From Arsenal to the Ball God

Ma’el was somewhat surprised. He wasn’t particularly close with Koscielny at Arsenal Club, and he didn’t expect him to say such things.

”I believe in you too.” He patted Koscielny’s shoulder. ”Good luck, I hope we can fight side by side on the international stage.”

Koscielny nodded, observed Ma’el for a moment, and reminded him, ”Let me tell you something, if there are players from Tottenham or Manchester United, don’t get too close to them.”

After listening, the first thing that came to Ma’el’s mind was the face of Manchester United star Evra.

He originally wanted to ask why, but quickly understood because he recalled something an old pro once said.

——”I envy the current national team, where players can coexist peacefully. This is the best era... yet back then, we couldn’t do that; club rivals wouldn’t speak to each other in the national team.”

It was probably an England legend who said it, though he couldn’t remember exactly who... It seemed like the France team had the same situation.

”I understand.”

He nodded, realizing that club positions still existed here, and Koscielny was kindly reminding him.

...

The next day, Ma’el started intensive training with the team. The content of the training was similar to what he experienced at the beginning of the season at Arsenal, almost all focused on tactical training.

On the first day of training, apart from privately chatting with Koscielny, he didn’t have any private conversations with other players.

On the second day, Montpellier Team’s striker Giroud took the initiative to chat with him during dinner, ”You’re the kind of player I envy the most.”

Ma’el could guess the reason, but still politely asked, ”Why?”

”Talent.”

Giroud pointed to his head and said honestly, ”You are the kind of players who can play at 17 or 18, while we have to wait until 25 or 26 to slowly emerge.

”I consider myself lucky; the playmates I had when I was young, now very few are still playing.”

Ma’el raised his eyebrows and nodded, unsure how to respond to such comments.

”Honestly, I envy those who join elite clubs,” Giroud sniffed and smiled sheepishly. ”I also want attention, I want high salaries, but I can only play in mid-table Ligue 1 teams.”

Ma’el looked at him, wanting to say it was possible that they might soon become teammates... but he couldn’t say it.

Thus, the two of them got acquainted, and although they wouldn’t have many private interactions, they communicated much more on the training field.

”Bang! Bang! Bang...!”

On the third day of shooting practice, Ma’el displayed his highly impressive shooting skills, making an initial impact on the France team players.

”Tap, tap, tap!”

On the fourth day, during power and explosiveness training, he gave many French players a lesson in physicality with extreme speed and power.

However, since everyone already knew about this, there wasn’t too much surprise... It was more about seeing it in reality than on TV.

In fact, quite a few players on this team had faced off with Ma’el.

For example, Bayern Munich’s Ribery, Newcastle United’s Yohan Cabaye, Marseille Team’s Valbuena and Mandanda, Manchester United’s Evra, etc.

Coincidentally, his performances against these teams were quite impressive, so no one underestimated him.

But not underestimating doesn’t mean they would be friendly to him; dissatisfaction was still common.

After that day’s training, Ma’el went to the neighboring field for extra practice, as his ball control was near an upgrade and this behavior upset many people.

”Is he raising the intensity on us?”

Manchester United defender Evra watched Ma’el’s back and mocked to those around him, ”Does he really think the club’s set-up can be used in the national team, and that Deschamps will use an 18-year-old youngster?”

He turned his head for agreement, only to find Nasri standing next to him, which made him slightly awkward, and he barely rolled his eyes.

Compared to Arsenal players, he disliked Manchester City players more, especially ’former Arsenal’ Manchester City players.

Turning to look at Ribery, he felt slightly better, ”Right?”

Ribery nodded somewhat, a non-committal shake, and said nothing.

”Watch out for a beating.” Before Nasri left, he left a cryptic remark, not knowing if he was mocking Evra or Ma’el.

”Tch.” Evra scoffed, glaring at Nasri’s back, ”Youngsters these days are too arrogant, I think they need a good set-down.”

...

At night, they had a meeting in the conference room. With the match approaching, some positions had already been confirmed.

The goalkeeper position, from Lyon, Lori had basically secured the starting position, followed by central defenders Sako and Koscielny.

Compared to his predecessor Blanco, Deschamps seemed to prefer Koscielny more, willing to give this young player with an ordinary national team resume an opportunity.

For the full-back position, Manchester United star Evra was a natural choice, while on the other side they chose Lille Team’s Debuchy.

As for the midfield and forward positions, the only one confirmed was forward Benzema and one of the defensive midfielders, Matuidi, with other positions still to be decided.

”Buzz, buzz.....”

Before the meeting began, a sudden buzz of chatter erupted in the locker room, with players gathering in small groups.

”Transfermarkt’s market values have been updated!”

Quickly, everyone knew the news, took out their phones to browse the latest market values.

Ma’el was the person who didn’t need to check. The moment he picked up his phone, he saw congratulatory messages from Football Record’s Peter and Amelia, as well as from Safina and Harry, among others.