Chapter 738: Chapter 737: To Just Play Football, You Cannot Just Play Football
Generally speaking, if a player is able to get the opposing team’s head coach fired, it’s considered a feat worthy of being recorded in the annals of history.
But Deng Kai, even before playing a European Championship match, had already gotten the opponents’ hand-reader fired!
Yes!
It was definitely Deng Kai!
This was confirmed when official media slipped up and mentioned that the UAE leaders speaking with Zapatero were traveling on Mansour’s private aircraft.
Mansour!
Manchester City!
Deng Kai!
Portugal team!
Lawsuit!
Spain!
Aznar!
Zapatero...
All of this obviously formed a closed loop!
So, how should this be spun, pray tell?
Even if you asked them to, those football media wouldn’t dare spin this.
Don’t think that just because they’re good at peddling fake news on the regular, they would dare to talk nonsense without backing in serious matters.
Do you really think there’s such a thing as freedom of speech here?
What a joke.
For a while, people’s opinions of Deng Kai were poles apart.
Those in the know were afraid even to hurt his hair while playing football with him.
Or perhaps they harbored thoughts of poaching Deng Kai for their clubs, not for competition’s sake, but purely for election purposes.
Others were marveling at how lucky Deng Kai was.
The gods were truly on his side.
...
"I swear you must have done good deeds in your past life, look, even Jesus is helping you!" Ronaldo excitedly clung to Deng Kai.
Today was his happiest day in a long time.
His best support was finally coming back!
"I don’t think I fall under Jesus’s jurisdiction." Deng Kai said, unamused.
"It’s all the same, the Almighty, the Jade Emperor, Tathagata Buddha, they all treat you well!" Ronaldo, very familiar with Chinese traditional culture, said, "But seriously, what Spain did this time was too slick, they were so fair."
"I’ve heard that several of those lawyers will be sentenced to more than ten years!"
"I bet now no one will dare sue you!"
Deng Kai smiled without replying.
Spain’s fairness?
Such a naive kid.
"Hey, can you share with me the secret of your luck?" Ronaldo whispered to Deng Kai, "To be honest, everything just seems to go so smoothly for you."
"Whether in the Lisbon Sporting youth team, or the main team, or later when you went to Manchester City."
"Honestly, sometimes I wonder if choosing Manchester United was the right choice."
"I’m not saying Manchester United is bad, but... I don’t feel free, you understand what I mean?"
Deng Kai shook his head: "I feel very free at Manchester City."
Ronaldo was speechless: "Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. I wish I could be as free at Manchester United as you are at Manchester City... Van Nistelrooy is very unhappy with my ability to take shots."
"Keane is similarly dissatisfied with my defensive attitude."
"Gary Neville is annoyed with me, I know all this."
"Even though we haven’t had any major conflicts, this feeling isn’t good, I wish everyone around me wouldn’t cause me trouble, I... I just want to play football! Just play football!"
Deng Kai nodded, he understood what Ronaldo was saying: "But trust me, Ronaldo, if you were to really thrive at Manchester United, you would struggle to achieve the results you desire."
Ronaldo didn’t believe it: "Why? How come?"
Deng Kai laughed: "Because you’re only playing football. Whereas, aside from playing football, I do a lot more."
If you just play football, you’ll always be just a player.
No matter how strong you are, you’ll only achieve the same as peak Ronaldo or peak Messi did.
But look at their outcomes.
One was kicked out by Real Madrid.
The other was backstabbed and discarded by Barcelona.
These two are the epitome of pure footballers, the kind that are unpreceded and unrepeated.
The result is still such.
This just proves that this path is impassable.
And Deng Kai.
He never just played football.
During his time at Sporting Lisbon, he was deeply involved in the team’s transfer dealings through Trigella and had a significant say in the team.
Do you remember how Deng Kai left Sporting Lisbon?
Free transfer!
Joined without a fee!
If it were any other player, it couldn’t possibly be like this.
Didn’t Ronaldo leave for a massive fee?
The reason behind it is that Sporting Lisbon did not renew their contract with Deng Kai beforehand.
But was Sporting Lisbon stupid, not to renew with Deng Kai?
The season Deng Kai returned from Moreirense, the team was already looking to renew his contract.
Deng Kai refused.
At that time, the relationship between Deng Kai and the team had become very delicate.
But after the season ended, with the help of Trigella, Deng Kai gambled with the team on Transfermarkt.
After the season of being the five-time UEFA Cup winners, the team wholly accepted him, but they still wanted to renew his contract, and this time they even asked Trigella to become their lobbyist.
Then Deng Kai threw out the Champions League.
He made a deal with the team that if they didn’t reach the top four of the Champions League, then he would renew, after which the team could sell him for a high price.
As a result... he directly achieved being the fifth three-time Champion of the Champions League in Europe!
The team undoubtedly lost Deng Kai, who was then valued close to 50 million euros.
But a Champions League title caused a nearly 50 million euro increase in value for the other players.
Add in the bonuses.
Add in the advertising effects.
Sporting Lisbon made a killing.
That was the entire hidden process of Deng Kai’s transfer at the time.
So many people don’t understand how Deng Kai left on a free transfer, even wanting to emulate him.
However, any imitator would basically fall out with the team immediately, then get benched, or sent down to the youth team.
There’s no way they would achieve Sporting Lisbon’s five-time and three-time championships.
These things have nothing to do with playing football.
Ronaldo will never deal with these, nor can he handle them.
Looking at the baffled Ronaldo, Deng Kai ruffled Ronaldo’s hair and said, "Ronaldo, the majority of successes in this world are four words... dimensional strike!"
"If you want to just play football well, you absolutely cannot just play football."
Ronaldo paused, as if he had an epiphany.
He muttered to himself, "I see, what you mean is... I need to find a girlfriend from the entertainment circle, like you, use the entertainment circle’s pressure to make my teammates respect me, right?"
Deng Kai closed his eyes in despair and nodded, "Right, you got it. I couldn’t even imagine how else you would be able to lift the Hercules Cup without me."
Ronaldo: ???
Ronaldo: "Aren’t we playing in the European Championship? If we’re lifting anything, it’d be the Delaney Cup, right?"
Deng Kai: "I’m not talking about this year, I’m talking about 2026."
Ronaldo: "2026? I’ll be forty-one by then, you really have some imagination! By that time, your little fanboy Messi would have retired, right?"
Deng Kai sighed, "He can retire, but you can’t retire, buddy! Life’s harsh for you, you still have to play for a few more years..."
...
The morning of June 20th.
The Portugal team, contrary to their habit of announcing the starting lineup only close to the match, released the lineup for this round’s game early.
Deng Kai, Ronaldo, Figo
Deco, Rui Costa
Maniche, Costinha
Carvalho, Kilop, Pepe
Baia
=
A 3223 formation, arrogantly terrifying!
