Chapter 712: Chapter 711 From Wahaha Team to the World’s Number One Right Back, What Did I Do Right?
Rooney, though great, but played on too small a stage.
If he had achieved these results at Manchester United, he might even have contended with the two Spanish kings.
The Season’s Best Coach was jointly honored by Maxa and Wenger.
Yet no one raised any objections.
Undefeated in two Premier League seasons, everyone would feel heartbroken if either was not chosen!
And the Premier League’s Best Player, without a doubt, was Deng Kai!
He won the award for two consecutive years.
What’s more terrifying is that it wasn’t just the official Premier League’s best.
The Professional Footballers’ Association, which is the PFA.
The Football Writers’ Association, which is the FWA.
And the PFA Fans’ Vote.
The Best Premier League Player of the season selected by these other three major organizations was still Deng Kai!
Last season, the PFA gave the best player award to Henry.
They believed that Arsenal’s league performance was far superior to Manchester City’s.
Meanwhile, it showed that some players held Henry in higher regard.
But this year... Deng Kai swept all four categories!
And he did so with a support rate exceeding eighty-five percent!
He is the first player in history to be elected as the best by all four major bodies simultaneously.
The consensus choice!
The significance of which is akin to someone unifying England’s complex major factions within!
The official Premier League soon announced the season’s best team lineup.
Henry, Adriano
Ribery, Deng Kai, Lampard, Ronaldo
Lahm, Chiellini, Terry, Wu Xudong
Cech
In this list, Henry and Adriano were clearly the frontrunners, uncontested.
Though Van Nistelrooy and Alan Shearer were candidates, they could not beat the two of them.
Ribery and Ronaldo also faced little contention.
Saha might have matched them in statistics, but his performance on the pitch was far inferior.
Pires was the real pity.
He definitely had the credentials to compete with Ribery and Ronaldo.
However, both being super talents, and with Pires being older and more esteemed, he failed to garner more support.
After all, the world has always favored the new over the old.
From now on, Pires’s every year will grow worse.
And for Ribery and Ronaldo, each year will become even better.
Isn’t choosing the rising stars the way to prove the correctness of this list?
The only controversial position was indeed Lampard’s.
For Deng Kai indisputably secured one spot.
The remaining midfield positions were essentially a competition amongst all other midfielders in the Premier League.
Manchester City’s Yaya Toure and Essien.
Arsenal’s Vieira.
Liverpool’s Gerrard.
And Lampard’s teammate Makélélé, all qualified to compete with Lampard.
But after all, Chelsea invested so much money this season.
The face of their financial backers must be preserved to some extent.
Besides, Lampard and Gerrard were England’s own, the core of the national team established by Great Britain.
Using this to boost the spirits for the upcoming European Championship in the summer seemed apt.
Makélélé had a lower status in the team than Lampard, so of course, he had to give way.
Gerrard lost due to Liverpool’s team performance not matching Lampard’s, and his personal stats were also slightly inferior.
Yaya Toure and Essien, with stronger team performances, but some said they benefited from playing beside Deng Kai and were overrated.
Such claims lack evidence.
They, including Vieira’s omission, was mainly because their nationality was not English, and also due to the official need to balance the quotas.
We can’t give everything to Manchester City and Arsenal, can we?
Then let’s just make the entire Manchester City starting lineup the Premier League’s Best XI.
Čech isn’t considered number one either.
Lehmann, the former teammate and Arsenal’s goalkeeper, had butterfingers several times this season.
Arsenal’s unbeaten record owes him credit, but the bigger credit belongs to others.
The back four do have their challengers.
Lahm’s competitor is Ashley Cole.
But Lahm truly was more outstanding this season.
Chiellini’s rival is Arsenal’s Kolo Toure, that is, Yaya Toure’s older brother.
Neither of the brothers made the cut this year, a case of shared misfortune indeed.
Terry’s competitor was Manchester United’s Ferdinand.
Yet, in the end, Terry won the spot by a slim margin.
Manchester United’s decline in performance is the biggest reason for Ferdinand’s miss.
But he’s truly innocent.
Look at this season’s Manchester City and Arsenal, who wouldn’t slide down!
Wu Xudong’s competitors were Manchester City’s Maicon and Manchester United’s Gary Neville.
But mainly Maicon.
Wu Xudong’s solo charge in the final round to equalize for Arsenal scored extra points, and was quite a shock.
Wu Xudong thus leapt into the world’s top right-backs!
Although he’s still a distance from Milan’s Cafu and Juventus’s Thuram, those who are considered the world’s top right-backs, everyone believes.
In another two years, Wu Xudong is bound to become one of the contenders for the world’s number one position.
It’s been only two years since the miraculous Sporting CP breakthrough, and already another player has made a global impact!
And compared to his peers, his skills are indeed somewhat lacking.
It’s truly through speed and the attacking awareness and defensive enthusiasm polished at Sporting CP that he’s reached heights that weren’t meant for him.
Wu Xudong’s path of choice has become an exemplar in the world of football!
He could even release a video on Sweet Potato saying "From Wahaha Team to World’s Top Right-Back, What Did I Do Right?" guaranteed to be authentic!
Because at the beginning, he was just an ordinary Chinese player, a fringe member of the Wahaha Training Team.
He also skipped levels from Sporting CP’s youth team to catch the Lisbon miracle.
Not to mention Veloso, who was on the same level as him, Yu Shihao, Shao Jiawei, Hao Junmin, and Chen Tao were all on par with Wu Xudong at the start.
Even when joining Arsenal, Wenger’s intention for Wu Xudong was just as a backup fullback.
After all, Wu Xudong was fast.
But who knew that after getting familiar with Arsenal for a year, he would take advantage of Lauren’s injury this season and grab the main spot in one go, unstoppable!
And he caught up with the unbeatable Arsenal!
Every step he took was at the very edge of maximizing benefits.
To be fair, last season Arsenal was also second in the league.
The main right-back Lauren was performing very well, even better than Ashley Cole.
But that was just in the top-tier fullbacks within the Premier League.
Outside the Premier League, not many know about Lauren.
Yet with almost the same performance,
This season Wu Xudong has leaped straight to becoming a world-class star.
Including the first year of Sporting CP’s miracle, the Europa League five-time champions.
Quaresma and Viana left too soon.
If they hadn’t left, they wouldn’t have given Ronaldinho and Kaka the chance to rise.
Now, Quaresma is at Barça, serving as Ronaldinho’s deputy.
At AC Milan, Kaka is considered on par with Viana from Inter Milan within Serie A, but outside it, Kaka’s fame and strength far outstrip Viana.
This is fate.
People have different destinies.
Some are born to be stars.
Others are born to be in the background.
Some things, if you don’t have them at birth, you’ll never have them in your life.
Others, if you have them at birth, you may soon lose them.
All things, are predestined!
