From Arsenal to the Ball God

Dribbling!

Dribbling past opponents!

This signifies a powerful enhancement in his dribbling abilities, significantly increasing his success rate against defenders.

Even when he only mastered ball control techniques before, his success rate in dribbling past opponents wasn’t low... One can imagine, after upgrading ’Ball Control’ to ’Dribbling’, what kind of performance he will display on the field.

”Let’s speed up the Rhythm upgrade.”

Ma’el’s grin showed both satisfaction and greed. Once the additional skill, Rhythm, also gets upgraded, his dribbling will be infinitely close to those dribbling maestros.

Perhaps not as strong as the legendary Messi, nor as flashy as those with fancy techniques like Neymar or Ronaldinho.

But comparable to the dribbling style of Eden Hazard, right?

His speed and physique are stronger than the Burger King, surely he can have a more impressive success rate.

”Always talking about initial all-round abilities.”

Ma’el recalled what was said before, and couldn’t help but sigh: ”Once the Rhythm is upgraded, along with the Header and Fancy Techniques, it should be intermediate all-round abilities, right?

”It’s unimaginable what kind of player would be in the ultimate state, with all skills at Level 5.”

He stopped thinking about it, picked up the football, and headed to the equipment room to prepare for tomorrow’s training. The day after tomorrow could be his debut for the national team.

...

Evening of November 15, in the conference room.

Deschamps held a tactics board, looking calm, ”Tomorrow we will be playing against Belgium on the field at Clairefontaine. There will be many youth trainees coming to watch, and not many media reporters.

”Here is the starting lineup.”

As the final word fell, most of the players’ faces turned tense. Even though everyone will get a chance to play, being in the starting lineup certainly represents a different status in Deschamps’ mind.

Tomorrow is also Deschamps’ debut for the national team. The starting lineup he sends out must be his strongest roster, the main lineup for the future!

”Goalkeeper Lori.”

Deschamps announced the first name. His loyal player Mandanda still held a sliver of hope but was now completely deflated.

”Central defender Sako, Koscielny, left-back Evra, right-back Debuchy.”

As the words fell, several people excitedly leaned forward, while others lost focus in their eyes, and their gaze on Deschamps became unfocused.

”Defensive midfielders Matuidi, Yohan Cabaye.”

He continued, Cabaye was the first to lose his composure, laughing and clapping with the person next to him upon hearing his name.

”Central midfielder, Nasri.”

When Deschamps reached this point, the tension in the conference room peaked.

Ma’el stared at him intently, and Ribery was doing the same. Including Nasri, Evra, and others, they were eyeing the forward positions.

”Left forward, or inside forward.”

Deschamps lifted his head, scanned the room, and finally landed on one spot, ”Ma’el.”

He said the name with no suspense in his heart, and no pressure. He had thought this even before taking over the national team.

As he told the president of the French Football Federation, Legrain, he only trusted his own eyes and feelings!

He wouldn’t care about market value or accumulated honors; he only valued his own assessment of players.

So the answer was without doubt, Ma’el from the Arsenal team had a higher priority than Ribery from Bayern Munich!

”Whew.....”

Hearing his name, Ma’el let out a slight sigh of relief. After a week of training camp, Deschamps intentionally kept his distance, making him unsure of his current status in Deschamps’ mind.

It seems that luckily, the other side still remembers the impact of those two matches he had made!

This old fellow... maintaining distance, does he want him to forget the joy of those seven goals?

That’s impossible, even if Deschamps is triumphant in the future with all honors, he would still whisper to him one day—do you remember why you took this position?

Ma’el was relaxed now, already thinking about having children as soon as he held hands, but it was different on the other side.

The moment the news reached him, Frank Ribery’s face instantly darkened, and it wasn’t just any disappointment; it was a deliberate, visible darkened expression.

He slowly tilted his neck, continuously looking in Deschamps’ direction, showing disbelief and a hint of questioning.

Nasri and Evra quickly looked at him, the former with a slight smile, the latter with shock.

What was Deschamps thinking?

Doesn’t he care about senior players at all?

They weren’t worried about whether Ribery could play... but this means letting veterans give way to new talent.

”Right forward Ribery, center Benzema.”

Deschamps didn’t pause, finishing the last two names. He set the tactics board down, ”The rest will be on the bench ready for my arrangements.”

He certainly noticed the looks from a few veteran players, something he had long been used to.

The days are long... If anyone defies him, they’ll have plenty of time to deal with it.

He had requested and received all the power from the President of the French Football Federation, Legrain. Now this French team could only follow his lead!

Centralization!

This is Deschamps’ policy in controlling the French National Team, and he would only delegate authority to those useful to his team.

Soon, everyone left in silence, and the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Ma’el was different. He approached Deschamps as if he had something to ask.

Deschamps looked at him, somewhat surprised, as their eyes met.

”Um.” Ma’el seemed a bit reluctant to speak, paused, and then said, ”Are there media reporters in a friendly match?”

”Yes.” Deschamps nodded, still not understanding Ma’el’s intent, ”But no recording or photography during the match, only my team members record the data.”

Ma’el laughed and nodded, ”Can I bring in one media reporter?”

Deschamps was even more surprised. What kind of request was this... He wanted to ask why, but held back for the sake of his image, ”I can allow one, do you need a press pass? Follow me to get it.”

”Okay.”

Ma’el’s voice instantly carried more energy. He followed Deschamps to the assistant coach’s office to get a media pass before leaving.

After he left, the assistant coach looked at his back, hesitated, frowned, and asked, ”What’s up Deschamps, is your most valued player switching roles?”

”Get lost.”

Deschamps glanced at him, and they both laughed heartily together. Privately, their interactions differed from those with the players.

”Do you feel awkward interacting with him now?” The assistant coach, having finished laughing, asked again, ”The one who beat you 8-0 over two legs, creating 5 goals alone.”

Deschamps’ mouth twitched, and he grasped the assistant’s shoulder, ”If you bring that up again, waking others’ memory of it, I’ll strangle you.”

As his hand slowly applied pressure, ghostly cries and howls echoed in the office.

....

PS: It won’t be long before we’re back at the club. Updates are unrestrainable, said it was one Chapter of 6k, now it’s 7k, even 8k. Asking for monthly tickets!