Li Ang sat by the window with a smile on his face.
He remembered that he had told his parents that he already had a girlfriend at the dinner table two days ago. He had also told his parents about Alice's situation.
Li Guodong was a little surprised. Some traditional fathers seemed to be dissatisfied with their son's finding a foreign girlfriend.
However, Li Ang's mother was happy. She didn't care whether her son found a Chinese girlfriend or a foreigner, as long as it was her daughter-in-law.
After learning about Alice's background from Li Ang's mouth, Li Ang's mother almost burst into tears. The siblings had been orphans since childhood. The elder sister's health was not good, but she still persisted in earning money to support the family and raise her younger brother. What was even rarer was that although this girl was born in the slums, it was not easy for her to remain untainted and not go astray.
Li Ang's mother felt sorry for Alice. She had a good impression of this girl who she had never met.
Li Guodong's attitude towards Alice also improved. Chinese medicine paid attention to people's hearts and human nature. Li Guodong was like this. His son's girlfriend was persevering, responsible, and had a good character. This was very good.
Then, Li Ang's mother was more concerned about Alice's condition. She ordered her husband to study Alice's case carefully and try to find the root of this poor girl's illness so that she could be cured as soon as possible.
Then, in the next two days, Li Ang was pestered by his mother. As a mother, she always asked him, "How did you know each other? How long have you been dating? Well, how far have you gone? Boy, don't be shy, tell me … "
The plane was already ten thousand meters in the air. Li Ang looked at the white clouds outside the window and shook his head with a smile. These memories made him feel good. His parents' attitude towards Alice made him very happy.
I believe that Alice will be very happy if she knows the attitude of her parents. Li Ang thought with a smile.
Love that can be blessed by the elders is the happiest.
*****
Li Ang took a flight to Rome, the capital of Italy, and then transferred to Sicily, Italy.
Palermo, the largest city in the Northern Gulf of Sicily, was his final destination.
Palermo, the capital of Sicily, Italy, is located in the northwest of Sicily. Sicily Island is located southwest of the Apennine Peninsula, in the Palermo Bay of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was the football on Italy's boot that stretched out to the Mediterranean. It is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. This place was vast and rich, with a warm climate and beautiful scenery. It was rich in oranges, lemons, and olives. Due to its good natural environment for the development of agriculture and forestry, it was known as the "Golden Basin" in history. The ancient buildings in Palermo did not have a magnificent appearance. They were characterized by the coexistence of three styles of buildings: Norman, Byzantine, and Italian. Some of the buildings even had a strong Arabic color, such as the columns and wall carvings. The Italian writer Dante praised this place as "the most beautiful Muslim city in the world." The famous attractions were Sicily Island, Palermo, and the cathedral in the city.
Of course, Li Ang was not here for a vacation. He did not have time to wander around and enjoy life. Sporting de Gijón would officially start training in ten days. Li Ang needed to take advantage of these ten days to be busy everywhere and make up for the gaps in the team's lineup.
This time, Li Ang's target was the Palermo club. To be precise, he came here to poach.
The Palermo Football Club was founded in 1900 and was then known as the Anglo Panomitan Sports and Football Club. The club changed its name many times before it reached a certain scale and became the top club in Sicily. In its team history, the Palermo Football Club had participated in all levels of Italian professional leagues and fought in the Italian Serie A from the 1960s to the early 1970s. During this period, it was runner-up in the Italian Cup three times.
This team had just won the championship of the Italian Serie B in the season that had just ended and returned to the Serie A arena after a few decades.
In this Palermo team, it could be said that there were a lot of talents. It was the accumulation of Palermo's many years of dormancy in the Serie B league.
This team had Lucatoni, Barzagli, Zaccardo, and Grosso. They even had four Italian national footballers.
Such a team was actually just a Serie B team. The latter was more accurately a team that would be promoted to the Serie A next season. It was enough to shock everyone that they had so many Italian national footballers.
Among them, the tall center forward, Lucatoni, was the representative of a late bloomer. This big center forward, who had been unknown before, suddenly exploded in Palermo this season. He scored 30 goals in the Serie B league and was the king of the Serie B league's goalscorers. He was also the number one contributor to Palermo's return to the Serie A league.
Lucatoni's sudden explosion made many Serie A teams interested in this big center forward. Parma and Fiorentina were now observing the 27-year-old Palermo center forward.
Lucatoni's deterrence in the penalty area was amazing. Such a tall center forward could be said to be a giant in La Liga. His advantage and deterrence in the penalty area would be a nightmare for many teams.
However, Li Ang knew that Lucatoni was not someone he could seduce. Palermo's chairman, Zamparini, regarded Lucatoni as a treasure of Palermo and would not sell him easily unless it was an offer that Palermo could not refuse. However, this was obviously something that Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón could not do. They did not have that much money.
Li Ang's target was the three Italian national footballers in Palermo's defensive group, Barzagli, Zaccardo, and Grosso.
To be more precise, his target was Grosso, who was the left back.
*****
After Jeffrey's transfer to FC Porto, Li Ang's biggest headache was the left back position. This position was ranked first in his list of reinforcements.
For the left back position, Li Ang did not intend to poach those seventeen or eighteen-year-old youths this time. The La Liga field was cruel. If he dared to use the ten-year-old youths in the full back position who had never had any top league experience, they would definitely be beaten by their opponents or even die miserably.
Therefore, Li Ang's plan was to bring in players who were in their prime and use them.
However, there was a problem. Those players who were in their prime had some strength and were already famous. Their value was not something that Sporting de Gijón could afford.
At this time, Li Ang was watching the replay of the UEFA European Championship at home. When he heard Huang Jianxiang's familiar voice, Li Ang's first reaction was to wonder why this guy was still in CCTV. Then, he thought of the 'commentator' that eventually led to Huang Jianxiang's departure from CCTV. It had not happened yet. It was during the 2006 World Cup.
Thinking of this, the name of the great left back immediately popped up in Li Ang's mind: Fabio Grosso!
The 'great left back' Grosso!
Was Grosso a top full back? If one looked at the player's career, Grosso was not. His highlight was only in those three to five years.
He started with Palermo in the 20032004 season and became famous in the 2006 World Cup. He transferred to the Serie A powerhouse, Inter Milan in the summer of that year. Then … two seasons after the World Cup, Grosso's form declined sharply.
Therefore, on the whole, Grosso was not a top full back who could be entrusted with an important role for a long time.
However, that was after 2006. Li Ang did not need to think so far ahead now. He only knew that the next two seasons were Grosso's highlight. If he could poach the Italian left back, he would have no worries on the left side!
The two seasons of the great left back's highlight were dedicated to the great revival of Sporting de Gijón. That was good.
As for what would happen after 2006? With the highlight performance in the World Cup, if Grosso wanted to make a move at that time, he would definitely not have to worry about not being able to sell at a high price. Well, at the very least, there was someone else who would take over.
Well, in Li Ang's heart, Grosso was Sporting de Gijón's left back position. However, these two years were crucial. Grosso could be said to be tailor-made for Li Ang.
Of course, first, he had to be able to settle the transfer.
*****
Li Ang had analyzed that among the Italian national footballers in Palermo, the Palermo chairman Zamparini valued Lucattoni the most, followed by the center-back duo of Barzagli and Zaccardo, and finally Grosso.
Of course, this did not mean that Zamparini did not value Grosso. It was just a relative concept. Grosso was the easiest player to poach compared to the others.
In 2006, Inter Milan bought the left back player before Grosso became famous in the World Cup. Although there was no bonus factor of fame in the World Cup, considering Grosso's highlight performance in the 20042005 and 20052006 seasons in Serie A and the UEFA Europa League, he was only sold for 5.5 million euros. This also showed that the Palermo chairman Zamparini did not value Grosso highly.
5.5 million euros was the price after two seasons. Now, Grosso had just played a good season in Serie B and was not valued in Perugia. His fame had not risen yet, so Li Ang felt that he had the opportunity to buy at a low price …
Therefore, he came to Palermo.
When Li Ang arrived at the capital of Sicily, a fax was sent to the office of the Palermo club's chairman, Zamparini.
A Spanish team called Sporting de Gijón wanted to buy three players from Palermo.
Lucattoni, offer 4 million euros!
Barzagli + Zaccardo, package price of 5 million euros.
Zamparini was stunned when he saw the sudden offer. Sporting de Gijón? Where did this club come from? Of course, this is not important. What's important is our three Italian national footballers, Tony, Zaccardo, and Barzagli. The former is the Serie B Golden Boot, and you only offer 4 million euros? And Zaccardo and Barzagli, the package price is only 5 million euros. The three players add up to less than 10 million euros. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?!
Zamparini threw the offer sheet directly into the trash can.
However, two minutes later, Zamparini picked up the offer sheet from the trash can with a twinkle in his eyes.
*****
Almost at the same time, Li Ang checked into a hotel in Palermo. After a short rest, he started to get busy directly. He intended to contact the players directly. Although direct contact with the players was prohibited by the UEFA and would be heavily punished later, it was only 2004 and the management in this area was still relatively chaotic. Moreover, it was almost an open secret in football that the manager contacted the players directly.
If the monk could touch it, the priest could also touch it.
PS: Looking for a monthly ticket.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
