Super Marshal

Like the home stadiums of many professional teams, AZ Alkmaar’s home stadium has huge posters of the players hanging around the exterior walls.

There are Costa Rican goalkeeper Brown, Dutch rookie Maher, Danish midfielder Paulson, Australian left winger Holman...

At this moment, Alkmaar's staff are replacing the latest player posters and hanging up the posters of two players who have just joined. They are the local player Belen who joined from Heerenveen for 1.5 million euros. Si, joined from Turkey's Bursaspor, American forward Altidore who once played for Villarreal in La Liga.

However, space around the stadium was limited, and some players' posters had to be removed.

The 26-year-old Italian center Graziano Pelle stood in the distance, watching helplessly as his poster was slowly taken down by the club staff and replaced by Altidore.

This is as if his status in the club at this moment is useless.

He was born in the youth training camp of Lecce, Italy, but he has been wandering throughout his career. He was first loaned by Lecce to Catania, Crotone, Cesena and other Serie B teams. He performed well in the European Youth Championship and the European Youth Championship, so he was valued by Louis van Gaal, the then head coach of AZ Alkmaar, and came to the Netherlands for a high price of 6 million euros.

That was the most glorious moment of his life so far.

At the age of twenty-two, he is at a critical stage of career development. He is favored by world-class coach Louis van Gaal and has an unlimited future.

At the beginning, everyone in the team was full of expectations for him, hoping that he could replace the Dutch center Kevermans who transferred to Eindhoven and provoke Alkmaar's offensive banner. Si had just scored 22 league goals in the previous season, but Pellet only scored a total of three goals in his first season and only scored one in the league.

Such a huge gap is obviously unacceptable, especially since Pellet still carries a high price of 6 million euros, but Van Gaal still has full confidence in him and continues to keep him in the team, hoping that he can adjust as soon as possible.

In the second season, Pellet's performance did improve. He only scored three goals in twenty league games, two more than last season. This made everyone feel desperate, but Alkmaar has failed this season. After winning the Eredivisie title, Van Gaal also quit at the end of the season and left Alkmaar.

Van Gaal's successor is his disciple Ronald Koeman, who has the same attitude towards Pellet as Van Gaal. They often say that Pellet should become the kind of striker who can serve as the team's attack point, rather than becoming a striker. A shooter who only scores goals.

"Think about it, if you were Ibrahimovic and Robin van Persie, how would you deal with it?"

Comparing yourself with top strikers like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Van Persie?

Pellet was flattered.

But the good times didn't last long. Koeman only stayed with Alkmaar for five months and left the team just after December. The famous Dutch coach Edvor Carter took over as Alkmaar's coach, but his requirements were different from those of Alkmaar. Van Gaal is completely different from Koeman, and he has no confidence in Pellet, the player left behind by his predecessor. Pellet was completely relegated to the sidelines.

Edvocaat only led Alkmaar for half a year. Last summer, his former assistant Welbeck took over his coaching position, but his impression of Pellet was exactly the same as Edvocaat, and Pellet was completely reduced to a substitute.

However, it was during these two years on the bench that Pellet thought more. He gradually learned how to play in his own way. He tried to understand everything that Van Gaal and Koeman taught him. Last season he scored six goals in 18 league games, which was his best season since joining Alkmaar.

And most of them were achieved when coming on as a substitute. Among them, he scored in three consecutive rounds as a substitute, and there was also a feat where he scored twice as a substitute in a short period of time. This made Pellet excited and surprised. His own progress, but it did not help his position at Alkmaar.

Welbeck didn't trust him at all, so he brought in Altidore from Bursaspor this summer.

This transfer basically spelled the end of Pellet's four-year Alkmaar career.

But leaving Alkmaar, where to go?

Agent Calvino is not well-known, but he has strong operational capabilities in the Netherlands. He helped Pelle contact many teams, but they were all daunted. The only one interested in him was Parma in Serie A, but here Can this team have a spot?

Pellet is deeply suspicious, because the Parma team has gathered famous Serie A players such as Crespo, Palladino, Okaka, Giovinco, not to mention that Pellet has left Italian football for many years, and Parma coach Colomba cannot protect himself. Not to mention giving Pellet a chance, is it appropriate to join Parma at this time?

But in fact, Pellet has no choice at all in this matter. He can only look forward to it optimistically, maybe there will be a turn for the better in Parma's future.

Thinking of this, Pellet couldn't help but let out a long sigh, turned around and sat back in the car, ready to start home.

But at this moment, his cell phone rang suddenly, and the caller ID showed an unfamiliar phone number.

Pellet immediately answered the phone, and a strange voice came from inside.

"Hello, Pellet, I am the technical director of Chinatown, and my name is Carlos Cantarero." The person on the phone introduced himself fluently in English.

China Town? Carlos Cantarero?

As a professional player, although he played for the Netherlands and was not successful, Pellet must have heard of this team and its name. The former is a top four team in La Liga, a cold team, and the latter He is Gao Han's right-hand man and is known as the best coach in the world at cultivating and sculpting players.

"Hello, Mr. Cantarero." Pellet replied excitedly.

Fortunately, he speaks English very well.

"I'm glad you know me. It saves me a lot of trouble." A hearty laugh came from the other side of the phone.

After laughing, Cantarero continued to ask: "I heard from your agent that Alkmaar has allowed you to find a team, so I wonder if you are interested in coming to our Chinatown?"

"Chinatown?" Pellet was a little confused.

He is quite self-aware and knows clearly that he is just a substitute who can't even play at Alkmaar. How can he go to Chinatown? That's fourth in La Liga and a team that wants to play in the Champions League.

"I know it's hard for people to accept this sudden question, but we do intend to invite you to play in Chinatown. You know, our team's number one center Michu has decided to join Arsenal."

This news is one of the hottest news in recent times, second only to Gao Han's coaching of Paris Saint-Germain. Although it has not been officially recognized by the two teams, it has already detonated the European transfer market.

That would be Arsenal's highest ever transfer fee.

"I...I don't quite understand." Pellet's voice was a little urgent.

Cantarero hummed, "Maybe you don't believe it, but we have been paying close attention to you more than a year ago. It was Mr. Gao Han who heard your name from Van Gaal and Ronald Koeman respectively. , you know, they are friends and occasionally exchange some experiences. Both Dutch coaches respect you very much."

"Later, Mr. Gao Han personally studied your video, and our technical team also began to closely track your games and training a year ago, but you just didn't notice it. For example, you scored twice against Utrecht. Official The information is twenty-six minutes, but in fact you only used seventeen minutes, and twenty-six minutes is the time you came on as a substitute."

After hearing this, Pellet no longer doubted Cantarero's words. If he didn't know him in detail, it would be impossible to know the precise time.

"But... I still don't understand." Pellet was still worried.

"Yes, from a common sense perspective, it is indeed hard to believe, but what we need is an attacking point like Diego Costa and Michu, not a scorer. We think you are very suitable. You are a player with great ideas and ideas, you are also very skilled with your feet, and your physical fitness is also advantageous. We think you can succeed in La Liga."

Many of Cantarero's words were exactly the same as those of Van Gaal and Ronald Koeman, which made Pellet believe Cantarero's words even more deeply. Moreover, he is now twenty-six years old and knows it very well. Know what his playing style is like and what tactics can bring out all his energy.

"You know, Mr. Gao Han just called me personally. He said..."

Cantarero paused deliberately, and Pellet wanted to know a little anxiously, "What did you say?"

"He said that your experience at Alkmaar was not entirely a problem of your own strength. To a large extent, the turmoil in the club in the past two years has also affected your performance. You are a very thinking player. Going to Parma , or returning to Serie A is not suitable for you. If you can play under a tactical framework that suits your performance, you will become an excellent attacker, enter the Italian national team, and become famous in European football."

"This..." Pellet was confused again, "Is this really what Mr. Gao Han said?"

"It's absolutely true, I can ask him to call you personally if necessary," Cantarero said.

"No, no, no, Mr. Cantarero, you misunderstood. I'm not doubting you, it's just... I... just..."

Pellet was already so excited that he was a little incoherent.

For him, let alone the cold, even Cantarero was unattainable. What's more, Cantarero had no reason to lie to him, and there was no need.

"Alkmaar has asked you to contact the team yourself, so we are now solemnly extending an invitation to you, hoping that you can come to Chinatown to play football. Believe me, here, you will get someone who can play your best." Space, all of us, including Gao Han, including me, including coach Pochettino, we will help you."

Pellet was breathing rapidly with excitement. He knew very well that countless professional players dreamed of getting advice from Gao Han and Cantarero, but he was so lucky. This made his mood feel like a roller coaster, and he could not calm down at all. .

"How's it going? Do you need some time to think about it?" Cantarero asked on the phone.

"No, Mr. Cantarero." Pellet shook his head almost without thinking, "No need, I am willing to join Chinatown."

"That's great, Pelle, believe me, this will be a very wise choice." Cantarero said with a smile.

After Pellet hung up the phone, he was still dazed and felt like he was dreaming.

But he soon woke up and called his agent Calvino, but what surprised him was that Calvino also knew about the matter. Cantarero only got it after calling Calvino first. Pellet's mobile phone number.

This made Pellet start to believe it all.

He looked through the car window at the outer wall of the stadium in the distance. There was no longer a poster of him there, but at this moment he was full of expectations for the future and somewhat uneasy.

"Do I really want to go to Chinatown?"