Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

"That's true, but looking at it this way, Sporting Lisbon's morale is just so-so. Reaching the semi-finals will definitely be very difficult for them; it will be a historic breakthrough."

"That Viana guy isn't as amazing as Inter fans make him out to be; he didn't put up any stats in this match."

"You can't just look at the post-match statistics when it comes to football. Viana's performance was actually quite good; he's a qualified midfielder for the top five leagues. But he's definitely still a long way from being a core player for a top club."

"I think Inter Milan misjudged the situation; Viana is definitely not worth 20 million euros."

"Yes, Quaresma is more deserving of a 20 million euro price tag than Viana."

"Quaresma is truly phenomenal! Who said he didn't perform well? He even played better than our Simão in this match!"

"Indeed, Quaresma is basically carrying the team on his own. His dribbling distance, number of successful dribbles, and success rate are all top-notch. He is undoubtedly the core of the attacking line."

"Isn't this the kind of winger that Barcelona has always wanted? No wonder the team has been keeping an eye on Quaresma; he definitely deserves to be bought."

"Overmars has been underperforming, and Simão's form has been too inconsistent. Quaresma might become the team's mainstay on the flanks if he comes."

"That's the price, quite a bit more expensive than Simão. Eighteen million or something like that?"

"It's hard to say. Eighteen million euros is the market price, but Sporting Lisbon has no shortage of buyers. I don't think they'll make a move for less than twenty million euros."

"Holy crap! It's all Figo's fault! If it weren't for that traitor, we would have taken Quaresma last year. How much was it back then? Seven or eight million euros?"

"Oh, it breaks my heart!"

"Money doesn't matter, we at Barça have the money. As long as the players are right, it's worth the money."

Perhaps the three away goals made Barcelona relatively relaxed, and in response to the various curiosities circulating in the market, the head of Barcelona's sporting department actually responded publicly: "Quaresma is indeed a good player, and Barcelona does not rule out making an offer for him this summer."

"Of course, Barcelona has many excellent players, which doesn't mean we're dissatisfied with our current squad. We simply have higher aspirations, and we need more powerful players."

"Deng Kai? No, no, no, don't mention that name. Xavi in ​​our team is better than him. We have no reason to bring in a problem player."

"What's the problem? At the very least, we absolutely will not allow our players to make irresponsible remarks in the media! We don't need celebrities with high online followings, and we won't give any special treatment to actors' boyfriends."

"Unless he changes his bad habits, he has no chance of joining Barcelona."

These news stories are everywhere.

So much so that during training, when Quaresma received a pass from Deng Kai, he approached Deng Kai and explained, "Kai, don't read what's being said in the newspapers lately; it's all just something made up to attract attention."

It wasn't that Quaresma was of lower status than Duncan; it was simply because they had a good personal relationship.

Quaresma's recent resurgence in form is largely due to the strong support he has received from Duncan on the pitch.

Deng Kai's passing and stretching runs are a world apart from the simple and boring wing tactics of the Big Circle tactics.

With a midfielder like this on the team, everything becomes much easier, whether it's breaking through, passing, or shooting.

Deng Kai smiled and nodded: "It's okay, relax, Ricardo. Your performance deserves this treatment. Trust me, you'll shine even brighter when summer comes."

Quaresma was now embarrassed; he didn't know how to answer.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will definitely be leaving this summer.

But when his teammates talked about next season, he knew it wasn't a good idea.

"Everyone will have this day eventually. Sporting Lisbon is a team that nurtures young players. It's a good thing for everyone if they can go to a top club," Deng Kai said, offering Quaresma some psychological support.

He certainly hopes Quaresma can successfully join a top club.

Only in this way can the transfer of power at Sporting Lisbon be considered complete, and all ball possession and star player treatment truly fall into Deng Kai's hands.

Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense to have Quaresma, last season's star player, playing second fiddle to you next season. People would think that you, the younger Duncan, are too domineering and bullying the veteran players.

Once you're labeled with this label, it will be difficult for you to integrate when you join other teams.

Humans are social animals, and when judging a stranger, we rely heavily on external evaluations of him; this is how reputation is formed.

Furthermore, Quaresma is not indispensable to Sporting Lisbon, and Triguera has several high-quality players in his transfer plans for next season.

Under Deng Kai's guidance, Triguera got involved in Sporting Lisbon's scouting work, assigning someone to Brazil to learn about "another Ricardo" from São Paulo's youth academy.

The scouts reported that "Ricardo is very talented, but he has a history of serious injuries. It has been less than a year since his major injury, so we recommend observing him for another two years to ensure his condition stabilizes before making a move."

Deng Kai's suggestion was that there was no need to wait; they could buy it directly in the summer.

Trigra said "ok".

Perhaps Sporting Lisbon had to be more careful with its player acquisitions in the past, as it simply didn't have much money.

But even a fool knows that Sporting Lisbon has unearthed a bunch of gems this year. If they just sell a few off in the summer, the revenue will be comparable to the total of the previous two or three seasons.

Moreover, Sporting Lisbon reached the UEFA Cup semi-finals this year, and may even make it to the final.

With their league and Portuguese Cup results combined, Sporting Lisbon could earn a very substantial share of the tournament revenue this year, equivalent to the total income of two or three seasons.

In this situation, if Trigra wants to spend more, who would dare to object?

"Thank you, Kai! I will never forget everything you've done." Quaresma said sincerely.

"You need to perform well in the next match against Barcelona and make the Camp Nou fans worship you in advance!" Deng Kai and Quaresma started their mutual praise session.

……

April 9th, the 28th round of the Portuguese Super League.

Sporting Lisbon won 2-1.

There was a slight change in this match: Viana, who had previously been very aggressive in pushing forward, was now willingly playing a more defensive role.

He did what Deng Kai had done before, giving Deng Kai the opportunity to move forward.

This also led to Deng Kai scoring two assists in this match.

Clearly, Viana is preparing to join Inter Milan.

He doesn't want to get injured in the coming period.

Deng Kai expressed his understanding.

Viana played well in the deep positions and it didn't affect the team's overall strength.

This actually freed Deng Kai.

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.