Like many professional teams, AZ Alkmaar's home stadium is surrounded by huge posters of players.

There are Costa Rican goalkeeper Brown, Dutch rookie Maher, Danish midfielder Paulsen, Australian left wing Holman ......

At this moment, AZ Alkmaar's staff are replacing the latest player posters, hanging up the posters of two new players, they are Behrens, who joined from Heerenveen for 1.5 million euros, and American striker Altidore, who joined from Bursa Sport in Turkey and used to play for Villarreal in La Liga.

However, there were limited spaces around the stadium and some of the players' posters had to be taken down.

Twenty-six-year-old Italian centre-forward Graziano Pelle stood in the distance, watching his poster slowly removed by the club's staff and replaced with Altidore.

It's as if he's in the club at the moment, chicken ribs.

He was born in the academy of Lecce, Italy, but his career has been wandering, first by Lecce on loan to Catania, Crotone, Cesena and other Serie B teams, because of his outstanding performance in the World Youth Championship and European Youth Championships, so he was valued by the then Alkmaar manager Louis van Gaal, and came to the Netherlands for a high price of 6 million euros.

It was the most glorious moment of his life so far.

At the age of 22, he is at a critical stage in his career development, and is favored by world-class coach Louis van Gaal, and his future is limitless.

At the outset, there was a lot of expectation from everyone in the team that he could take the place of Dutch centre-forward Kovermans, who had just scored 22 league goals in the previous season, and only one in the league in his first season.

Such a huge gap is obviously unacceptable, especially since Pelle is still wearing a high price of 6 million euros, but Van Gaal is still full of confidence in him and continues to keep him in the team, hoping that he can adjust as soon as possible.

In the second season, Pelle's form did improve, scoring only three goals in 20 league games, two more than last season, which made everyone despair, but AZ Alkmaar won the Eredivisie this season and Louis van Gaal also left AZ Alkmaar after the season.

Van Gaal's successor is his protégé Ronald Koeman, who shares Van Gaal's attitude towards Pelle, who often says that Pelle should be the kind of striker who can play as a team's attacking point, rather than be a goalscorer who can only score goals.

"Think about it, if you were Ibrahimovic and Van Persie, what would you do?"

Compare yourself to top strikers like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robin van Persie?

Pelle was flattered.

However, Koeman only spent five months at AZ Alkmaar and left the team just after December, with Dutch coach Edvocaat taking over from AZ Alkmaar, but his requirements were completely different from those of Louis van Gaal and Koeman, and he had no confidence in Pelle's predecessor.

Edwerkat only spent half a year at AZ Alkmaar before his former assistant Welbeck took over last summer, but he had the same impression of Pelle as Edwardart, who was completely relegated to the bench.

However, it was during those two years on the bench that Pelle thought more and gradually learned how to play his own way, trying to understand what Louis van Gaal and Koeman had taught him, and he scored six goals in 18 league games last season, his best season since joining AZ Alkmaar.

And more often than not, when he came off the bench, scoring in three consecutive games and scoring twice in a short period of time as a substitute, which excited Pelle and surprised his progress, but it didn't help his place at AZ Alkmaar.

Welbeck didn't trust him at all, so he brought in Altidore from the Bursa movement this summer.

The move essentially ended Pelle's four-year career at AZ Alkmaar.

But leaving AZ Alkmaar, where to go?

Agent Calvino is not well-known, but he has a strong ability to operate in the Netherlands, he has helped Pelle contact many teams, but they are all prohibitive, the only one who is interested in him is Parma in Serie A, but can there be a place in this team?

Pelle is deeply suspicious, because Parma has gathered Crespo, Palladino, Okaka, Giovinco and other famous Serie A players, not to mention that Pelle has been away from Italian football for many years, and Parma coach Colomba himself is difficult to protect, let alone give Pelle a chance, is it appropriate to join Parma at this time?

But in fact, Pelle has no choice in this matter, and he can only look forward optimistically, maybe there will be a turnaround in the future of Parma.

Thinking of this, Pelle couldn't help but let out a long sigh, turned around and sat back in the car, ready to leave for home.

But at this moment, his mobile phone suddenly rang, and the caller ID was an unfamiliar phone number.

Pelle immediately answered the phone, and an unfamiliar voice came from inside.

"Hello, Pelle, I'm the Technical Director of Chinatown, and my name is Carlos Cantarero. The person on the other end of the phone introduced himself fluently in English.

Carlos Cantarero

As a professional player, although he played for the Netherlands and was not successful, Pelle must have heard of this team and this name, the former is the top four strong team in La Liga, the team of Gao Han, and the latter is Gao Han's right-hand man, known as the best coach in the world to develop and sculpt players.

"You...... Hello, Mr. Cantarero. Pelle replied with some emotion.

Luckily, he speaks English very well.

"I'm so glad you met me, it saves a lot of things. There was a hearty laugh on the other end of the phone.

After laughing, Cantarero continued to ask: "I heard from your agent that AZ Alkmaar has allowed you to look for a team, so I wonder if you are interested in coming to our Chinatown?"

"Chinatown?" Pelle was a little confused.

He is still self-aware, and he knows that he is just a substitute who can't even play at AZ Alkmaar, how can he go to Chinatown? That's the fourth team in La Liga and going to play in the Champions League.

'I know it's going to be hard to accept all of a sudden, but we do have the intention of inviting you to play for Chinatown and, you know, our number one centre-forward, Michu, has decided to join Arsenal. ”

The news is one of the hottest in recent times, second only to Gao Han's coaching of Paris Saint-Germain, and although it has not yet been officially recognized by both teams, it has already detonated the European transfer market.

That would be Arsenal's record record for the highest transfer fee ever.

"I ...... I don't really understand. Pelle's voice was a little hurried.

"Maybe you don't believe it, but we've been keeping an eye on you since more than a year ago, and it was Mr. Gao Han who heard your name from Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman respectively, you know, they are friends, and occasionally exchange ideas, and both Dutch coaches have a lot of respect for you." ”

"Later, Mr. Gao Han personally studied your footage, and our technical team also followed your matches and training closely since a year ago, but it was not noticed by you, for example, your brace against Utrecht, the official data is 26 minutes, in fact you only took 17 minutes, and 26 minutes is the time you came on as a substitute. ”

When Pelle heard this, he no longer doubted Cantarero's words, and it was impossible to know the exact time without knowing him in detail.

"But...... I still don't get it. "Pelle is still worried.

'Yes, it's hard to believe from a common sense point of view, but we need a point of attack like Diego Costa and Michu, not a scorer, and we think you're a good fit, you're a player with a lot of ideas and ideas, you're fine at your feet, you're physical, we think you can succeed in La Liga. ”

Many of Cantarero's statements are similar to those of Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman, which makes Pelle believe a little more in his heart about Cantarero's statement, and he is now 26 years old, and he knows exactly what his style of play is and what kind of tactics can bring out his full energy.

"You know, Mr. Gao Han just called me personally, and he said......"

Cantarero paused deliberately, and Pelle was a little anxious to know, "Say what?"

'He said that your experience at AZ Alkmaar is not entirely a matter of quality, to a large extent, the turmoil at the club in the last two years has also affected your performance, you are a very good thinker, going to Parma or returning to Serie A is not for you, if you can play in a tactical framework that suits your play, you will become a good attacker, enter the Italian national team and make a name for yourself in European football. ”

"This ......," Pelle was stunned again, "is this really what Mr. Gao Han said?"

"It's true, I can ask him to call you personally if needed. Cantarero said.

"No, no, no, Mr. Cantarero, you misunderstood, I didn't doubt you, I just ...... I...... Just ......"

Pelle was already a little incoherent with excitement.

For him, let alone the cold, even Cantarero is an unattainable existence, not to mention, Cantarero has no reason to lie to him at all, and there is no need for that.

"AZ Alkmaar has asked you to contact the team on your own, so we have now extended a solemn invitation to you to come and play in Chinatown, believe me, you will get a space to play at your best, all of us, including Gao Han, including me, including manager Mauricio Pochettino, we will help you. ”

Pelle was breathing hard with excitement, and he knew very well that countless professional players had dreamed of getting a touch from Gao Han and Cantarero, and he was so lucky that it made his mood feel like a roller coaster, completely unquellable.

"How's that? Need some time to think about it?" Cantarero asked over the phone.

"No, Mr. Cantarero. Pelle shook his head almost without thinking about it, "No, I'm willing to join Chinatown." ”

"It's good, Pelle, believe me, it's going to be a very smart choice. Cantarero said with a smile.

Until he hung up the phone, Pelle was still dizzy, and he only felt like he was dreaming.

But he quickly came to his senses and called his agent, Calvino, but to his surprise, Calvino also knew about it, and Cantarero first called Calvino before getting Pelle's mobile phone number.

This made Pelle believe it all.

He looked through the car window at the stadium wall in the distance, where there was no more poster of him, but at this moment he was full of anticipation for the future, and he was somewhat uneasy.

"Am I really going to Chinatown?"

(End of chapter)