Chapter 666: Chapter 665: The wealthy Kai Dong, World Footballer of the Year awarded in advance
The journalist was shocked.
After this exclusive interview was released, the football world was also shocked.
Deng Kai had actually fostered a personal team with an impressive roster!
His team was even more authoritative in some respects than the official coaching staff and employees provided by Manchester City!
Moreover, this team was also studying things beyond the matches?
Soon, the media unearthed some... projects that the team had recently conquered.
"A doctor from Deng Kai’s team participated in a project monitoring a television enterprise, whose main entity underwent an equity change last year!"
"A deep dive into the European competition system! An expert from Deng Kai’s team was invited to become a UEFA consultant!"
"A report on the optimization of the offside rule!"
"The One Thousand and One Stadiums Plan? A domestic real estate giant announces cooperation with Deng Kai’s football highlights!"
A series of off-field matters were brought to light.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
And these matters couldn’t hold the attention of regular fans for long.
Only those truly in the know understood what this information meant.
Video assistant referee system!
European competition reforms!
Tactical optimization!
Football youth training incubation!
Deng Kai’s influence had quietly extended into various fields and was rapidly developing.
As for his initial startup, his first pot of gold... the Guardiola-signed football business had already lost its place in his business territory.
It was simply too small.
Not worth mentioning.
Guardiola: Kai Dong! In prosperity, do not forget each other!
...
However, the news about the business aspects triggered by Deng Kai’s attendance rate was still overshadowed by another segment of news.
That was the official start of the "World Footballer of the Year" selection.
Three days later, the "European Golden Ball Award" selection also kicked off.
FIFA announced that this year’s World Footballer of the Year award ceremony would be on December 15th.
That was about half a month earlier than usual.
Typically, the World Footballer of the Year award ceremony is held after the Golden Ball Award.
But this year, it was scheduled before the Golden Ball Award.
Ordinary fans only knew that there had been a change, but they didn’t understand why.
Whereas seasoned fans familiar with football world news and possessing a certain level of thinking capability had a speculation emerge in their minds.
Once this thought surfaced, it became somewhat unstoppable.
Because in the world of football, there seemed to be no precedent like this!
On December 6th, the 15th round of the Premier League.
Manchester City challenged Middlesbrough away.
In the 10th minute, Ribery earned a penalty.
Deng Kai scored from the spot.
This season, Deng Kai significantly increased his penalty goals.
Many fans jokingly called him "Penalty Kai"!
In the 28th minute.
Tu Lei made a lateral pass to Deng Kai.
Deng Kai performed a wall-pass with Lahm and cut inside from the flank.
With a feint shot, he fooled the opposing center-back and curved the ball into the net.
In the second half.
In the 61st minute, Thiago Silva launched a long pass from the backfield.
Adriano headed the ball back to find Ribery.
Ribery made a 45-degree cross.
Deng Kai leapt up and headed the ball into the net, completing a hat-trick!
In the 80th minute, Middlesbrough was awarded a penalty and managed to convert it.
But three minutes later, Deng Kai broke through on the flank with a swift vertical surge and delivered a cross.
After receiving the ball, Adriano shouldered the defender, shot powerfully, and scored.
Manchester City took the three points with a 4-1 victory!
Deng Kai scored sixteen goals in fifteen rounds, topping the Premier League scoring chart!
Adriano had thirteen goals, securing the second spot.
Henry was third with twelve goals.
Following them were players like Van Nistelrooy, Robbie Fowler, Alan Shearer, Owen, and others.
As for Ronaldo...
It can only be said that scoring as a right winger is indeed very difficult.
He had fallen to just outside the top ten of the scoring table.
Meanwhile, in terms of assists, Deng Kai with eight assists, also ranked at the top of the list.
The second place was also a Manchester City player, Ribery, with seven assists.
The third place went to Ronaldo, who had transformed from a shooting machine into a playmaker with six assists to his teammates.
But to be fair, some of Ronaldo’s assists... were less threatening than his own shots on goal.
Those assists were practically scraped from the number of goals he could have scored himself.
His contribution to the team hasn’t increased much, just the manner in which he contributes changed from scoring to assisting.
Of course, for Manchester United, the team definitely grew stronger overall.
Because Berrion’s contribution to the team was nowhere near that of Diego Forlan.
However, compared to the Manchester United era of Beckham, there was still a shortfall.
Because Diego Forlan’s contribution wasn’t on par with Beckham’s.
But Ferguson was quite philosophical about this.
Ronaldo being able to pose a threat on the wing akin to that of a forward was already an impressive feat.
Many players simply fade away when switching positions.
Ferguson firmly believed that a player like Ronaldo would at least be able to perform at the level of Henry once he truly adapted to the wing!
Henry: ???
So now, Manchester United just needed to wait.
Wait for Ronaldo’s ultimate evolution.
On December 13th, the sixteenth round of the Premier League took place.
On Manchester City’s side, the iron man Deng Kai was absent, with Fabregas eagerly taking his place.
During the pre-match press conference, Maxa laid his cards out plainly: "This match is very important, and I hope all players can bring forth their best performance."
"We must win the game."
"We want Deng Kai to be in a good mood for his activities!"
Reporter: ???
Maxa: "Deng Kai has already flown to Switzerland, he’s going to shoot a series of commercials, and then attend the World Footballer of the Year award ceremony."
Reporter: "Uh... so Deng Kai isn’t participating in the match because of non-football-related reasons? Does Manchester City allow such a thing?"
"Manchester City pays Deng Kai’s salary, and Deng Kai is taking part in so-called commercial activities during the working period? That’s outrageous!"
Maxa: "Outrageous? Chairman Mansour personally sent Deng Kai there in his private jet."
Reporter: ...
Reporter: "So you believe that Deng Kai can win this major award? Will Deng Kai become the new World Footballer of the Year?"
Maxa: "We can’t be certain, of course. In fact, Deng Kai is quite indifferent about this award. If he had to choose between individual accolades and team honors, he would choose team glory."
"The main purpose of his trip is the commercial activity."
"I can reveal to you, Switzerland Bank has already reached a cooperation agreement with Deng Kai. Unless something unexpected occurs, Deng Kai will become the global spokesperson for Switzerland Bank!"
"This is highly beneficial for the image of the Manchester City team, so we’re very supportive of Deng Kai!"
Switzerland Bank!
The symbol of neutrality! (joking, tongue-in-cheek, 233)
Although it will show its ugly face later on.
But at this stage, it indeed has a significant ability to boost status.
This is true for foreign brands as well, at this stage they symbolize better materials, better service, and higher quality.
Domestic products just can’t compete at this stage.
It’s not that everyone is kneeling; there’s no choice.
But in the future, as productivity develops and domestic product quality matches or even surpasses foreign products, people should then change their mindset and support domestically made goods.
