I AM the Football Star

Chapter 60: Chapter 26: Play Like a King

Italian D League, Round 34, Sanremo City Stadium.

Today, the media presence at the stadium has reached an all-time high.

Not even the press conferences held here since Sotu’s appointment had such extravagant media presence.

Live Football Report, Rome Sports, Italian Football Commentator, Italian National Sports Daily, Milan Sports, Kicker... all these renowned Italian media outlets are present today.

As expected, they soon spotted today’s main attractions in the VIP fan section.

Maniero and Carrel!

Both in suits, chatting and laughing.

The surprising thing was that there was also a staff member from Purple Lily’s scouting department beside Carrel, the senior scout Luis.

This lends more credibility to Hans’ previous article.

”Maniero, are you sure that kid can handle such pressure?” Carrel looked at the San Remo players warming up on the field, among whom a 1.81-meter-tall player with yellow skin stood out.

Because he and another 1.72-meter-tall player were standing at the farthest positions on the half-field, continuously exchanging long passes.

It was Lu Yang and Morici.

Surprisingly, their long passes were very stable.

When Morici passed to Lu Yang, he often added some technical moves to showcase his excellent dribbling and control skills.

This was his response to certain rumors before the match.

Someone said they wanted to show him the harshness of professional football in this match, someone threatened him, but Morici wanted to tell the other side with his outstanding skills, ”I have the ability to surpass you, come and try if you dare!”

Similarly, Lu Yang’s passes were not as technically nuanced, but they were quite accurate, especially considering he is a defensive midfielder with a center-back background.

”Seems I was overthinking it,” Carrel said with a helpless smile. ”Is he using this method to tell the opposing players that he also has the ability to support and initiate attacks, thereby relieving the defensive pressure on Little Maniero?”

Maniero laughed.

Because of his previous praise, many now knew that Morici somewhat resembled a young Maniero.

”His technical attributes are not exactly the same as Maniero’s,” Luis the Purple Lily scout said. ”Morici’s field control is much inferior to young Maniero’s, but this is masked by his running.”

”But in higher-level matches, both sides have greatly expanded running ranges, and the opportunities he can get will be much fewer. This is a core reason many teams aren’t optimistic about him, not just his 1.72-meter slender build.”

Maniero nodded, acknowledging what many overlook.

The lower league pace is slow, the pressure is small, being a midfield commander here does not mean you can in a higher league. High-level league opportunities are fleeting and not everyone can grasp them.

”But Morici’s quick passes are actually excellent! Especially his half-turn volley passes, I think this differentiates him from other midfield commanders,” Maniero continued. ”I didn’t have such a technical aspect in my time. But as the pace of offense and defense in football accelerates, this might become his core competitive edge in the future.”

Luis frowned, ”I’ve seen those passes of his, his ability is not stable enough yet, he hasn’t fully grasped that passing style. And... others also find it hard to adapt to his passes, too fast for both opponents and teammates alike.”

Maniero, ”Someone will adapt eventually, currently no one adapts because the overall level of Italian D is too low.”

Luis nodded, not necessarily agreeing, but he did ponder.

After all, Maniero is the dual mastermind of Italy Team and Juventus, his foresight in football is much more far-reaching and precise than ordinary people.

”Aren’t you going to comment on my successor?” Carrel forcibly pulled the topic back to Lu Yang, ”Luis, you strongly recommended the Crown Prince at Purple Lily, you know me too well, so the higher-ups had you come here, hoping you’d focus on this Crown Prince.”

Hans’ article was very popular, and Florence kept a close eye on everything related to Carrel, so they specifically sent Luis over.

But Luis shook his head, ”Carrel, he’s not you. I’ve studied his technical characteristics, aside from playing center-back like you, there’s no similarity between you two.”

”Even your trademark powerful shots are completely different from his rapid descent shot feature. He lacks any forward-level or midfield-level dribbling abilities, breakthrough abilities, or escape abilities. The V-shaped Pull is just a basic touch technique. Once it becomes well known, it’ll be hard to be effective as an escape maneuver.”

”Perhaps his ball control and passing have a certain level, but such a player cannot be a central forward!”

”In fact, rather than being the Crown Prince of Purple Lily, his technical characteristics are more like a budget butcher!”

Carrel was taken aback.

How did his well-to-do successor become a little butcher?

But looking at Sotu on the coach bench, it all seemed to make sense.

Apparently, this trip was purely for catching up with Maniero.

The Crown Prince remark was purely hype.

...

Whistle!

With a whistle from the referee, the match between fifth-place San Remo and seventh-place Potenza in the Italian D League standings officially began!