With maxed-out heading ability from the start, I became the king of Arsenal.

10 month 3 day.

The Italian newspaper Tuttosport published the voting results for the 2010 European Golden Boy award.

"Congratulations to Mario Balotelli for winning the 2010 Golden Boy award. The Italian striker, who plays for Manchester City, has won the 8th Golden Boy award presented by Tuttosport."

"In a vote by 30 European journalists, he beat Arsenal player Jack Wilshere, who came in second, and Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea, who came in third."

官方分数：巴洛特利168分，威尔希尔146分，德赫亚87分。」（每名记者可以投前五名，分值分别是10分、7分、5分、3分和1分）

The rest of the content consists of superficial information about the origins of the European Golden Boy award, the contributions made by Tuttosport to the award, and acknowledgments to other co-organizers.

The center of the report featured a picture of Balotelli grinning broadly while wearing a Manchester City jersey.

As a time traveler, Sun Yu felt as if he had stumbled upon adult news: the top three winners of the Golden Boy Award were exactly the same as those in his previous era.

But to Sun Yu's surprise, Balotelli and Wilshere received such close votes.

It seems that Balotelli winning the award was not exactly something everyone expected.

According to English media reports, the Golden Boy Award voting results were not announced every year in previous years.

The golden boys produced in the first seven years were Van der Vaart, Rooney, Messi, Fabregas, Aguero, Anderson, and Pato.

If it's a year with a lot of Golden Boy awards, the Golden Boy award is basically just a formality.

Even without the voting results being announced, most Golden Boy Award selections are convincing.

The only year with significant controversy was the 2007 Golden Boy award selection, with Tuttosport publishing the voting results after the selection process was completed.

That year's Golden Boy winner Anderson only scored 129 points, while the runner-up Walcott scored 126 points, making it a narrow victory.

Anyway, the selection process of Tuttosport always gives people the feeling of a small workshop. The reason why they can become the authoritative body of this award is that they are the first to claim their spot, with no competitors.

Secondly, they won over all the well-known European media outlets, essentially using all the major media outlets to support their authority.

If the Golden Boy Award winner that year was truly the one everyone expected, regardless of whether other media outlets had any ulterior motives, starting with 200 points would be no problem at all.

Later, the number of reporters was increased to 40, and Mbappe, Felix, Haaland and Pedri all scored over 300 points.

In 2023, the number of journalists increased to 50, and Bellingham even scored 485 points.

Therefore, Balotelli's Golden Boy award is not very prestigious, considering he was nominated for three championships and only narrowly defeated Wilshere in the end.

If Wilshere were a Manchester United player, the Golden Boy award would most likely have changed hands.

Tuttosport also published a list of the top ten.

Fourth place: Hazard.

Fifth place: Kroos.

Sixth place: Boyang.

Seventh place: Coutinho.

Eighth place: Götze.

Ninth place: Sun Yu.

10th place: Pjanic.

Sun Yu was quite satisfied with making it into the top ten.

Looking at the clubs of the other nine players, even the worst ones are from prestigious Italian powerhouses like Roma.

In comparison, Stoke City is a niche club, not to mention its influence, even within England.

Sun Yu estimated that the votes for the top five were relatively concentrated, while the scores for those starting from sixth place were quite pitiful. The fact that English media voted for him directly improved his overall ranking.

In other words, the Premier League has influence, especially if Sun Yu plays for a team like Ajax or Anderlecht.

Unless they dominate in the Champions League, getting tickets is a problem.

But after several months of hard work, Sun Yu had nothing to complain about, since next year was the crucial year for him to compete for the Golden Boy Award.

Compared to Balotelli's impressive treble, Sun Yu estimates he could only manage a League Cup at best.

Now all he can do is score more goals and catch more fish; his only means of survival is his personal statistics.

Interestingly, Balotelli adopted an air of supreme authority during the interview.

"I'm very happy to receive this award, but who else deserves it besides me? Two years ago I was sixth, last year I was fourth, and now it's finally my turn."

"I looked at the other winners, and only Messi was slightly better than me; everyone else was behind me."

"Wilshere? Who's he? I don't know him. I'll take a good look at him next time we play Arsenal. Maybe I can show him the Golden Boy trophy and remind him that I'm the winner."

"Sun Yu? Oh man! Please don't put him in the same category as me. My next goal is only the Golden Globe."

English media outlets have offered sharp, even scathing, reviews of Balotelli's bold statement.

Some media outlets believe that Balotelli's agent moved him to the Premier League in order to get him the Golden Boy award, and that Manchester City, a wealthy club eager to prove itself, also needed the award to boost its prestige.

It was Balotelli's presence at Manchester City that disrupted Wilshere's vote.

English media outlets are watching closely to see if Wenger and Wilshere will stir up trouble. If Wilshere wants to forcefully criticize Balotelli, the English media are planning to create another uproar.

Surprisingly, Wilshere, who plays a very aggressive style on the field, congratulated Balotelli in an interview. This failed to generate any buzz, and the hype surrounding the Golden Boy award cooled down.

With the first half of the season coming to a close and Ferguson and Ancelotti exchanging barbs, the English media quickly shifted their focus to the league.

12 month 4 day.

Three days after the League Cup, Stoke City will play away against Wigan Athletic, managed by the famous opportunist coach Martinez.

Martinez came through the Zaragoza youth academy, made a consolation appearance in La Liga, and then spent six years with Wigan Athletic in League Two (then a third tier league), before moving to the Scottish Premiership, League One, and Swansea City.

I can't say anything else about this guy, but his ability to navigate social situations is undeniable. His early coaching resources all came from his own network of contacts.

After leaving Swansea, he played in League Two for five months before taking the reins at Swansea.

Don't let his Spanish background fool you; he's got a knack for coaching English teams.

He led Swansea to the Championship in just one and a half seasons and successfully avoided relegation. He then moved to Wigan Athletic and led the team to avoid relegation again.

Martinez doesn't have much of a reputation yet, and he doesn't dare to act arrogantly or boast at the pre-match press conferences, not uttering a single harsh word.

After the first fifteen rounds, Wigan Athletic ranked third from bottom in the Premier League, and they are indeed often on the verge of elimination.

But to be fair, Wigan Athletic did put in a lot of effort. This technically skilled team made the area from the GG sign to the sideline a short uphill section early on, and also widened the pitch by a few meters.

After the match began, Wigan Athletic players firmly controlled possession. Their midfield was very strong, and their wingers were quick and agile, which made Stoke City a little uncomfortable.

Wigan Athletic used a "jackal" tactic against Sun Yu, where whenever a Stoke City player launched a long ball, one midfielder would slip into Sun Yu's arms while the other simply ignored the ball and went straight for the ball.

They used a lot of defensive resources on Sun Yu, allowing other Stoke City players to score in all directions.

In the 18th minute, Huth scored with a header in a very entertaining way.

But Collins scored an own goal under pressure ten minutes later.

In the 31st minute, Sun Yu won a free kick by dribbling past his opponent, which Etherington converted.

Stoke City led 2-1 at halftime, but the whole team played awkwardly.

Sun Yu felt a sense of déjà vu, like Stoke City leading the charge and Wigan Atlético grabbing the groin.

After the start of the second half, Cleverley, on loan from Manchester United, scored with a long-range shot, and N'Zogbia put his team ahead.

After taking the lead, Wigan Athletic began to dominate possession, and Stoke City players received five yellow cards in fifteen minutes in an attempt to subdue them.

In the 81st minute, Sun Yu headed the ball from a corner kick, but the goalkeeper tipped it off the goal line. Substitute Jones then scored on the rebound to equalize.

3:3.

The match ended with Wigan Athletic having 66% possession. Stoke City clearly fears opponents who possess both speed and ball control.

Stoke City's weakness of relying on a single lineup was now fully exposed.

Sun Yu was full of energy, but his teammates weren't quite as wild.

Especially Delap, who eventually couldn't even throw a "grenade" anymore.

That evening, as soon as Sun Yu got home, he received a text message from his agent, Andrew Townsend: "Mr. Sun Yu, is it a convenient time to take a call?"

"I have something important to report to you."

This text message looks so dog-like...

Sun Yu dialed the number directly: "Andrew, are you going to get me underwear guys and nightclub fashion shows again?"

"I suspect that besides your work as a youth coach and agent, you also work as a pimp at night?"

Townsend's armor penetration value +70

Whoops!

I was just making a casual joke, why did the other person react so strongly?

This guy must be terrified of being optimized by himself right now.

Sun Yu could understand, after all, he was the only Premier League player under Townsend.

"Just kidding, go ahead and say it."

Sun Yu added a comment, and it seemed like the atmosphere on the other end of the phone had become tense.

Townsend excitedly said, "Liverpool sent someone to tell me that they're asking if you're interested in going to Liverpool in the winter transfer window?"

So sudden!

Sun Yu really didn't expect that Liverpool planned to buy him in the winter transfer window, and even contacted him almost a month in advance.

Very sincere.

Does Dalglish want to bring a retro vibe to Liverpool?