I Am Scouted by Real Madrid

Chapter 250: Chapter 5: Beckham, Chen, and the Spotlight (A Farewell from Ten Thousand Fans)

”No one understands Chen better than I do.”

”His arrival will surely bring a qualitative leap in the team’s defense!”

Carlo Ancelotti is eagerly awaiting at the airport. Last season, the team finished fifth in the domestic league, losing the chance to compete in the Champions League.

This season, although the team spent a lot of money, it wasn’t spent on the core issues. The team’s poor defense even makes it likely for Milan to compete for the highest number of goals conceded in recent years.

Ancelotti paced back and forth at the airport, occasionally checking his phone, fearing suddenly receiving a text saying that Real Madrid had suddenly reneged, and Chen Zhong wasn’t coming.

After all, Chen Zhong coming to Milan City has an odd and unsettling feeling to it.

That kind of feeling where something is ten parts wrong.

A team’s culture is the basic cohesion, and the youth players are the backbone of this culture and cohesion. The passing of the torch signifies the continuation of the bloodline, the perpetuation of DNA.

Quite a few teams have lost their spirit and culture, leading them to decline because of a lack of succession, the absence of DNA.

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The impact of Chen Zhong’s departure from Real Madrid is still fermenting, although it’s merely a half-season loan and considering the cordial relationship between Real Madrid and Milan, the opposing voices among fans are not overwhelming.

However, dissatisfaction with Calderon and discontent with Schuster as the coach has spread among the fan community.

There are even some negative remarks targeting Raul, Guti, Ramos, and other players, suggesting they recognized Chen Zhong’s threat and engaged in locker room politics, leaving the team’s ”Crown Prince” no choice but to wander away from home.

A team’s ”Crown Prince” could be due to tradition or performance, but regardless, a ”Crown Prince” usually needs the recognition and ”ennobling” by fans. Chen Zhong being called ”Crown Prince” in the latter half of the season demonstrates that he’s already favored by the emperor.

Not to mention, Real Madrid basically doesn’t have such a project as establishing a ”Crown Prince,” making Chen Zhong practically Real Madrid’s first Crown Prince.

Nevertheless, the internal locker room discord rumors ceased quickly.

Because on the day Chen Zhong left, Raul personally drove Chen Zhong to the airport, and apart from a few Dutch players and some isolated ones, almost the entire team personally ”escorted” Chen Zhong to the airport.

And along the way, Real Madrid fans expressed their reluctance through honking and following.

This scene allowed many back in Spain and those witnessing it through the news to feel the strong football atmosphere abroad, as if they consider football a ”heritage” and a ”necessity” in life.

Even perceiving club players as family, and youth players as their own children.

Upon learning this news, Calderon felt unsettled, as if an invisible hand was orchestrating this scene.

He originally never intended to sell or loan Chen Zhong.

Even letting Chen Zhong play in Castilla would have been a good option, but somehow, the situation turned to loaning Chen Zhong out.

Schuster was also ”compelled” to go to the airport to see off on that day.

For a coach, what’s most intolerable is losing control over the team’s locker room, because once a coach loses control, inevitably, anyone faces dismissal.

And when more than 90% of the locker room players go to see off, particularly the pinnacle pyramid figures, including both the captain and vice-captain.

Schuster had no choice but to show up.

At this point, Schuster also calmed down and began feeling a hint of regret.

In this commotion with the club, Schuster emerged victorious, his desires fulfilled, and he knew he still had status in the club, yet he remained unhappy.

Although it seemed he had won, in reality, he felt he had lost.

The fans didn’t like him, the players distanced themselves, and even the once close Francisco was now cold-faced to him, all seemingly due to Chen Zhong making him appear like a ”stranger” to Real Madrid.

The airport staff contacted nearby police to ensure safety, and when Chen Zhong stepped out of the car, the surrounding Real Madrid fans expressed their support with whistles and applause.

Some even held banners reading: ”This will pass soon, we’ll wait for you in Madrid.”

An airport staff member called out for everyone to clear a path and not affect the normal operations of the airport. Yet when Chen Zhong walked up, that staff member said, ”Chen, would you like to say a few words to everyone?”

”They certainly want to hear something from you.”

The loan negotiations between Real Madrid and Milan proceeded quickly, taking even Chen Zhong by surprise. He never imagined he would leave Real Madrid, especially not at such breakneck speed.

Even some ”friends” within the club hadn’t received the news, but if someone wasn’t behind this, Chen Zhong wouldn’t believe Calderon would make such a decisive and swift decision to loan him out.