Chapter 585: Chapter 584: The First European Golden Boy Award
"Talking Ball Empire": "The Premier League’s chaos is dictated by Manchester United! On the streets of Manchester, it’s Deng Kai of Manchester City who rules!"
Manchester Evening: "The Battle of Manchester Titans! Manchester City united in purpose, wins a chaotic 6-4, beats Manchester United!"
The Times: "Deng Kai’s legendary match! Manchester is the king of the Premier League, but Manchester City is the king of Manchester!"
Sky Sports: "Manchester United and Manchester City split England! Outside Manchester, United reigns, but within, City rules supreme!"
BBC: "Eleven goals, nine assists! Deng Kai dominates the Premier League’s top scorer and assist charts single-handedly!"
442: "The limit explodes! Just on firepower, Manchester City surpasses United, arguably the second best in the Premier League, just behind Arsenal!"
Echo Report: "Tears in our eyes! Ronaldo’s tender slide tackle on Deng Kai from behind! Deng Kai’s encounter leaves Ronaldo both crying and laughing, such brotherly love!"
The Sun Newspaper: "Wins his beauty! After interviewing Deng Kai, did Jiang Yunzhu spend the night at his villa and stagger out only at noon the next day?"
Jiang Yunzhu: ...
This damn Sun Newspaper, I must buy it out.
It was just a sprained ankle when leaving, right?
They make it sound like she’s so frail.
Even if there had been such a night, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, right?
Moreover, Jiang Yunzhu lives on the first floor and Deng Kai on the third; the distance is quite appropriate, and there’s even a recording team there, damn it!
The Sun Newspaper: "Even took a commemorative photo? City knows how to play!"
But unexpectedly, The Sun Newspaper got the most likes.
The English, they love these kinds of news stories.
Even some rising stars, to gain public attention, are frequently seen entering nightclubs and can become famous overnight just from such off-field antics.
Rooney: "You’re farting, I made it on skill!"
The public: ???
On November 11th, Deng Kai flew to Turin.
The first European Golden Boy Award ceremony held by the Torino Sport Newspaper took place.
It honored the most outstanding young footballers under the age of twenty-one, playing for major European clubs.
As a guest presenter, Deng Kai personally awarded the trophy to Vandervaart, who was two years older and known as the next Cruyff.
Vandervaart: ...
A few years ago, at the Youth Champions League, Vandervaart had faced off against Deng Kai and Ronaldo. Although he was regretfully defeated, Vandervaart was definitely considered to have more potential.
Today, Vandervaart’s potential is still evident, but Deng Kai and Ronaldo have already transformed into top-tier football stars.
Even speeding on the path to superstar status.
The great Manchester battle, splitting the Premier League; who doesn’t know, who hasn’t heard?
This is just a case of a poor kid taking charge early.
From the angle of producing superstars, the Dutch giants are actually a bit stronger than the Portuguese giants.
Of course, the reason why Deng Kai wasn’t on this list is because the European Golden Boy award has a specific rule:
If a young player has already appeared on the Golden Ball or World Best Footballer nomination list, or has won the Golden Boy award previously, they are no longer eligible for future Golden Boy awards.
This being the first edition of the Golden Boy award, naturally, no one had won it before.
Deng Kai and Ronaldo were ineligible for the Golden Boy award because they had been nominated for last year’s Golden Ball award.
And that’s another form of protection for the "Golden Boys".
The second place in the Golden Boy award went to Kaka from AC Milan, skating on the age limit.
The third place was Robben, also from the Netherlands.
Either former rivals or teammates of Deng Kai.
Kaka didn’t get much opportunity this season at AC Milan.
Overshadowed by Costa and Rivaldo.
In contrast, Pirlo, who earlier played the same position, gradually became the team’s starting defensive midfielder after a positional change.
Gattuso: "MMP! I’ve become a substitute!"
Meanwhile, Ronaldinho had an excellent season at Barcelona, his dazzling style of play conquered Nou Camp, proving far superior to Vandervaart.
Unfortunately, he was over the age limit and missed out on the award.
But the Golden Boy award was just an appetizer.
November 13th was the highlight of the football year in Europe.
Deng Kai and Cristiano Ronaldo were both nominated for the European Golden Ball award again among the thirty candidates!
Deng Kai called Hathaway immediately to invite her to join him.
Unfortunately, Hathaway was in the final crunch month of shooting "Pirates of the Caribbean" and really couldn’t spare the time.
Normally, that would have been the end of it.
But Beckham had to call Deng Kai.
At his wife Victoria’s behest, he hoped Deng Kai could bring Keira Knightley to the Golden Ball awards ceremony.
It was meant to give Keira more exposure.
For actors, maintaining a media profile is crucial.
You can’t always be in the spotlight.
Nor can you afford to never appear.
Award ceremonies and fashion weeks are perfect for this, and they can even elevate your status.
As Deng Kai joined Manchester City, meetings with Beckham became inevitably more frequent.
And Cristiano Ronaldo kept turning up at Deng Kai’s place as if Manchester United hadn’t arranged a villa for him.
Deng Kai, "Ah? Really? No way? I thought you had the same 2000 square meter mansion Manchester City prepared for me! Wait, your backyard doesn’t have a football field, does it? Even if it does, it wouldn’t just be half a basketball court in size, right? Don’t you have a full-sized one?"
Many things, you can refuse strangers, but you can’t refuse friends.
In the end, Deng Kai walked the red carpet at the Golden Ball awards in Paris with Keira by his side.
The flashbulbs went crazy.
Keira became almost like the lead actress.
Because Deng Kai... was almost like the leading man!
He was one of the top three finalists for the Golden Ball award!
It was the youngest top three in the history of the award!
Only seventeen years old!
Ronaldo was twenty years old the first time he was among the top three finalists for the Golden Ball award.
He was twenty-one when he won it for the first time.
Even twenty years later, the youngest finalist for the Golden Ball award, Pedri, was eighteen years old and only ranked twenty-fourth.
As the television broadcasts began.
Golden Ball award nominees one by one walked the red carpet.
Last year, under Mourinho’s direction, Brazilian star Deco led Porto to win the European Union Cup and ranked twenty-seventh in the Golden Ball award!
His teammate Jia De’er did not make the list.
In fact, Jia De’er had a chance to be nominated.
But his poor performance since his transfer to Premier League Bolton this season squandered that opportunity.
He has appeared seven times for Bolton so far, starting five of those games.
Zero goals!
Just unbelievable, right?
If it weren’t for Cristiano Ronaldo and Deng Kai, the reputation of the Portuguese league would have been ruined by Jia De’er.
After all, he was the top scorer in the Portuguese league for four consecutive years!
He had won the European Golden Shoe and Bronze Shoe, more than once.
And yet... he couldn’t score a single goal in the Premier League.
Now, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Deng Kai among the top three scorers in the Premier League, they have preserved the goal-scoring value of the Portuguese league.
People just concluded that Jia De’er was a player who’d thrive against the weaker teams but falter against the stronger ones, without letting it reflect poorly on the Portuguese league.
