Football: A late bloomer, starting with Leicester City

Chapter 111: Still maintaining a stable La Nieli, Puma’s sponsorship that emphasizes bonuses but not endorsements (please vote for me)
Time passes like this day by day, and the entire Leicester City team's players maintain high morale and try their best to maintain their condition in daily training.

No one wants to end this winning streak, they all want to make this honeymoon period last longer.

As the time entered the second half of January, Leicester City's schedule gradually became tighter.

The remaining three games this month were all crammed between January 1.17th and January 1.23rd.

This means that they will inevitably encounter a situation of three games a week, two Premier League games and a first-leg match of the League Cup.

This made Ranieri feel a little embarrassed, but in the pre-match meeting on January 1, he still told everyone his arrangements.

"Tomorrow, in the 22nd round of the Premier League, our opponent is Aston Villa. This team's current injury situation is relatively serious, and a large number of main players have been injured."

Ranieri pointed his finger at the schedule and continued: "In this game, Shinji Okazaki and Chen Yufeng will rotate first, and Huth and Kanter will also rest first."

"In the next four days, when we face Manchester City, I will line up a full lineup and try my best to gain a lead at home and reach the final."

As Ranieri's words fell, the players on the scene took a deep breath, with some excitement on their expressions.

They were worried that Mr. Ranieri would not pay too much attention to the promotion of the League Cup because of his rapid progress in the league.

But it seems good now. Mr. Ranieri has fulfilled his promise and made adjustments to the league rotation to launch an impact on the League Cup!
"After the League Cup, in the third round of the Premier League No. 20, against Stoke City, Drinkwater, Mahrez, Vardy, and Morgan rested."

"This is our overall plan for January. I hope everyone is mentally prepared."

Ranieli took one last look around, then clenched his fists, "I hope we can spend this month safely without any slippage."

"Have a good rest and prepare for this week's devilish schedule."

He smiled one last time, then turned and walked out.

"Leicester City...!"

Captain Morgan then stood up in the conference room, waved and shouted.

Afterwards, all the team members responded positively, "Come on!!"

The roar echoed here, and Chen Yufeng sat in the back row with a smile on his face.

Entering the second half, the harvest time is coming soon.

This team will also usher in their happiest time soon.

At that time, the train of time truly passed through this period of history, and he truly became a part of it.

This feeling is completely different.

He hopes his presence will bring good luck to Leicester City in the Carabao Cup.

…………

On the 1.17th.

In Birmingham, the Villa Park stadium, which can accommodate more than 4 people, was packed, and more than [-] Aston Villa fans poured into the stadium today.

Villa fans immediately became excited when they saw Ranieri choosing to play in a semi-rotated lineup before the game.

They saw the possibility of getting three points in this central derby, and also saw the hope of revenge against Leicester City who defeated them!
"Ohhhhhh..."

Enduring cheers resounded throughout Villa Park, and all fans supported the team with their highest enthusiasm.

And Villa, who was full of injuries, used their substitute lineup to get off to a good start, holding Leicester City to a frenzied attack in the half!

In the second minute of Game No. 30, there was no big surprise. Aston Villa midfielder Guy stepped forward into the ribs and received a diagonal pass, quickly sweeping through the middle.

Hill, who followed up from behind, scored in one fell swoop, giving Aston Villa a [-]-[-] lead!
The Villa Park stadium suddenly boiled, thinking that they had a chance to win.

And the score of 10-[-] was indeed maintained until the final stage after [-] minutes of the game.

Chen Yufeng and Kanter were sitting on the bench, wearing vests and looking at the field with a bit of anxiety on their expressions.

In fact, Chen Yufeng has an impression of some of Leicester City's classic games, but the memory of playing against some mid-to-lower teams in the second half is completely gone.

He is not a god and can memorize all the results.

Therefore, he was quite nervous at the moment, and his hands were holding on to his trouser legs.

In front of him, Mr. Ranieri also looked anxious, walking around hesitantly with his arms folded, as if he was expecting something.

Time passed like this minute by minute, and in the blink of an eye it was approaching the last two minutes of the game.

At this time, as the game was about to end, Villa's players quickly tightened their defense and prepared to secure the final victory in the most secure way.

Naturally, Leicester City pressed forward aggressively, constantly launching high balls towards the penalty area.

But Villa's air defense is good and they have never been given a chance.

"Bang!!"

Until the last minute of the game, Danny Simpson, the player who had happily knocked down Chen Yufeng for his first assist of the season, sent another cross.

Leicester City's four hot spots in the penalty area all charged forward.

Chen Yufeng stretched his neck on the sidelines and looked expectantly, waiting for a miracle.

"Bang!!"

Soon, a figure wearing a white away jersey jumped up high, as if unstoppable, and smashed onto the football.

"Ulloa!!"

All Leicester City players shouted, and the football quickly hit the lower left corner of the goal, catching Aston Villa goalkeeper Boone off guard.

"Yeahhhhh...!"

As the shouts of the Leicester City Expeditionary Force rang out, all the players on the Leicester City bench rushed out.

Chen Yufeng and Kanter shouted and waved, then hugged each other.When the team was in urgent need of rotation adjustments, Ulloa stepped forward, saved them, and scored a valuable point!
Absolutely flat!

They beat Aston Villa!

Ranieri started shouting along with the fans at the scene, and his voice was quickly drowned out.

Everyone looked at Ulloa's excited celebration and smiled excitedly.

This is the team. Someone can stand up at any time and save this blue fox.

Ulloa became the hero of the day!
"Beep! Beep! Beep—!"

Not long after, after the referee's three whistles, the game officially ended.

Bathed in the murderous expressions of the more than 3 Aston Villa fans present, Leicester City launched a new round of celebrations.

Everyone chased Ulloa, patting his butt or touching his hair, as if they wanted to feel happy.

Ulloa laughed and ran away, seemingly enjoying himself.

Yes, when you stay in this kind of team, who wouldn't enjoy it...

After the game, at the press conference.

Faced with questions from reporters, Ranieli finally publicly changed his tune.

"We had an incredible day and the [-]-point goal was reached early."

Facing dozens of reporters at the scene, Ranieri made a six sign with one hand and a five with the other hand, "So I told the players a few days ago."

"The next goal is to get 65 points and enter the European theater."

"Hahahaha..." The reporters below burst out laughing. From their faces, you could see the feeling of thanking God for finally having this day.

Faced with such a reaction, Ranieri also smiled and shrugged, pretending to be a little helpless.

"After this game, Leicester City's points have reached 55 points. Does the team really not want to win the championship?"

A reporter asked, saying that they all wanted to use Ranieli's words to create some topics.

Faced with this obvious trap, Ranieli just smiled without saying a word and left the press conference in anticipation.

"what……"

Some reporters couldn't help but sigh: "I have never seen such a stable coach."

…………

On January 1.20th, while actively preparing for the first leg of the League Cup against Manchester City.

Chen Yufeng and Chen Binghua received two more endorsement invitations.

This time, Adidas and Puma came to them together and issued them exclusive endorsement invitations for sports brands.

The two first met with the person in charge of Adidas at the place where they last met with the person in charge of Nike.

When they heard that the other party still had a tougher attitude and demanded a contract of at least four years, the father and son once again simply withdrew from the negotiations.

Chen Yufeng is quite persistent in this regard. Knowing that his future development will definitely get better and better, why would he sign such a long-term exclusive endorsement prematurely?

Isn't that stupid?
"I guess the feng shui of this place is not very good. I'll see you at Puma's in the afternoon and find another place."

Chen Binghua smiled and started to pay attention to Feng Shui.

A few hours later, they moved to a cafe and met Peter, the head of Puma's UK region.

Peter looked to be in his 40s, slightly fatter, and wearing a suit that was about to explode.

"I heard that you rejected Nike and Adidas very simply."

After coming up, Peter smiled first and spoke in a very comfortable tone, "It seems like it's because of his years?"

"Yes."

Chen Binghua did not hide this point. He made the bottom line clear to the person in charge of Puma first.

"Excuse me for talking too much."

Peter apologized in advance and then said seriously: "Chen Yufeng is 30 years old this year. Isn't it a good thing to sign a long-term contract now?"

"Why would you reject these? As your age and condition decline, the contracts you will receive in the future will become worse and worse."

"Because I firmly believe that this is just my worst season." Chen Yufeng quickly took over the conversation and said seriously.

Of course Peter didn't believe it when he heard this, but after carefully observing the expressions of the father and son, he hesitated.

This doesn't seem to be a tactic they use to raise prices...

After all, rejecting Nike and Adidas one after another already means something.

They seem to really believe that the future will be better than the present!
Otherwise, how to explain the previous behaviors?

But where does this confidence come from?

Peter thought for a while, and after realizing that he still couldn't get the answer, he said, "It's better than this."

"If you two are really confident about the future, we can adopt a method that emphasizes bonuses and light endorsement fees."

Pay more attention to bonuses and less to endorsements...

This is the first sports brand to propose this approach.

(End of this chapter)