I AM the Football Star

Chapter 352 - 104: Joint Lawsuit, Champion’s Light (10,000-Word - ) (Part 5)

It’s not about being killed off at the end of the league and losing the championship, nor about failing a seemingly secure top-four finish in the league, and not even about losing on the Champions League stage.

What everyone agrees on is that Arsenal has been burdened with such a scoundrel like Kroenke.

As an American capitalist, Kroenke’s life is filled with the word "debt."

He always likes to mortgage what he has in hand to buy something else, and after buying it, he uses that asset to get new capital through further mortgaging, and then continues to buy new things.

This way, he robs Peter to pay Paul, borrowing here and there, and under his finely tuned capital operations, his assets quickly inflate. He owns teams in the United States’ four major professional sports leagues and also controls prestigious football clubs like Arsenal.

However... as mentioned earlier, after encountering him, Arsenal’s debt has only increased, and Kroenke almost never injects funds into the club, requiring the club to be self-sufficient, not to mention sometimes even tampering with the club’s profits.

Therefore, Arsenal has no choice but to embark on the path of selling its captain and star player every year, gradually diluting the prestige of the Premier League elite, almost turning into a black market dedicated to training and supplying stars to other clubs.

In recent years, Mr. Winter has been diligent and responsible, but this time, for the first time, he asked Kroenke for a player.

And the answer Kroenke gave him was: is five million enough?

Winter nearly spat out blood in anger.

"A player from the Italian Third Division, five million euros is already sky-high, right? It’s rare for lower-level league players to go above one million." Kroenke expressed that he still understands football.

"San Remo is just one game away from early championship and will be a Serie B team next year! Moreover, Lu Yang has played an earth-shattering achievement in the Italian Cup, and they are currently performing a grassroots miracle!" Winter retorted, "Such a player, if he didn’t temporarily lack a top-level league track record, ten million euros might just be an entry price!"

Kroenke said: "You said it yourself, he doesn’t have a top-level league track record, right? Can you guarantee that he will definitely adapt to the Premier League environment?"

Winter hesitated and responsibly replied: "Most likely!"

Kroenke: "You see, you really can’t be sure, right? Let’s not talk about this youngster anymore, let’s talk about our current Arsenal captain. I heard that several clubs are interested in him, can we sell him for twenty-five million euros?"

Winter is speechless with C language.

Almost at the same time, Premier League clubs Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and La Liga clubs Real Madrid, Barça, and Atletico Madrid were all paying attention to Lu Yang.

Especially Real Madrid, they were very interested in players who have significant public attention.

But soon, Real Madrid withdrew from the attention circle of Lu Yang because they received a very important piece of information.

"His shooting style puts great pressure on his legs. Currently, it seems that his meniscus might not support such violent shooting. Although he can return from this injury in a short time, the likelihood of other problems occurring in his right leg in the future is high... The player has great hidden injury risks!" This is a confidential report from Real Madrid’s football community.

"And if he changes his style of play, he will lose his original threat in the midfield, most likely degenerating into a midfield worker. Furthermore, even if he maintains his current growth, he would struggle to adapt to Barça’s system. Comparatively, Morici seems more capable of playing at Barça..." This is a confidential report from Barcelona’s football community.

Such reports are being circulated frantically among major teams.

For a moment, Lu Yang, the future star in the eyes of fans, had already become a player without a future in the eyes of major teams.

Injuries are as fierce as a tiger.

A player who cannot overcome injuries can hardly be considered great.

And Lu Yang is doomed to be destroyed by injuries!

Therefore, no team is willing to spend more than ten million euros in high transfer fees to bet on Lu Yang, a player from the lower leagues who is destined to fail. And for less than ten million euros, San Remo wouldn’t even talk.

They’re not a poor small team; they’re a financially solid small team. Lu Yang may not be worth much in the transfer market, but he is considered a treasure by San Remo.

Therefore, anyone who wants to buy Lu Yang must offer at least double his "market price" to avoid being scolded away by San Remo.

And no club would be that "stupid"!

...

The incident of "Lu Yang deciding to participate in the Italian Cup final" continued to ferment.

The Republican Newspaper did indeed publicly apologize, but their apology lacked respect for the facts, and they downplayed the key issues.

Of course, this is the usual trick of the antagonist.

Whether it is Fanfan or Huohu, before they were finally hammered down, their studios remained tough, didn’t they? Even if they apologized, their apology carried a sense of threat.

Under continuous media questioning, San Remo’s head coach Sotu finally revealed his true feelings in an interview on April 26th.

Sotu: "I don’t want Lu Yang to play in the Italian Cup final, because both he and I are very clear about whether his body supports him doing so!"

The reporter sensed from Sotu’s tone that there might be more details to be uncovered about this matter.

Reporter: "So, you mean Lu Yang’s injury won’t actually recover before the Italian Cup final?"

Sotu: "Yes, that’s right!"

Reporter: "But previously Martivini, Russell, and even Maniero all stated that Lu Yang would appear in the Italian Cup final. So there indeed has been pressure on Lu Yang to compete, right?"