbon is the only team that invited me and will play in the Champions League in the new season."
Playing in the Champions League is the dream of many professional players.
For this reason, Jardel rejected the high-paying recruitment offer from a Premier League team and chose to stay with the team.
For this, Albertini was willing to condescend to come to the Portuguese Super League.
Although Su Dong has never played in the Champions League, he knows the significance of this tournament to professional players.
Especially when Albertini said the last sentence, what he meant was that he hopes to prove his strength once again in the new season of the Champions League and let everyone know that he is not old yet!
"Someone mentioned you to me." Albertini looked at Su Dong in front of him with interest.
"Who?" Su Dong felt very strange. Did he have such a big name?
Albertini didn't say anything, just smiled and said, "He said you look a lot like Kluivert back then."
"I'd love to see it for myself, wouldn't you?"
…
…
Albertini suddenly joined Sporting Lisbon!
This news not only caused a huge response in Alcochete, but also caused an uproar in the Portuguese Super League. The impact it caused even exceeded Porto's buying spree and Benfica's huge investment in poaching Barcelona player Giovanni.
This is a genuine world-class midfielder Albertini!
Portugal's Morning Post revealed that Sporting Lisbon made Albertini feel its sincerity after many contacts, and the team will compete in the Champions League in the new season, which is very attractive to Albertini.
"He originally wanted to go to Atletico Madrid, a newly promoted team in La Liga, but after weighing the pros and cons, he finally chose Sporting Lisbon because he can play in the Champions League here."
Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport also reported the news, analyzing the reasons why Albertini was loaned to Sporting Lisbon, while also pointing conspiracy theories directly at AC Milan head coach Ancelotti.
"It was Albertini's rise that forced Ancelotti to leave AC Milan. Now, as the team's head coach, Ancelotti can't tolerate Albertini, forcing the Milan hero to go to Portugal."
Gazzetta dello Sport also revealed that Sporting Lisbon has limited financial resources, but in order to get rid of Albertini, AC Milan will continue to bear most of Albertini's salary in the new season.
"In addition to Albertini, Milan loaned Jose Mari to Atletico Madrid in the same way, they took on most of the wages, and one year later Atletico had the first right to sign Jose Mari."
The Portuguese newspaper Public interviewed Sporting Lisbon's head coach Boloni, who was very surprised and full of joy at Albertini's joining.
"I didn't expect that he would actually come!"
Boloni said that Albertini's arrival will not only strengthen Sporting Lisbon's midfield, but will also make up for the team's weaknesses and shortcomings in set pieces, because last season, Sporting Lisbon's set pieces were really bad.
The most typical example is the Portuguese Cup final. Facing Porto's foul tactics, Sporting Lisbon's set pieces were completely threatening.
“I believe that in the new season, Demi’s falling leaf ball will make the Portuguese Super League even more exciting!”
Albertini also accepted an interview with the media , saying that he joined Sporting Lisbon purely because of football itself without any other considerations.
"The main reason that attracted me here was that they had a group of talented young players and I hoped that my experience could help them, and also the Champions League."
Although Albertini did not say it directly, everyone knows that he mentioned the Champions League with only one purpose, which is to prove his strength and value in this tournament.
…
The reaction in the Sporting Lisbon dressing room to Albertini's joining was generally enthusiastic.
Whether it is captain Barbosa or other midfielders who are directly under competitive pressure, they are all delighted about the joining of such a world-class midfielder. After all, who doesn’t want to partner with such a player?
But some players also feel disappointed, like Rui Bento and Paulo Bento. After Albertini joins, their status in the team is bound to be shaken and their chances of playing will definitely be affected.
However, whether in the locker room or in the media outside, there is a common voice, that is, is Albertini still good enough?
In the past two seasons, Albertini has not shown his peak strength in AC Milan, which has made him controversial and was also excluded from the squad by AC Milan.
After all, they have midfielders such as Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso and Ambrosini.
This summer, Albertini missed the Korea-Japan World Cup due to injury, but there is also a voice that believes that even if he was not injured, it would be difficult for him to make Italy's World Cup roster because Italy's midfield is full of talents.
Under such circumstances, Albertini's joining Sporting Lisbon made the outside world very suspicious, whether he was preparing for retirement?
…
Su Dong did not participate in such discussions inside and outside the locker room.
He had a very good first impression and was happy to have such a teammate, but after being happy, he focused more on his own training and improvement.
The more famous and stronger his teammates are, the greater the pressure he will feel.
No one wants to be the one holding back, right?
More importantly, Su Dong had a vague feeling that in the mind of head coach Boloni, Jardel and Nikulai still firmly occupied the top two positions in the forward ranking.
In other words, even though he performed well in the final stage of last season and even though he scored the winning goal in the Portuguese Cup final, Su Dong will still have to struggle between the two big centers in the new season.
This made him feel the crisis, so he practiced even harder.
But he was not the only one who practiced extra.
"Your actual combat training like this won't be very effective. Try to catch my long pass!"
After saying that, Albertini kicked a long pass towards Su Dong from a distance .