Chapter 224: Summer Vacation (with voiceover)

June 2007, 6, Riccardo Richie's villa in Milan, Italy.

Although Ricardo's house is close to a central park and is surrounded by lush Italian pines, with a small pond not far away, Milan, which has a Mediterranean climate, is dry and rainy in summer, and the weather still seems a bit hot and humid.

Ricardo, who had just flown back to Milan from the cool and rainy Netherlands with Sarafina yesterday evening, stretched his muscles on his own small football field after waking up in the morning.

Ricardo, who was still a little uncomfortable with the scorching sun above his head, hid under the mottled shade of the trees and started playing juggling.

Although old Li Qi could do a few juggling moves, he didn't master them well, and his best record was only about 20 consecutive juggling moves without mistakes. But now Ricardo has benefited from the systematic training of the Italian youth training. Not to mention hundreds of juggling moves, he has also learned a lot of tricks from Ronaldinho, and his juggling skills are dazzling, and he can perform on the streets...

While juggling the ball, Ricardo was still thinking about his arrangements for the next few days. Due to the delayed schedule of La Liga last season and the additional task of the U21 European Youth Championship, Ricardo, who only officially started his vacation yesterday, has about a month less vacation than most players in the Premier League and Serie A.

So Ricardo had to cancel his plan to go on vacation with Sarafina and hurried back to Milan; after all, no matter how busy or bad he is, he should take a few days to spend time with his parents. After all, Ricardo is a good boy. However, after the dinner last night, his parents and brother went out early this morning, some went to work, some went shopping, and they didn't think of paying attention to Ricardo who finally came home...

Moreover, Ricardo has already accumulated a lot of business and charity activities for endorsement brands, which need to be arranged in the future. However, Sarafina did not lose her temper when she heard about Ricardo's full schedule. Ricardo was still worried whether he was holding back and letting her explode in silence.

In the morning at the hotel, Sara, who had collected Ricardo's public grain once again, calmly told Ricardo that she would be busy during this holiday. It turned out that Sara's family had arranged a summer internship for the little princess, and she had to learn management in the family business from July to August. To put it bluntly, it was to let the little princess experience life and accumulate social connections, but she certainly couldn't be as free and easy as she was in middle school and travel freely during holidays.

So Ricardo and Sara had to give up their travel plans and decided to wait until Sara's internship was over and then see how Ricardo would perform at the start of next season.

Ricardo also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, Chiara, Eva and Julian's holiday travel plans had not been arranged yet, and he was too busy to take care of them.

I have to accompany the little princess for a few days before she officially starts her internship. On Friday, I can take advantage of the weekend and go to Turin to attend an event and take Chiara out for a few days. This little girl has been in a bad state recently. I don’t know if it’s because of the lack of love and comfort...

Then I will have to return to Spain in early July to deal with the issue of my future destination for next season. It must be settled before the season training camp so that it will be easier for me to integrate into the new team. After all, there is a 7% chance that I will not be able to stay in Sevilla.

Therefore, I don't have much time to play games and soccer with my Italian buddies. I will gather my sons and grandsons together tomorrow night to play soccer, eat, and play games. Let's do it all at once!

In the afternoon, I made an appointment with Sarafina to go to the movies, which was "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" which had been released for a while. After the movie, we went to have Chinese food.

But before going out, Ricardo, who had just washed up, had to wait for his agent Raiola to come visit him. Because Raiola was helping him deal with many things, including the most critical issue of where to go next season, which Raiola was also responsible for communicating, as well as some issues with endorsement brands. Raiola had been waiting for his game to end, and then to agree on the next stage of steps as soon as possible and get his authorization, and then he would start mediation negotiations.

Raiola still came with his right-hand man Pimenta; but I heard that Pimenta seems to have begun to independently take charge of the agency business of some players, and Raiola is also looking for a new assistant.

Just like two years ago, the slightly plump Raiola came in a black Maybach, but this time he was not wearing black sunglasses, but a pair of small round-frame brown sunglasses; he was still wearing a slightly tight light blue shirt, black trousers and pointed black leather shoes.

Following behind him, carrying a bag of documents, was the professional beauty Sister Pimenta, wearing a beige trouser suit.

After a round of hypocritical commercial flattery from Uncle Mino, Sister Rafael and Ricardo, the guests of honor took their seats, and after tea and snacks were served, the two sides began to talk about the main topic.

First, Pimenta read a report of several pages. Ricardo opened it and saw that it was a summary of his performance last season. Even the latest U21 European Championship data was compiled and attached:

Ricardo Richie, born on June 1986, 6, is 6 meters tall and weighs 1 kilograms. (Yes, according to the latest physical test, Ricardo is a little taller and a lot stronger, thanks to the scientific training and nutritious diet of Lopez's personal training team.)

06/07赛季西甲登场24场比赛，打进15个进球，7个助攻；国王杯登场13场比赛，打进11个进球并有5个助攻；欧洲联盟杯登场9场比赛，打进4球以及3个助攻。

Excluding friendly matches, the club's performance in 46 games was 30 goals and 15 assists, almost averaging 1 goal per game.

At the national team level, he participated in the 06 World Cup in Germany, played 5 times, scored 2 goals (including penalties) and assisted 2 times; and participated in the 08 European Cup qualifiers, appeared 5 times, scored 6 goals and assisted 3 times; in total, he played 10 times for the adult national team, scored 8 goals, assisted 5 times, and created 1.3 goals per game.

There are even more impressive European Youth Championship statistics, 4 appearances, 7 goals, 5 assists, and 3 goals created per game; completely crushing the opponents, it's scary!

而所获得的冠军以及个人荣誉更是列了一大堆，什么周月最佳以及球迷协会的表彰荣誉，的里卡多也就略过不看了，主要的有2006年世界杯冠军、06/07赛季西班牙国王杯冠军、欧洲超级杯冠军、欧洲联盟杯冠军、U21欧青赛冠军，06年世界杯最佳年轻球员、06/07赛季欧洲联盟杯赛季最佳球员、欧洲联盟杯金靴、国王杯赛季最佳球员、西班牙甲级联赛最佳外援、U21欧青赛最佳球员、U21欧青赛金靴等等……

In addition, there are some latest physical test and passing and shooting technical data; there is also a CD, which, according to Pimenta, contains video clips of most of Ricardo's goals, assists, wonderful interceptions and passes and cuts last season.

This should be introducing your resume to major clubs, or a work report to your employer.

After briefly reading his summary of last season, Ricardo couldn't help but develop a "I'm the greatest and I'm the best" mentality, and even his sitting posture started to become casual.

Then Raiola began to discuss the arrangements for next season with Ricardo. However, his first sentence poured cold water on Ricardo: "Ricardo, when you played in the European Youth Championship, I had already contacted the Barcelona club. Regarding your new contract and team positioning, they want to discuss it after dealing with Bojan in the youth team..."

"Yes, after dealing with big names like Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Henry, Abidal, we have to consider the local rising star Bojan Korjic who is not yet 17 years old, and you are still behind him."

(Although Ricardo doesn’t really care about these false reputations, this reply is indeed not very hurtful, but extremely insulting! Ricardo almost cursed: Damn! What’s the point of negotiating with Barcelona?)

(But Ricardo still pretended to be calm and sat upright, signaling Raiola to continue speaking...)

"So, I think Barcelona is unlikely to meet your needs as a starting player, and I don't recommend you to stay in Barcelona. The factions in the team are too chaotic, and there are too many bigwigs. It will be difficult for you to stand out."

Ricardo pretended to be calm and gave direct feedback: "Then don't waste your time and expressions, just apply for a transfer directly."

Raiola was obviously not surprised by Ricardo's attitude. After all, they had communicated and thought about it before, otherwise he would not have been loaned to Sevilla. Raiola thought for a moment and then continued: "... Then I will help you submit a transfer application tomorrow. What do you think of the several clubs that I mentioned to you before that are interested in you?"

Ricardo had thought about the answer to this question a long time ago: "Uncle Mino, I agree with your previous analysis. The first choice is Manchester United. They are now in the rising stage, the team is strong and stable... As long as they agree to my three conditions, starting the game, letting me play in the 08 Olympics, and letting me leave at the original price once the old man retires or leaves office."

"The alternative is Chelsea. The first two conditions are the same, but the third condition needs to be considered. It should be that the penalty fee should not be too high. It is better to part ways amicably if there is a chance."

"As for Arsenal, forget it. I don't want to be with the top four contender who sells his captain every year. There are no champions there..."

Upon hearing Ricardo's complaints about Arsenal, Raiola and Pimenta burst out laughing at the same time. Indeed, the joke about the top four contender has begun to spread; and Arsenal has been under tremendous pressure in recent years to build a new stadium, so it is still unclear whether they can offer the starting price.

However, Raiola laughed and then asked: "What about other teams? Outside the Premier League?"

Ricardo had done some detailed research before, so he gave the answer without hesitation: "As for the Bundesliga, I am only interested in Bayern, but their ranking last season was a bit low. There is no Champions League this season, and I don't want to play in the UEFA Cup anymore, so I won't consider the Bundesliga. As for Serie A, I don't really want to go back, but if I really have no choice, then I will go back to Inter Milan. My parents have been nagging me for a long time. If I go back to Serie A and don't choose Inter Milan, I will probably be worn out by them..."

"Forget about Ligue 1. I don't think they will consider me. Staying at Barcelona is an option. If it doesn't work out, I can stay for another year and play in the European Cup and the Olympics next year. It's likely that Barcelona will not loan me out to a competitor in the same league next season, right?"

Ricardo looked at Raiola and nodded slightly. His chubby jaw seemed to jump a few times, which was a bit funny. Then Ricardo heard Raiola give a summary as if he was confident: "I see. There is a high probability that there will be no problem with Manchester United and Chelsea. We have contacted them privately before. Both teams can afford the price, and they have agreed to all the conditions you want. However...if you choose Manchester United, your vacation will be over soon."

"Manchester United will report for pre-match training on July 7. Of course, you can choose to apply for an extension of your vacation on the grounds of the European Under-14 Championship. But I advise you not to do so. You probably won't. Because Manchester United will start its Asian tour on July 7, visiting China, Japan and South Korea. I think you should understand the commercial value of this, and it will also help you improve your image and status in the team. After all, you are fluent in Chinese and Japanese..."

(⊙0⊙) Ricardo's expression immediately turned European: "Ahh! Then I'm going! I'm going to Manchester United, I'm going to Asia! I'm a Manchester United fan, I've been a Manchester United fan since I was a child, I've always had a dream, which is to join Manchester United! Born a Red Devil, die a Red Devil soul! Uncle Mino, help me get it done as soon as possible! You can decide on the salary, bonus and so on, it's fine as long as it's about right, there's no need to waste time on that."