Chapter 40: The Predators Aiming at Descartes
Sending the Turks away 2-0, Italy continued to hold their heads high at the World Junior Championships, and now there is only one team left between them and the trophy: Mexico, who are half hosts.
Historically, Mexico has been a powerhouse in North and Central America, having competed in 13 World Cup finals, fifth behind Brazil, Germany, Italy and Argentina, but compared to the previous four, Mexico have never won the title, and their best result is the quarter-finals.
Although Mexico have not won any outstanding results, they do have a good tradition: they produce excellent strikers.
The greatest striker in the history of Mexico is Ugo, who played for Real Madrid. Sanchez, the great star who has already made 80 appearances for his country at the age of 18 (both in youth and at the Olympics)!
In 1985, Ugo. Sanchez found his "dream land" and joined Real Madrid from Atletico Madrid with the title of top scorer in the league, forming what is probably the most powerful forward line in the world so far with "Vulture" Putragno, and with the help of Baldano, Michel, Camacho and others, this Real Madrid won five consecutive league titles for the second time in the team's history.
Of course, there is also the well-known "Real Madrid Five Eagles" in that team.
Another star of the Mexican team that impresses people is, of course, their "frogman" Blanco.
The striker's "leap" against South Korea in the '98 World Cup simply stunned friends all over the world!
So football can still be played like this?!
Blanco Frog Jump has not only become a classic in football history, but has even become a special skill in FIFA soccer games.
In the current Mexican national junior team, there are also two well-known rookies, that is, Doss. Santos and Bella.
Both of these players are typical of their young fame, and before participating in this World Junior Championship, they have already received their own invitations from European giants. Santos joins Barcelona, while Vela will report to Arsenal after the game.
The two youngsters with the label of giants can be said to be a double star in this World Junior Championship, they helped the Mexican national team to score a total of six goals in the group stage, although they lost to Turkey by one goal after two consecutive wins in the group stage, but their goal difference is one more than the group winner.
In the quarter-finals, Mexico eliminated Costa Rica 3-1 in extra time, and then they beat the European Championship runners-up Netherlands 4-0 in the semi-finals, and it can be said that their form is getting better and better.
So far, Mexico's striker Vela is still at the top of the World Junior Championship scoring charts with five goals, while Italy's top scorers Descartes and Foti have both scored just three goals.
Therefore, this final will not only determine the ownership of the champions and runners-up of the two teams, but also the Golden Boot Award of this World Junior Championship.
After the match with the Turkish team, Descartes was as usual by the media, especially the Italian media, and authoritative newspapers such as "Milan Sport" all wrote in the article: "The Italian team defeated Turkey with a typical English long pass, and we can see from the course of the game that this change of tactics may not be the head coach Francisco. Mr. Roca's idea, it was more like a spontaneous change on the part of the players. We noticed that in this tactical change, Descartes has become a key surname, as this tournament is getting closer and closer, Descartes' performance is getting better and better, he now seems to have the style of a 'coach on the field', we look forward to Descartes' performance in the final, but also keep an eye on his movements after the game, I believe that after the end of this World Junior Championship, Descartes will soon enter his career. ”
The speculation of "Milan Sport" is not groundless, because after the match with the Turkish team, England's most authoritative sports newspaper "The Guardian" first broke the news that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has sent people to Italy, and the purpose of their trip is not for other reasons, and they go straight to the small city of Pavia.
It's clear who the Red Devils are targeting.
The Guardian also revealed that Arsenal had also sent a fax to the Pavia club, this time not an inquiry, they directly quoted a price of 5 million pounds, and it is reported that Arsenal manager Professor Wenger is bound to Descartes.
Even the English team has come to intervene, how can Italy's big clubs be willing to be lonely at this time?
In line with the convenience of being close to the water, the two giants of Milan City have sent people to contact the Pavia club.
AC Milan are full of remorse for the incident five years ago, and while it is still uncertain whether Descartes is really adapting to the game, at least his anaemia has not affected his performance on the pitch, so what if he can only play 45 minutes? Can Maradona's 45 minutes be compared to the average person's 45 minutes?
In 2002, Milan had already set up the famous Milan laboratory, and they thought that Descartes had enough honor and status worthy of Milan's identity, so they had already made up their minds to recruit Descartes at all costs and cure his illness, shaping him into a new generation of Milan icons.
As for Inter Milan, Mr. Moratti's star collector has long been known on the streets, and they have been paying attention to players like Descartes who have beaten them repeatedly in junior team competitions.
Like Milan, Inter's only concern was whether Descartes was worth the huge amount of resources they spent on recruitment, but when the World Junior Championship is over, I believe that this concern will disappear.
There are not many players who can single-handedly drag a team to the World Series finals, and so far only Baggio '94 and Kahn '02 have been able to do it, and those as great as Yashin or Maradona have not been able to cover the sky with one hand and cover the whole team with their own strength.
But Descartes has already shown that potential at this World Junior Championships.
It is obviously unrealistic to say that Italy is his team alone, but the Italian team, which has been looked down on by the media before the game, can go all the way to the stage of the final, and Descartes is definitely the key to the change.
Mr. Rocca's decision to recruit Descartes into the national junior team before the game has also been called the key to the Italian national junior team's "change of fate".
In addition to the Milan duo, Juventus, Roma, Parma, Lazio and other major Serie A powerhouses will naturally not watch Descartes "fall into the hands of the enemy", although they know that there is little hope, but they still sent a fax to the Pavia club, the inquiry is a must, Juventus even directly quoted 4.5 million euros, pressing all the Serie A opponents under them.
You know, Juve has never made such an offer for a young player in history, and with Juve's reputation in Italy, they usually only need to hook their fingers, and the young heroes will obediently pounce on them like fishy cats.
Who is more than the Italian law that the team cannot sign a professional contract with an underage player.
In fact, Juventus were ready to do this before, but the Pavia club started quickly, and they had a keen sense that something was wrong during the period when the number of inquiries surged, so they immediately started to negotiate a contract with Descartes, and signed a "initialling agreement" with Descartes' father, Mr. Javier, as quickly as possible.
Such an agreement also has the force of a convention, and although it is not protected by Italian domestic labor law, it is recognized by FIFA and UEFA.
After all, no one wants the young talents they have worked so hard to cultivate to be coaxed away by others' sweet words before they are used, right?
Therefore, Juventus wanted to pry the corner for free, so they had to honestly return to the club to trade on the road.
After all, they are the "first brother" in Italian football, and although Juventus's transfer transactions have always been known as "baht must be compared", they can still be ruthless at critical moments.
In the 2000 European Championship final, Trezeguet became famous with a goal and became the popular fried chicken in the entire European football at that time, Juventus faced the coaxing of Manchester United, Barcelona, Inter Milan and many other giants, and resolutely recruited this "enemy of the Italian state" at a high price of 15 million pounds.
You must know that 15 million pounds at that time was not the same as now, and it was not just a player who had not proven himself to anything could be sold for a sky-high price of 100 million.
In fact, before the "real football manager" big player Abu entered the field, the transfer of the entire world football was still very reasonable, and if it wasn't for the chairmanship, Lao Fuye would not have paid $66 million to bring in Zidane.
After the entry of the "oil warlords", the whole football world suddenly set off a bloody storm, and the survival of those small clubs became more and more difficult, but the transfer fees of the players are becoming more and more outrageous, and tens of millions of pounds are already a common thing.
Remember, it has to be pounds!
Therefore, the 4.5 million euros offered by Juventus are completely enough to express their sincerity.
Like Milan, Juventus actually had a chance to get Descartes for free, but the miserly Moggi thought that Descartes' future was foggy at that time, and he was unwilling to bet on it, so now they have to pay 4.5 million to make up for their mistakes.
Sometimes you really think that training young football players is like gambling on jade in Yunnan, you don't know that the stone is hidden in the brilliant jade, and you don't know which stone is really just a stone.
Of course, there are only two people who are the most proficient in this area, that is, the two famous coaches of England who have been sworn enemies for more than ten years, Wenger and Ferguson.
Wenger's vision of young players does not need to be mentioned, Ferguson can cultivate the 92 class, obviously also has a lot of experience, of course, the two famous coaches also have a time to look away, but compared with the beautiful jade they carved, those are just small problems of scabies, not enough to mention at all.
Now that the two big coaches have made a move on Descartes, what will Juventus and other teams hesitate about?
Although 4.5 million euros is not as dazzling as Arsenal's 5 million pounds, Juventus is betting on their appeal to young players in Italy. Young talents like Descartes don't usually go abroad to challenge before they are young, given that not many Italian players have a successful history abroad, and Serie A is already one of the best leagues in the world, so there is no need for them to go out and challenge for an unknown future.
While Descartes was still preparing for his first world-class final in Peru, a storm was already raging around his transfer.