i want to be king

Chapter 99 He's Really Here!
Albertini!
When Su Dong and Ronnie followed Nuno Cruz in the gym to complete the extra training in the morning and returned to the locker room, they met a stranger with ear-length hair at the door.

"Excuse me, who are you looking for?" Su Dong asked.

When the other party turned their heads, Su Dong and Ronnie were shocked when they saw the man clearly.

Everyone knows that Sporting Lisbon is intensively recruiting midfielders, but no one would have thought, or rather, no one would have dared to think that the midfielder the team wanted to introduce turned out to be Albertini.

He was the main midfielder of AC Milan last season!
"You are Su Dong, you are Ronnie." Albertini also recognized the two young teammates and walked over with a smile.

Su Dong and Ronnie looked at each other, and mechanically stretched out their hands to shake hands with Albertini, but they still couldn't believe it in their hearts. Didn't they say that he was going to Lazio?
Why did you come to Sporting Lisbon suddenly?

This is unreasonable!
You know, the status and influence of the Portuguese Super League are far inferior to the Serie A of the Little World Cup.

"Can you take me in and have a look?" Albertini asked, pointing to the dressing room.

Both Su Dong and Ronnie nodded hurriedly, "Of course, of course."

……

The dressing room of Sporting Lisbon is similar to that of other teams. Compared with the rich teams, the facilities are definitely not as good, but the advantage is that it is new enough, and the first impression is not bad.

Albertini nodded in satisfaction, apparently still acceptable to this place.

"Have you all arranged your wardrobe?" Albertini asked casually.

"Well, there are names and jersey numbers on them." Su Dong replied.

The Italian midfielder turned twice in front of the wardrobe and found that the names and jersey numbers were indeed posted on the wardrobes used by others.

"It turns out that number four is occupied." Albertini was a little disappointed.

He wore the No. [-] jersey at AC Milan, but at Sporting Lisbon it belonged to defender Quiroga.

"There are people on the eighth."

It belonged to Barbosa, the captain of the team.

"NO.18..."

"Here." Su Dong took the initiative to step forward and pointed to the No.18 cabinet, "Right back Luis Felipe."

Albertini smiled gratefully at Su Dong, "What about number 28?"

Ronnie took a step forward in embarrassment, raised his right hand, "I am number 28."

"number 24?"

"It belonged to the substitute goalkeeper Beto last season. He was loaned to the satellite team not long ago. It is currently empty."

"Oh." Albertini nodded, "Then the 24th."

His tone seemed casual and he was clearly not picky about the jersey number.

Although, this number 24 is not the main number in professional football.

This surprised both Su Dong and Ronnie.

Is he really Albertini?
The vice-captain of AC Milan and the Italian national team, the world's top midfielder?

Su Dong and Ronnie looked at each other in blank disbelief.

Jardl is the biggest player in the team, but in his career, the biggest achievement is only the European Golden Boot.

It's not that this award is not enough, but it depends on who you compare with.

If it is compared with Albertini, who holds the Champions League champion, Serie A champion and World Cup runner-up, it is indeed much inferior.

"Er... Monsieur Albertini..."

"Call me Demi."

"Oh, Demi, may I ask, do you really want to come to Sporting Lisbon to play football?" Su Dong asked with concern.

Albertini turned his head and looked at Su Dong with great interest. He had heard about this Chinese kid, who rose to prominence in the second half of last season and made a name for himself in the Portuguese Super League. He is only 17 years old and has a bright future.

The Italian media once reported on him. Some people said that he was like Batistuta, nicknamed the Little God of War, but others said that he was like Kluivert, a perfect center forward with unlimited potential.

After seeing Su Dong, Albertini was very interested in this Chinese teenager.

At least the body looks really good.

"I'm all standing here, what do you think is the problem?"

Su Dong was a little embarrassed, "But you are in AC Milan..."

"Some people feel that they don't need me anymore," said Albertini dryly.

It was as if he was talking about a matter of course, but his tone was as cold as a knife.

"I heard you were going to Lazio..."

"I will not go to any Italian team other than AC Milan, that is my bottom line."

When Ronnie heard this, he also asked, "Then why is it Sporting Lisbon?"

"Because Sporting Lisbon is the only team that has invited me besides the Serie A team and will play in the Champions League in the new season."

Playing in the Champions League is the dream of many professional players.

For it, Jardl did not hesitate to reject the heavy money poaching from the Premier League team and chose to stay with the team.

For it, Albertini was willing to condescend to come to the Portuguese Super League.

Although Su Dong has never played in the Champions League, he knows the significance of this competition to professional players.

Especially when Albertini said the last sentence, what he meant was that he hoped to prove his strength once again in the Champions League in the new season, and let everyone know that he is not old yet!
"Someone mentioned you to me." Albertini looked at Su Dong in front of him with interest.

"Who?" Su Dong felt very strange, did he have such a big name?

Albertini didn't say anything, just smiled, "He said, you are very similar to Kluivert back then."

"I'd love to see it for myself, wouldn't you?"

…………

…………

Albertini suddenly joined Sporting Lisbon!

This news not only aroused huge repercussions in Alcocheti, but also caused an uproar in the Portuguese Super League. The impact even surpassed Porto's buying and buying, and Benfica's heavily poached Barcelona player Giovanni.

This is a genuine world-class midfielder Albertini!

The Portuguese Morning Post revealed that Sporting Lisbon made Albertini feel its sincerity after many contacts, and the team will compete in the Champions League in the new season, which is very attractive to Albertini.

"He originally wanted to go to the newly promoted La Liga Atletico Madrid, but after weighing the pros and cons, he finally chose Sporting Lisbon because he can play in the Champions League here."

Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport also reported the news, analyzing the reasons for Albertini's loan to Sporting Lisbon, and at the same time pointing directly at AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti in a conspiracy theory.

"It was Albertini's rise back then that forced Ancelotti to leave AC Milan. Now, as the team's head coach, Ancelotti can't tolerate Albertini, forcing Milan's exploits to leave Portugal."

Gazzetta dello Sport also revealed that Sporting Lisbon has limited financial resources, but in order to send Albertini away, AC Milan will continue to bear most of Albertini's salary in the new season.

"In addition to Albertini, Milan loaned Jose Mari to Atletico Madrid in the same way. They assumed most of the wages. After one year, Atletico Madrid has the priority to sign Jose Mari."

The Portuguese public newspaper interviewed Boloni, the head coach of Sporting Lisbon, who was very surprised by Albertini's joining, but also full of surprises.

"I didn't expect that he really came!"

Boloni said that the arrival of Albertini will not only strengthen Sporting Lisbon's midfield, but also make up for the team's weaknesses and deficiencies in set kicks, because last season, Sporting Lisbon's set kicks were really bad.

The most typical example is the Portuguese Cup final. In the face of Porto's foul tactics, Sporting Lisbon's set-pieces have no threat.

"I believe that in the new season, Demi's fallen leaves will make the Portuguese Super League more exciting!"

Albertini was also interviewed by the media under the arrangement of the club, saying that he joined Sporting Lisbon purely because of football itself, and had no other considerations.

"The main thing that attracted me to come here is that they have a group of talented young players and I hope my experience can help them, and the European Champions Cup."

Although Albertini didn't say it directly, everyone knows that he mentioned the Champions League with only one purpose, and that is to prove his strength and value in this competition.

……

For Albertini's joining, the reaction of the Sporting Lisbon dressing room was generally enthusiastic.

Whether it is captain Barbosa or other midfielders who are directly under the pressure of competition, they are delighted to join such a world-class midfielder. After all, who would not want to partner with such a player?
But there are also players who feel disappointed, like Rui Bento and Paul Bento, after Albertini joins, their status in the team is bound to be shaken, and their chances of playing will definitely be affected.

However, whether it is the dressing room or the outside media, there is a common voice, that is, is Albertini still okay?

In the past two seasons, Albertini did not show his peak strength in AC Milan, which made him controversial, and was also rejected by AC Milan from the squad.

After all, they have midfielders such as Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso and Ambrosini.

This summer, Albertini missed the Korea-Japan World Cup due to injury, but there is also a voice that even if he is not injured, it will be difficult for him to enter the Italian World Cup squad, because the Italian midfielder can be said to be full of talents.

Under such circumstances, Albertini's joining Sporting Lisbon made the outside world very suspicious. Is he ready to retire?

……

Su Dong did not participate in this kind of discussion inside and outside the locker room.

His first impression of Albertini was very good, and he was also happy to have such a teammate, but after being happy, he still focused more on his own training and improvement.

The bigger the teammate, the stronger the strength, the greater the pressure on himself.

Nobody wants to be the one who drags their feet, right?

More importantly, Su Dong had a vague feeling that in the mind of head coach Boloni, Jadell and Nikulei still firmly occupied the top two strikers.

In other words, even if he performed well at the end of last season, even if he scored the winning goal in the Portuguese Cup final, Su Dong still can only struggle between the two center forwards in the new season.

This made him feel the crisis, so he practiced harder.

But he was not the only one who practiced.

"Your practice like this is not very effective in actual combat, try to catch my long pass!"

After finishing speaking, Albertini kicked a long pass of the deciduous ball towards Su Dong from a distance.

(End of this chapter)