Chapter Twenty-Two Turin

  "Interesting choice? Which player is Mr. Chairman referring to?" Lyra asked with some curiosity.

  "This... two days ago, Inter Milan's football director Mr. Branca and the highly respected Mr. Corsi jointly recommended a player to me. They said that he is a player with a relatively high level, great potential, and quite suitable for our team."

  Kayla seemed somewhat hesitant.

  Just now, seeing Lairda and Petrazi fall into dispute, Kaylo's heart was anxious, and he suddenly brought up that sentence. After finishing speaking, he felt a bit regretful. Although the player received high praise from the two professionals, after all, he had not seen the player's performance on the field with his own eyes, and did not know whether the two gentlemen's evaluation would be overly flattering or have any inaccuracies. Moreover, the most crucial thing was that the player they recommended had not even played a professional game. If he were to recommend him to Lairda like this, it seemed somewhat inappropriate.

  However, the chairman's explanation only piqued Lierda's interest. Branca and Corsi are both big names in Italian football, and Inter Milan behind them is a giant with great influence in the football world. What kind of player would be recommended by these two? Would he really suit Torino?

  "Mr. Chairman, what's that player's name? How's his ability? What's the transfer fee?" Lyle seemed very interested.

  Seeing Laila's urgent expression, Kaylo felt himself being pushed to the fore. In this situation, wanting to remain silent was obviously no longer an option, he could only continue speaking with a stiff upper lip.

  "I'm not quite sure about his ability. As for the transfer fee, it doesn't cost a single penny. He is a young goalkeeper from Chievo in Serie A, whose name seems to be Chu Jiang, from China."

  Obviously, the Chinese names were a bit of a tongue-twister for Kyle, and the complex pronunciation rules made it even harder for him to distinguish. So, Chu Jiang became "Chu Jiang" ...

  "Chili sauce?"

  Contrary to Kaylo's expectations, Laila did not immediately refute his obviously immature suggestion, but instead showed a thoughtful expression.

  "Chairman, I've also heard of this Mr. Chu Jiang," Petrazi said suddenly. His pronunciation of the name "Chu Jiang" was apparently more standard than Chairman Kailo's, but only by a margin of 50 paces to 100 paces.

  "Two days ago, Mr. Corsi and Mr. Pagano also recommended this player to me. Yesterday, I received a handwritten letter from the player himself. In it, he appears very confident, thinking that his strength can help our club, and saying that he is not afraid to compete with anyone, believing in his ability to fight for a starting position. Whether what he says is true or false, I'm not sure, but his Italian is really poor, haha!" Petrachi added, recalling some awkward phrases and grammatical errors in the letter, couldn't help but smile. However, he still appreciated Chu Jiang's bold move of writing a self-recommendation letter.

  Just then, overhearing the conversation of the three, Lyle's assistant coach Flavio Desidero also walked over.

  "Frank, the name of that Chinese goalkeeper I've also heard of, was recommended to me by my son Mattia yesterday. According to that kid, Zhu Jiang had trained at Appiano before. During his training, all the players and coaches who saw him perform were conquered by his ability. He only took three days to make Inter Milan's previous starting goalkeeper Bardi become a substitute, showing quite strong strength. Although my son didn't see his performance with his own eyes, his friends at Inter shouldn't lie to him."

  Frank Lyle was moved by Destro's words.

  Inter Milan's young goalkeeper, Bardi, is not unfamiliar to Lierd. Although this goalkeeper is young, his strength is not bad, and he has the reputation of "Little Viviano". He is a representative figure among Italian young goalkeepers. In the 09-10 season of Serie A, 18-year-old Bardi played for Livorno in an away game against Parma.

  Laird estimates that Baldi's ability should be comparable to Torino's two current goalkeepers, Davide Bassi and David Morello, but with greater development potential than the latter two. Chong Jiang's ability is stronger than Baldi's, meaning he has a more powerful presence than Torino's current two goalkeepers. As a young goalkeeper, his future development potential is even harder to estimate.

  Lerda was an assistant coach to Destro when he coached Crotone last season. The two are old partners and good friends, with a closer relationship than Keiro, Petrachi and others. Destro's son, Mattia Destro, is the leader of Inter Milan's young generation, who was loaned to Serie A powerhouse ** this season. Although he is no longer in Apiano, many players there are his good friends.

  The information obtained from this channel is definitely guaranteed in terms of credibility.

  And just two days ago, Lierda received a call from Peia and Bosaglia, the coaches of Inter Milan's youth team. On the phone, both coaches recommended Chujang to Lierda. For this 17-year-old goalkeeper, both coaches were full of praise, believing that if they could sign Chujang, it would greatly benefit their quest for promotion to Serie A. From them, Lierda also learned that if not for the fact that the non-EU player quota had already been taken by Kudinio, Chujang would have definitely stayed at Appiano. The two coaches did not hide their regret over Chujang's departure in their words.

  A 17-year-old young genius goalkeeper, with strength and potential surpassing Buffon, conquered all members of Inter Milan's youth team and visiting Chievo's chief scout within two weeks, and can confidently promote himself.

  All of this couldn't help but make Laila deeply curious about this Chinese man she had never met.

  "Mr. Chairman, I would like to make acquaintance with this young man."

  Kai Luo smiled, in fact, not only Laila, but Kai Luo himself was also very curious about Chu Jiang. However, although he was the chairman of the team, it was still necessary to respect the head coach when choosing players. Only after the coach spoke up could he send someone to contact Chu Jiang and invite him to Dalian.

  "However, Mr. Petrachi's work is not done yet, after all Rubinho is our first choice. No matter how capable the Chinese goalkeeper is, he doesn't have much match experience. Rubinho, as Palermo's main goalkeeper, has already played three or four seasons in Italy's Serie A and has both ability and experience, which will definitely be of great help to us."

  Although it has been decided to invite Chu Jiang, out of caution, Lyle still does not want to give up on Rubini. He is unwilling to put his bets on a young goalkeeper he has never seen before.

  "Alright, alright, I'll try my best." Petra said with a wry smile.

  For Lielida's insistence, Petrachi did not object. The current situation of the team is all in sight for Petrachi. Indeed, the two goalkeepers currently on the team are both limited in ability and belong to the middle and lower levels of Serie B. Their strength cannot match Torino's ambition to rush into Serie A. It is said that a good goalkeeper can make up for half of the team, and conversely, a poor goalkeeper can be a disaster for the team. To complete the task of promotion this season, the goalkeeper position must be supplemented.

  Actually, Petraglia didn't not want to sign Rubino. The key is that Palermo asked for a transfer fee of 6 million euros, which was too high for a Serie B team. Moreover, the player himself not only required an absolute starting position but also demanded to maintain his annual salary in Palermo without any reduction, which was 1.2 million euros, more than 30% higher than the team's top star Rolando Bianchi's 900,000 euros.

  Although chairman Kyoros has some money, he has made great sacrifices for Torino over the years and his family is almost bankrupt. Unless absolutely necessary, Petrachi does not want to let this respectable fan president take out his own pocket again and sacrifice himself for the team.

  "I hope that Chinese goalkeeper is really that magical!" Petra?i? prayed silently in his heart.

  One day later, in Turin, northern Italy.

  Compared to the fashionable city of Milan, Turin has more ancient buildings and a heavier atmosphere. It is Italy's industrial center, car city, chocolate town. At the same time, it is also the home of two powerful teams that are famous at home and abroad, Torino and Juventus.

  Compared to Juventus, Torino's fame is much dimmer. As the oldest team in Italian history, Torino has been sinking since the painful Superga air crash. Compared to Manchester United, who also experienced an air crash, the "Red Bull" Torino seems more tragic.

  With their luggage in tow, Chu Jiang and Pagan arrived at the city. Looking around at the various Baroque buildings, Chu Jiang couldn't help but feel a little contemplative.

  Two months ago, Chu Jiang was reborn from two years ago, and his life trajectory began a new journey. Almost a month ago, Chu Jiang had just left Jianghai City, and for the first time in his life, he went on a long trip to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. In less than a short month's time, Chu Jiang's footprints have already covered Milan, Verona, and Turin, three cities. The encounters of life are really making Chu Jiang feel a bit bewildered.

  However, this life of chasing dreams for football is exactly what Chu Jiang wants. For his own ideals, no matter how bitter or tired he is, Chu Jiang is also willing to endure it.

  Arriving in Turin amidst the wind and dust, Chu Jiang rushed to the training base of the Torino team on the first day and actively requested to train with his teammates. After three days of joint training, Leljada basically recognized Chu Jiang's strength and notified Petrachi, who signed a formal player loan agreement with Chievo.

  The reason why they were able to reach an agreement so quickly is that Chu Jiang's strength was one of the factors, but not the most critical one. In just three short days, Lyle could confirm Chu Jiang's potential, but he couldn't be certain if he had enough strength to take on the role of team leader.

  The most crucial factor in reaching the agreement was the full cooperation of Chievo and Paganoni. In order to make this deal possible, Chievo not only did not ask for any loan fees but also took on the salary of Jujiang during his time at Torino. This means that Torino didn't spend a single penny to get Jujiang under their command.

  What's more, in order to let Chu Jiang smoothly take the lead, and for Du Ling to cultivate Chu Jiang with all his heart, Qie Wo even gave half of Chu Jiang's ownership to Du Ling. However, Qie Wo noted in the contract that Qie Wo Club has the right to buy back half of Chu Jiang's ownership within six months at a price of 300,000 euros.

  Such a contract is a win-win for Torino, with no risk at all. If Chongjiang does not have enough strength to occupy a place in Torino, Torino will not lose anything. If Chongjiang performs well, Torino will not only gain an excellent goalkeeper, but also benefit from the league campaign and receive 300,000 euros paid by Chievo.

  That's why Dooling signed Chu Jiang from China so readily.

  Six months later, Torino's signing was rated by Tuttosport as "the best transfer in history", while at the same time it was also voted by Torino fans as "the most stupid transfer in history".

  Why is a deal that seems so similar both the best and the stupidest at the same time? All will be revealed in six months.