I Am Scouted by Real Madrid-Chapter 155 - 52: New Badge, New Coach, New Developments
After this news broke out, Deco, either aware of the inside story or simply responding upon hearing the news, publicly welcomed Mourinho to Barcelona.
"I know the fans all hope for Mourinho’s arrival. He declined the England coaching position just to wait for a better place."
Deco’s statement seems to indicate that the Barcelona locker room has already lost control.
"Mourinho is a great coach. He once was Sir Bobby Robson’s translator at Camp Nou, so he understands here well. During Porto’s glorious period, we were also good friends. If he can really achieve this dream, I’d even wake up laughing in my sleep!"
"Mourinho will come here, and he will bring his tactics. What Barcelona fans hope for is to win championship trophies. Some public opinion polls in Barcelona show that fans welcome Mourinho because he is a great coach. I would be very happy to see him return."
The public opinion poll Deco mentioned was one conducted by the World Sports Newspaper not long ago. The results indicated that Mourinho has become the top choice for Barcelona fans for the next head coach, surpassing other outstanding coaches like Wenger.
Despite Mourinho’s football not being dazzling, it possesses the spirit of unity, sacrifice, and struggle, which are precisely what Barcelona lacks currently and what leaders like Puyol have openly called for the team to seek.
The media revealed that Mourinho’s two loyal assistants, Silvinho and Brito, are now watching every Barcelona match closely. People often spot them at Camp Nou, which also indicates some connection between the former Chelsea coach and Barcelona.
From the conversations around Chen Zhong, he heard many things. It seems people believe it’s almost certain that Mourinho will coach Barcelona.
Because from both fame and credentials, Mourinho seems the best choice.
"If he isn’t selected, wouldn’t that be infuriating?"
"How could he not be selected? Who can compare to the Special One."
"We can’t just randomly pick a coach from the youth team, can we?"
"That’s just too ridiculous."
The outside news almost all disparaged Barcelona. Perhaps because there are so many voices of disparagement, Barcelona’s newspapers have also started to fight back. For example, some local small newspapers are trying to prove Barcelona won this Derby from some alternative angles.
"La Masia won the Battle of the Century."
This is a message published by a local Barcelona newspaper, clearly pointing out that the genius from Barcelona’s youth academy contributed far more this season than the young players cultivated by Real Madrid’s team.
"Sure, Real Madrid has young talents like Chen."
"They also have Raul, Guti, Casillas."
"But every player coming out of our youth academy can basically serve the first team."
"However, their so-called talents are mostly wandering outside. We should be proud of our youth academy, because compared to Real Madrid, we have more youth academy players in the team. Furthermore, these players have more playing time, scored more goals, and apart from Chen, our players are younger than their other youth players."
This season Barcelona has players like Messi, Bojan, and Dos Santos emerging, making the La Masia Training Base near Camp Nou a famous check-in spot.
Someone pointed out that compared to Real Madrid, Barcelona possesses an almost complete team.
Currently, there are 10 players in Barcelona’s first team from La Masia, and their footprints cover all positions in the team, whether it’s goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, or forward.
In contrast, Real Madrid only has a mere 7 players: Casillas, Miguel Torres, Balboa, Guti, Soldado, Chen Zhong, and Raul.
In this investigation, it was pointed out that only Guti, Raul, and Chen Zhong among Real Madrid’s youth players have scored goals for the team, while Barcelona has 4, with Bojan’s two goals being particularly emphasized by the media.
The arrogance of Barcelona’s newspapers naturally made the newspapers in Madrid feel angry. On one hand, they started focusing heavily on promoting Chen Zhong.
This 16-year-old record-breaker is even labeled as the record destroyer, a monster from the East, and a future soaring superstar.
On the other hand, they also boldly announced that the club is negotiating the buy-back of players like Negredo, Granero, and Mata.
Chen Zhong was a bit surprised when he heard this news.
"Chen!"
"It’s true!" Negredo said excitedly, "My agent told me that Real Madrid wants to buy me back. Next season, we might be fighting together."
"They finally recognize my talent!"
Even on the phone, one could feel Negredo’s excitement. The two chatted a bit and moved onto Mata.
"Mata’s situation is more complicated."
"Due to Joaquin, Mata hasn’t become an absolute starter for the team."
"Furthermore, since he left as a free agent, the club seems unwilling to pay a transfer fee for him."
Speaking of this, both fell silent. Chen Zhong couldn’t help but recall the scene when he returned from abroad, only to find that his teammates had left.
After wrapping up the call with Negredo, Nacho’s call came in, and he excitedly said, "Chen, did you hear? Parejo and Callejon might be called to the first team next season."
"What?"
"Thanks to you!" Nacho said excitedly, "Just look at your performance in the first team, doing so well and securing a main position over many players."
"You are now the spiritual leader of the Sports City, and everywhere people are talking about you."
"I remember Lopetegi saying if you can be talented like Chen, you could even be the main player at Real Madrid."
Nacho sounded thrilled. He is now the captain of Castilla, almost every player who moves up from the various youth teams has to engage with him.
Nacho’s admiration for Chen Zhong, combined with Chen Zhong’s outstanding and spirited performance in the first team, has invisibly made him seem like the future King Without a Crown at Real Madrid.
Indeed, every aspirational "Real Madrid Dream" kid dreams of playing for Real Madrid at the same age as Chen Zhong and getting better and better every game.
Time came to 2008, and facing Aligeni in the second leg of the Spanish King’s Cup, Real Madrid still deployed a full substitute lineup, defeating the faraway Aligeni 2:1 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and advanced to the next round.
Winning the league’s half-time champion with a 7-point advantage while stepping on Barcelona’s "throne", all this made the fans excited, and with the 7-point advantage in hand, Schuster inevitably became somewhat arrogant.
La Liga, 18th round, Real Madrid vs. Zaragoza 2:0, Guti was still sitting on the bench, Real Madrid continued to use the currently popular Baptista and Chen Zhong midfield combination.
After an easy victory, Schuster smiled at Francisco and said, "I think now I have the qualification and ability to make some demands with the club."
