When Su Dong and Ronnie completed the morning extra training with Nuno Cruz in the gym and returned to the locker room, they met a stranger with long hair at the door.
"Excuse me, who are you looking for?" Su Dong asked.
When the other person turned around, Su Dong and Ronnie were stunned when they saw the person clearly.
Everyone knows that Sporting Lisbon is intensively recruiting midfielders, but no one would have thought, or in other words, no one dared to think, that the midfielder the team wants to introduce is actually Albertini.
He was AC Milan's main midfielder 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 both 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 suddenly come to Sporting Lisbon?
This is unreasonable!
You know, the status and influence of the Portuguese Super League is far inferior to that of Serie A in the Mini World Cup.
"Can you take me in and have a look?" Albertini asked, pointing to the dressing room.
Su Dong and Ronnie both nodded hastily, "Of course, of course."
…
Sporting Lisbon's locker room is similar to the locker rooms of other teams. Compared with the wealthy teams, the facilities are definitely not as good, but it is new enough, and the first impression is not bad.
Albertini nodded with satisfaction, obviously still acceptable here.
"Have you arranged your wardrobe?" Albertini asked casually.
"Well, they are all labeled with names and jersey numbers." Su Dong replied.
The Italian midfielder walked around twice in front of the closet and found that the names and jersey numbers were indeed posted on the closets that were used.
"It turns out there is someone on the 4th." Albertini was a little disappointed.
He wore the No. 4 jersey at AC Milan, but at Sporting Lisbon it belonged to defender Queiroga.
"There's someone on the 8th too."
It belongs to the team's captain Barbosa.
"On the 18th..."
"Here." Su Dong took the initiative to step forward and pointed to the cabinet No. 18, "right back Luis Felipe."
Albertini smiled gratefully at Su Dong, "What about the 28th?"
Ronnie took a step forward awkwardly and raised his right hand, "I am number 28."
"Number 24?"
"It belonged to backup goalkeeper Beto last season and was loaned to a satellite team not long ago. It is currently vacant."
"Oh." Albertini nodded, "Then let's take the twenty-fourth."
His tone seemed casual, and he obviously wasn't picky about his 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 disbelief.
Jardel is the biggest player on the team, but his biggest achievement in his career is just the European Golden Boot.
It’s not that this award is not important enough, but it depends on who you compare with.
If compared to Albertini, who holds the Champions League championship, Serie A championship and World Cup runner-up, it is indeed much inferior.
"Uh... Mr. Albertini..."
"Call me Demi."
"Oh, Demi, please, 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 interest. He had heard of this Chinese kid who suddenly emerged in the second half of last season and made a name for himself in the Portuguese Super League. He was only seventeen years old and had an unlimited future.
The Italian media once reported on him. Some said he looked like Batistuta, nicknamed the Little God of War, but others said he looked like Kluivert, a perfect center forward with unlimited potential.
After seeing Su Dong, Albertini was very interested in this Chinese young player.
At least the body looks really good.
"We are all standing here, do you think there is any problem?"
Su Dong was a little embarrassed, "But you are in AC Milan..."
"Some people feel that they no longer need me." Albertini said coldly.
It was as if he was saying something very natural, but his tone was as cold as a knife.
"I heard before that you were going to Lazio..."
"I will not go to any Italian team other than AC Milan. This is my bottom line."
When Ronnie heard this, he also asked: "Then why Sporting Lisbon?"
"Because apart from Serie A teams, Sporting Lisbon is the only team that invited me and will play in the Champions League in the new season."
Playing in the Champions League is something that many professional players dream of.
For this reason, Jardel refused the huge money poaching from the Premier League team and chose to stay with the team.
For this, Albertini was willing to debase himself and come to the Portuguese Super League.
Although Su Dong has never played in the Champions League, he knows the significance of this tournament to professional players.
Especially when Albertini said the last words, his implication was that he hoped to prove his strength again in the new season's Champions League and let everyone know that he is not old yet!
"Someone told me about you." Albertini looked at Su Dong in front of him with interest.
"Who?" Su Dong felt strange, did he have such a famous name?
Albertini didn't say anything, he just smiled and said, "He said you look a lot like Kluivert back then."
"I'd love to see it with my own eyes, wouldn't you?"
…………
…………
Albertini suddenly joins Sporting Lisbon!
This news not only caused huge repercussions in Alcocheti, but also caused an uproar in the Portuguese Super League. The impact even exceeded Porto's purchase and Benfica's large-scale poaching of Barcelona player Giovanni.
This is a truly world-class midfielder Albertini!
Portugal's Morning Post revealed that Sporting Lisbon made Albertini feel sincere after many contacts, and the team will compete in the Champions League in the new season, which is very attractive to Albertini.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! “He originally wanted to go to Atletico Madrid, a newly promoted team in La Liga, but after weighing the pros and cons, he finally chose Sporting Lisbon because he can play in the Champions League here.
"
Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport also reported the news, analyzing the reasons for Albertini's loan move to Sporting Lisbon and pointing the conspiracy theory at AC Milan head coach Carlo Ancelotti.
"It was the rise of Albertini that forced Ancelotti to leave AC Milan. Now, as the team's head coach, Ancelotti can't tolerate Albertini, forcing Milan's heroes to leave for 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 shouldered most of the salary. Atletico Madrid has the priority to sign Jose Mari after one year."
The Portuguese newspaper Publique interviewed Sporting Lisbon's head coach Boloni, who was very surprised by Albertini's joining and was also full of surprises.
"I didn't expect that he would actually come!"
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 shortcomings in set pieces, because last season, Sporting Lisbon's set pieces were really bad.
The most typical example is the Portuguese Cup final. Faced with Porto's foul tactics, Sporting Lisbon's set kicks showed no threat.
"I believe that in the new season, Demi's falling leaves will make the Portuguese Super League more exciting!"
Albertini also accepted an interview with 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 here is that they have a group of talented young players and I hope my experience can help them, and also the European Champions League."
Although Albertini did not say it directly, everyone knew that when he mentioned the Champions League, he had only one purpose, and that was to prove his strength and value in this event.
…
The response from the Sporting Lisbon locker room to Albertini's joining was generally enthusiastic.
Whether it is captain Barbosa or other midfielders who are directly under competitive pressure, they are all delighted with the addition of such a world-class midfielder. After all, who doesn't want to partner with such a player?
But there are also players who feel disappointed, like Rui Bento and Paulo Bento. After Albertini joins, their status in the team is bound to be shaken, and their playing opportunities will definitely be affected.
However, whether it is the locker room or the media outside, 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 because of this, he was rejected by AC Milan from the squad.
After all, they have midfielders such as Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso and Ambrosini.
This summer, Albertini missed the World Cup in South Korea and Japan due to injury. However, there is also a voice that believes that even if he is not injured, it will be difficult to enter Italy's World Cup squad, because the Italian midfielder is full of talents.
Under such circumstances, Albertini joined Sporting Lisbon, which made the outside world very doubtful whether he was ready to retire?
…
Su Dong did not participate in this discussion inside and outside the locker room.
His first impression of Albertini was very good, and he was happy to have such a teammate, but after being happy, he focused more on his own training and improvement.
The bigger the teammate is and the stronger the teammate, the greater the pressure on him.
No one wants to be the one holding us back, right?
More importantly, Su Dong had a vague feeling that in the mind of head coach Boloni, Jardel and Nikolai still firmly occupy the top two positions in the forward rankings.
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 major centers in the new season.
This made him feel the crisis, so he practiced even harder.
But he wasn't the only one who practiced extra.
"It won't be very effective if you practice like this in actual combat. Try catching my long pass!"
After saying that, Albertini kicked a long pass towards Su Dong from a distance.
