Chapter 490: Chapter 489: Declaration of Departure?
Here is a simple translation: Deng Kai played despite his injury and affected the team, it has nothing to do with me, I was unaware. He is the leader, blame him if you must!
After Maxa, Trigella briefly spoke for two sentences, but he was conscientious and praised all the players.
Then came the speeches from the club’s top management.
It was rather formal, not very interesting, but the fans today were very supportive; regardless of whether they listened or not, they were generous with their applause.
Then, it was time for the players to speak.
The name "Deng Kai" kept echoing at the venue.
The fans had been eagerly awaiting this.
By then, there were already over eighty thousand spectators at the venue.
Almost every media that could attend was also present.
All the necessary equipment had been set up as well.
The celebration seemed to finally be reaching its climax.
With everyone’s enthusiastic insistence, Deng Kai had no choice but to slowly make his way to the stage.
"Deng Kai!"
"Deng Kai!"
"Ah! Deng Kai, Deng Kai!"
The fans’ frenzy even reminded Deng Kai of the line recorded in "Snail," "Zhou Jielun..."
"Excuse me, where are the medical personnel at the venue?" The first sentence Deng Kai said upon reaching the stage threw everyone off.
Soon, Deng Kai spotted the medical personnel arranged by the stadium.
Deng Kai shook his head: "Next, I need everyone to pay attention, check the work equipment, and ensure there are no problems before reporting to Mr. Trigella at the front of the stage."
"Additionally, that’s not enough. Do we have any medical personnel among the fans present? Various specialties like emergency first aid, cardiology, etc.... good, please gather in the left stand area."
"The person in charge of the stadium medical personnel should also follow, form groups according to the emergency plan, and cover our venue."
"Right, I’m going to announce the emergency medical number for the venue here, everyone please input it into your phones. If you see a fan faint around you, call for help immediately, but at the same time, please stay calm and do not panic."
The fans were very cooperative.
But the media and the team’s management were all puzzled.
What is Deng Kai up to?
Is this interaction with the fans?
Is he about to announce some earth-shattering news?
Could it be that he is getting married?
Impossible, he’s not even of legal age to get married yet.
Or is he going to announce a breakup with Hathaway?
Who is the third party?
Keira?
Or perhaps...
Oh no!
Could he be about to announce a transfer?
The faces of the club’s top management went pale.
Due to age restrictions, players under eighteen cannot sign a professional contract with the club.
From sixteen to eighteen, they can sign a semi-professional contract, but essentially, it’s still a youth training contract.
Currently, Deng Kai and Cristiano Ronaldo have such contracts with the team.
Deng Kai will only be able to sign an official contract with the club next year.
In the meantime, if Deng Kai wants to move to another club, the other side could acquire this core player of Sporting Lisbon for a very low price.
Even if Sporting Lisbon were to sue, they might only receive a few million euros in compensation.
Compared to Deng Kai’s current market value... Especially after leading the team to the semi-finals of the Champions League, his market value is bound to skyrocket.
It should be upwards of thirty million euros.
Once Deng Kai decided to transfer, and didn’t sign with Lisbon Sports in advance before the swap, Lisbon Sports would be at a huge disadvantage.
However, the higher-ups at Lisbon Sports were obviously overthinking it.
Reputation is surely important, but for Deng Kai, his reputation is also his trademark.
Without a doubt, he would leave some wealth behind for Lisbon Sports.
That way, it would be easier for everyone to collaborate better.
For example, allowing Deng Kai’s training camp to be established inside Lisbon Sports, allowing Deng Kai and Hugo’s agency to have a deep collaboration with Lisbon Sports, allowing Deng Kai and Jiang Yunzhu’s football expertise to delve into a deep collaboration with Lisbon Sports, promoting the landing of Lisbon Sports and Deng Kai’s football industry domestically, arranging for domestic young players to come to Portugal to play football, or even go to major European leagues, and so on.
All these required a bridgehead.
Lisbon Sports had the conditions to establish a deep cooperation with Deng Kai.
Moreover, both parties were already collaborating more or less in these areas.
"Lisbon Sports is a great club, I don’t want to elaborate on its greatness stemming from its historical part," Deng Kai began his speech, "Its greatness lies in, in 1998, signing a player named Cristiano Ronaldo from Madeira’s youth team for fifteen hundred pounds."
The camera panned to Ronaldo.
Ronaldo was somewhat surprised but the seemingly flattered him forcibly composed himself, his lips even pouted slightly, looking exceptionally cool.
Because if not, he feared he couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
"He will be the finest striker in the history of Lisbon Sports, in fact... even in the history of Portugal and this planet!"
"No others come close!"
Whooosh!
The fans applauded Ronaldo.
Deng Kai’s words were also the fans’ wishes.
Just after the game had ended, Ronaldo, who had scored twice, had overtaken Van Nistelrooy of Manchester United with ten goals, reclaiming the top spot on the Champions League scorer’s list!
"The greatness of this club also lies in their having excellent coaches and staff like Trigella and Maxa."
Coaches referring to Trigella, staff referring to Maxa.
But this categorization, the fans might find hard to grasp.
"Of course, its greatness also lies in gathering a bunch of talented youths," Deng Kai pointed to his teammates below him again, "You wouldn’t believe the terrifying lineup we have assembled."
"Ronaldinho, Kaka, I think you guys will become Golden Ball and World Footballers, maybe even faster than Ronaldo, but probably not as fast as me."
Hahaha!
The fans laughed.
Deng Kai was truly humorous.
Ronaldinho and Kaka laughed as well.
Ronaldinho laughed because he thought so too.
Kaka laughed thinking he was slightly better than Ronaldo in his heart.
Happy.
"Drogba, Ibrahimovic, I find it hard to tell which one of you will be the no. 1 striker in the world. Of course, I know the most talented among you is Ibrahimovic."
"It’s really a pity to have you play as a substitute, you’re definitely a super player who should be playing every minute on the field. Starting next season, you will never sit on the bench again."
Deng Kai looked towards Ibrahimovic.
The latter’s heart trembled slightly.
This speech... could it be... Deng Kai knew?
This season, many teams had been contacting Ibrahimovic.
They too believed that being a substitute was a waste of Ibrahimovic’s talent.
Among them were Lazio and Juventus, who had faced Lisbon Sports in the Champions League this season.
Additionally, Ajax from the Dutch league and several teams from the Premier League and La Liga also highly desired Ibrahimovic.
Or... was this Deng Kai’s final summary before leaving?
Ibrahimovic felt a mix of emotions.
Because, either way, it seemed... it was almost time to say goodbye.
He hadn’t fully mastered Tai Chi yet.
