Chapter 37: Piedmont Derby

  Corso Duilio, inside the international headquarters of Milan, in the office of transfer manager Branca.

  On Branca's desk, a stack of open newspapers was spread out, the freshly printed Turin Sports Gazette. The newspaper had been opened to the page reporting on Serie B, with the headline on the front page reading: "Who will dominate the Piedmont Derby?"

  Piedmont is a region in northwest Italy, with Turin as its capital. It includes six provinces: Cuneo and Novara among others. The so-called Piedmont Derby, hyped by Tuttosport, refers to matches between two clubs from the same province within this region.

  Last season, Novara was still in the third division league, under the leadership of head coach Tesser, they defeated Serie A strong teams such as Parma and Siena, successfully advancing to the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup. Only in the semifinals did Novara lose to top-tier team AC Milan by one goal, ending their dark horse journey in the Italian Cup.

  Despite this, in the Coppa Italia matches against powerful Serie A opponents, Novara never lost more than two goals in a single match. Such defensive intensity surprised everyone who followed the game.

  Before the start of this season's Serie B, Novara's top management directly set the goal for this season as: at least entering the promotion playoffs! To know that it was only in Chapter 37 of Novara's promotion to Serie B, where a Chinese goalkeeper alone could have done it, haha!

  "Haha, I'll definitely complete the task! However, I believe that among these few people, Chu will definitely be the one who stands out the most!"

  At the same time, in the Palermo club, on Fuski's desk, there was also a copy of the Turin Sports Gazette. On the open page, Chu Jiang's picture was clearly visible.

  "It's interesting."

  Fuski tapped his fingers lightly on the table, with a thoughtful expression.

  "It can't be, is it because of this kid that Petraachi gave up on Rubini? Hmm...it seems like there's a possibility. To be able to get Petraachi's attention, this kid must have some skills. Maybe, another business opportunity has come knocking!"

  Forsyth picked up the phone on the desk.

  "Troja, there's a Serie B match in Turin on the weekend, go take a look. Yeah, that one on Saturday afternoon."

  "Not Ogbonna, he's been watched for a long time. I want you to pay attention to the goalkeeper of Torino. Yes, him. Don't forget, remember to give me a report about him after the match!"

  In Chivo.

  "Hey, Pagano, you're just in time!"

  As Paganoni hastily walked past the entrance, Chievo's general manager Giovanni Sartori quickly ran out to stop him.

  "Giovanni, you're looking for me?" Pagnano stopped in his tracks and asked suspiciously.

  "Yes. Just now I received a call from Torino chairman Cairo, he asked me how much money can buy the other half of the ownership of Chu. That Chinese goalkeeper who just transferred to Torino not long ago, you were in charge of signing him."

  "Wow, looks like he's doing well in Torino, getting recognized by the team so quickly." Paganini seemed a bit surprised. Although he had expected that with Chujian's abilities, he should get opportunities in Torino. But he still hadn't expected that Torino would accept Chujian so quickly and even proactively proposed to buy him out.

  "Yes, I didn't think of that. I'm not familiar with that player, so I thought of finding you to chat and hear your opinion."

  "Chu is a player with great potential, among the players I have seen, his potential should be one of the top. If the club plans to sell him, now may not be the best time."

  Pagano hesitated for a moment before answering. As soon as Sartori asked the question, he knew what Sartori was getting at.

  Generally speaking, for a Serie A minor club like Chievo, there are no unsellable players on the team. Any player, even coaches, can be sold as long as the price is right. Sartori's job is to get the most benefit for his club from this. So after receiving the call from the chairman of Inter Milan, Sartori's first reaction was how he could sell Chongjiang at the highest price.

  "Yeah, I think so too. He's only played a few games, and even if he performed exceptionally well, his current value wouldn't be much higher." Sartori nodded in agreement with Pagano's opinion.

  "This weekend there is a match of Chuo, I want you to go and see how he performs in the Torino team." Satōri continued after a moment's thought.

  "Alright, no problem. It's been a long time since I've seen him, and it just so happens that I still have some thoughts about him, haha!" Paganetti readily agreed.

  At the same time as three Serie A clubs were preparing to send scouts to watch this match, Juventus, who are based in Turin, also planned to make an initial assessment of Zhu Jiang.

  In this way, a simple Serie B match slowly evolved into an underground battle for talent among many Serie A clubs. And the focus of their attention was Chu Jiang from China, an Oriental youth who couldn't find a suitable club to accept him just a few months ago!