Chapter 137 Future Center Template
The small town of Paterna, northwest of Valencia, Spain.
Valencia's Sports City is located in this beautiful rural town, adjacent to the surrounding wealthy villa area.
There are three low training buildings, seven standard football fields, several small football fields and scattered fields. From the first team to the youth team, all the Valencia players gather in this sports city for training.
At this moment, Valencia head coach Benítez was sitting in the office of the first team training building, watching the game video on TV intently. The pictures were all about a player number 36.
Sporting Lisbon's Su Dong! Benítez was watching very attentively, as if he was completely immersed in the game. He didn't even notice when several of his right-hand men came to the office and sat down next to him.
Those who are familiar with him know that this is the real Benítez.
He is always like this, not obsessed, but constantly thinking and deducing various possibilities.
It was not until the video was finished that Benítez sighed with regret and noticed the arrival of his assistants.
“Here I come.”
Benítez glanced at his assistants and motioned for them to look at the player report submitted by the club scouts. He leaned back and rubbed his sore eyes.
"Su Dong, 18 years old, currently ranks first in the Portuguese Super League scorer list and is also tied for first in the assists list."
As soon as Benítez finished speaking, chief assistant coach Paco Jestedan was a little surprised, "Only 18 years old?"
"Yeah." Benítez replied affirmatively.
"Not easy." Yestendan praised.
The Portuguese Super League has not been very good in recent years, and its ranking in Europe is relatively low, so much so that their championship team cannot directly enter the Champions League group stage, but is forced to play in the peripheral qualifiers.
To be honest, this is no longer a second-rate league in Europe, it is even close to third-rate.
Of course, it seems that the Portuguese Super League teams are doing quite well in the UEFA Cup this year. The defending champions Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Boavista, who failed to enter the Champions League group stage, have all entered the UEFA Cup round of 16.
Obviously, the Portuguese Super League team knows that if they don't get more European points, they will probably lose the qualification for the third round of Champions League qualifiers, and the situation will be even worse at that time.
And Su Dong is the player from the defending champion Sporting Lisbon.
"This kid has been attracting a lot of attention recently," said scout Eduardo Macia.
Benítez looked at the chief scout, "Have you ever known him?"
Masia nodded. "I've watched the video a few times and I think he's pretty good. He's very unique. He's 1.95 meters tall and good at physical confrontation, but his speed is very fast and his footwork is superb, which makes him very comprehensive. He's a bit like Ibrahimovic, the Swedish center forward of Ajax."
Ibrahimovic is recognized as one of the talented newcomers in European football. Being compared with him is also a recognition of Su Dong's ability and potential.
"Some say he's like Batistuta, some say he's like Kluivert, and now you say he's like Ibrahimovic..."
As he spoke, a slight smile appeared on Benítez's lips.
He doesn't like to laugh, but he really thinks this is funny.
"None of these people have his speed and explosiveness." Benítez made his judgment.
Marcia thought about it and nodded.
Whether it is Batistuta, Kluivert, or rookie Ibrahimovic, these people are not speed players, but Su Dong's speed and explosiveness are very fast.
This is very interesting.
…
Valencia's La Liga title last season was somewhat lucky.
Their own strength was not that strong, nor did they perform that well. It was more because of problems with competitors such as Real Madrid, Deportivo La Coruna and Barcelona that led to the Bats winning the championship in the end.
Even behind the championship, Valencia's own problems were clearly exposed, that is, offense.
As the La Liga champion, Valencia scored only 47 goals, ranking seventh in La Liga. This is definitely a terrible performance. If it weren't for the team's strong defense, they would not have won the championship.
Therefore, this season Benítez focused on strengthening the team's offense. He tried center forwards such as Kalou, Mista, Sanchez, and Salva. He also had wonderful performances such as a 6-2 victory over Basel in the Champions League, scoring 11 goals in three rounds of the Champions League, and 10 goals in four rounds of the league.
But soon, Valencia's attack fell into a quagmire again.
There is no problem with defense, nor with midfield organization. There are some minor problems on the wing, but the most serious problem is with the center forward.
Although Kalu, Mista, Sanchez and Salva are all extremely strong and have outstanding advantages, their shortcomings are also obvious.
The center forward that Benítez wants is the kind of player who can hold down the back line, support the two flanks, retreat to support the midfield, and at the same time attack from the back row. It would be best if he has a strong ability to seize opportunities in front of the goal.
But these characteristics are actually very contradictory.
For example, pulling back to support the midfield and then attacking from behind requires speed.
However, it is often difficult for fast players to suppress the opponent's defense because they are thin and not good at strength confrontation.
There are also center forwards who are fast and strong, but they are often rough and cannot coordinate well with wingers like Vicente. Some of them even have poor ability to seize opportunities in front of the goal.
Benítez has heard more than once that he has too high expectations for his center forwards, and he is not static, but constantly adjusts his tactics to adapt to the characteristics of several center forwards in the team.
Until he saw Su Dong.
"The young coach of Porto is also very interested in him. You two have similar tastes." Jestedan said with a smile.
Benítez and Mourinho have met each other. In addition to being rivals, they have also bumped into each other at some UEFA coach exchange activities. After all, they are both new young coaches, and there is some subtle tit-for-tat between the two.
"This is the template for the future center forward," Benítez said with certainty.
"That's troublesome." Marcia rubbed his hands and smiled bitterly.
Benítez was stunned and looked at his right-hand man.
"As far as I know, at least half of the teams in the four major leagues are eyeing him. Some are eager to try him out, some are waiting for the right time, and some are ready to pick up the leak at any time. Frankly speaking, we don't have much advantage, and we don't have much transfer budget this summer."
This summer is the year of Valencia's presidential election, and both major candidates are currently working hard to build momentum.
One said he wanted to bring in Trezeguet, the other threatened to bring in Van Nistelrooy; one said he wanted to bring back Mendieta, the other said he wanted to buy the talented Spanish winger Joaquin...
But no one can give a specific number. How much transfer budget does the team have this summer? Ever since the Real Madrid president defeated Sanz with Figo, there has never been a shortage of stars in the presidential elections of Spanish clubs. The two candidates of Valencia are far inferior in comparison.
"Eduardo." Benítez looked at the chief scout. "Find some time to go to Lisbon and see for yourself. Find out more about his situation. It would be best if you could watch one or two games to see if he's as good as shown in the reports and videos."
Reports are unreliable, and video highlights of matches may not be reliable either, so many times, clubs still have to watch the games live to select players.
"Okay, I'll get ready." Marcia agreed.
"And Quaresma." Benítez thought of it suddenly.
Marcia smiled bitterly. What a difficult problem.
It goes without saying that Su Dong is very popular nowadays, and Quaresma is equally popular. It is said that the team pursuing him the most fiercely is Barcelona, as they want to bring the new Figo to Camp Nou.
Although there is the precedent of Simao's failure, who dares to say that Quaresma will not succeed in Barcelona? …………
…………
Two days later, Alcochete, Lisbon.
After the team finished training, Su Dong and others still stayed to practice on their own.
This has become their daily routine.
When training with the team and everyone is together, it is difficult for Su Dong to have time to specifically train his weaknesses and deficiencies. Only during extra training can he arrange some training programs that he needs.
By the time the extra training was over, it was almost dusk.
Everyone dragged their tired bodies back to the locker room, and Su Dong went to take a shower first.
When he was halfway through washing, Tonito suddenly rushed in and excitedly shouted to Su Dong: "Su, guess who I just bumped into?"
After saying that, the boy ran out like crazy.
Su Dong, covered in foam and covering his private parts out of fear, looked confused and almost yelled, "Did you see a ghost? Why are you so excited?"
"Guess who I met just now?" Tonito's voice came from outside.
Everyone looked at him and asked him curiously, but he pretended to be mysterious and tried to hide the answer.
It was not until Su Dong came out wrapped in a bath towel that he walked to the head coach's seat and coughed heavily twice, as if he had something big to announce.
“I saw Eduardo Macia!”
Everyone was stunned.
Who is this? Tonito was embarrassed. After he finished speaking, instead of waiting for the surprise and discussion he had been waiting for, there was silence.
I don’t know anyone, it’s so embarrassing!
"Eduardo Macia, don't you guys know him?" Tonito was very depressed by these ignorant guys.
"Just tell me, who is it?" Ronnie laughed out loud.
"Valencia's chief scout and a capable player under Rafael Benítez."
Then everyone understood.
"But what does this have to do with you?" Pepe was very surprised.
"Valencia, Benítez, Macia..." Tonito found that these guys were really slow in thinking. He could only point out these key words, and finally patted his chest. He almost mentioned me.
Everyone knows that this kid is in the same boat with Benítez and brags all day long. When Benítez was coaching Tenerife, he almost bought him back. Now that he sees Macia, he probably thinks that Benítez finally didn't forget about him and is thinking of him again.
This is somewhat like the feeling of a kept mistress expecting a man to spend the night with her.
"Give up on this idea, they have Aimar." Ronnie pointed at Tonito unhappily.
Tonito didn't care and said with a smile: "I can be a substitute for Aimar."
It seems that he not only can, but is also very willing to do it and enjoys it.
(End of this chapter)
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