"I originally wanted to handle this internally, not escalate it to the public level, but I didn't expect things to still explode."
Deschamps had a regretful expression, calmly saying, "A team must share both glory and disgrace, especially a team that carries so much attention.
"If someone doesn't understand this, it means they are excluding themselves from the team."
He leaned closer to the microphone, resolutely stating, "Since someone has made such a decision, then I deeply regret it.
"Because the France team will no longer call up someone who doesn't help the team."
A clear statement! The reporters at the scene frantically pressed the camera shutters. The new France team coach personally admitted that he would no longer call up the Bayern superstar. This was definitely big news.
These people, who are usually in the spotlight, once conflicts erupt, they will be exceptionally fierce and merciless. More neutral fans, of course, are happy to see this.
"What about Maël?" A reporter turned the spearhead towards Maël, asking, "Regarding Ribery's comments on social media, what is your response?"
Maël came to the microphone in front of him. Before attending the press conference, he had briefly communicated with Deschamps, knowing what he could and couldn't say.
He was also the main figure in this incident and was now receiving a lot of attention.
If he said the wrong thing, he could fall into a situation of eternal doom, giving the other party the possibility of instantly reversing the situation.
"I don't really care."
He spoke softly, with a smile in his tone, "But I don't quite understand why many people use a very strange comparison method when judging players.
"Comparing the accumulation of honors with young people, and comparing the performance of the current season with older people.
"I will never do that, nor will I avoid the fact that I have few championships, but I believe I will get everything in the future."
"Everything?" A reporter used an emphatic tone, asking, "Is that all?"
Maël considered it and said bluntly, "Yes, everything you can think of. In fact, I have been trying to do that."
He recalled a saying from Ten Hag, which many players and coaches also like to say, "We are on the right path, both in the national team and in the club."
The reporters wrote down what he said, and soon someone else said, "Do you have anything you want to say to Ribery? Just now was just a response to the fans."
"I have nothing to say to him."
Maël always smiled, answering calmly, "We are not the same players, we have no common topics."
These words had a somewhat meaningful feeling. A reporter tried to get more information, asking, "Do you mean his scoring efficiency and various data are not as good as yours? Or is his talent and debut performance not as good as yours?"
"No." Maël shook his head, quipping, "I mean I have no championships, but he has six or seven championships."
"Haha…" A small-scale laughter rang out at the scene. Most people didn't laugh, they could feel the gunpowder smell of this press conference.
Someone quickly continued to ask Deschamps, "Mr. Deschamps, you just said that you will no longer call up Ribery. I would like to ask, how long is this period?
"Will he not be called up for the next round, or before the European Cup, after the European Cup? Or forever?"
Deschamps glanced at him, wanting to correct the loopholes in his words. He had not named Ribery just now, but thinking about it, it had already reached this point, and it seemed unimportant to dwell on this.
He thought for a while and said, "I don't know, maybe until he can help the team and is willing to contribute to the team.
"I take the core interests of the France team as the starting point, without any personal grudges.
"I also formally declare here that anyone who is not helpful to the team, no matter how much they are worth or how strong they are, will not enter my team!"
Taking this opportunity, he also warned the other players of the France national team, establishing his own prestige.
He was not afraid of media public opinion! Not afraid of questioning! Stubborn and self-willed?
Maybe Deschamps was such a person, maybe this would eventually harm him, but from now on, this team needed such a person to transform it.
Maël sat next to him, watching the media under the stage, knowing that he had been completely labeled as Deschamps' direct line of troops, and they had experienced an unforgettable event together.
Was this a difficult start? Not entirely. They had just defeated Belgium five to three, completing a good start, and he had completed a hat-trick in his debut.
But to say that this was a smooth start, it certainly wasn't. They were initially involved in a public opinion war, and before even participating in the European Cup, they would be under the pressure of 'stubbornly excluding superstars'.
This might be a good thing, or it might be a bad thing… Maël hoped that he could step on the former, reversing the situation under this continuous adversity when he first entered the national team.
That was not just a reversal of a game, but a reversal of his entire national team career!
Tomorrow, he would set off back to the club, continue to prove himself in the league and the Champions League, compete for championships in the cup games, and improve his abilities on the training ground! When he truly became a soccer god, his world would probably be much cleaner.
"Deschamps has made it clear that Frank Ribery is excluded from the national team, and Maël has responded to the 'no title' remarks. Is the French team returning to the infighting death spiral of the 2010 South Africa World Cup?" - France Football
"Maël implies that Bayern stars' data performance is not as good as his own, saying that their comparison method is problematic, they are different players." - French L'Équipe
This press conference quickly sparked the heat of the entire world football scene again. This time, it was not only French fans and neutral fans watching the excitement, but even Bayern and Arsenal fans joined the battle.
There was no way around it, both players were very popular with their respective club fans, and they had to stand up as a backing when something happened.
There were no conflicts between the two clubs. They had arranged a friendly match at the beginning of the year, and the relationship between the management should be good.
However, this kind of confrontation is inevitable. It is normal for both sides to have some estrangement and conflicts for a short period of time due to different positions.
"I have no malice towards Arsenal fans, nor towards Maël. But I want to say that young people should remain humble, and some remarks should not be too full. He is still far behind.
"Not to mention proving himself in the top schedule steadily and continuously, does he have Double-Doubles in the Premier League for two consecutive seasons? A single-season outbreak is nothing."
"Arsenal fans have no malice towards Bayern either, and will not look at Ribery with colored glasses. What we want to express is, let's talk about the matter itself, don't escalate to the two clubs.
"If we only talk about player performance, I think it's no problem for Maël to replace Ribery in the left wing position of the national team."
"Bullshit! Ribery's excellence cannot be reflected in the data. After the older generation of players retired, he is the new soul of the French team!"
"If you want to say that, Maël is the same, otherwise why would Deschamps choose him, because he is blind?"
"&*%￥#!"
"%￥@%!"
In the beginning, many people could remain rational and discuss, but later, as everyone's fire was slowly ignited, this confrontation inevitably evolved into a scolding war.
Soon, the stars of the two clubs came out to speak, supporting their own players, which added heat to the incident.
"Come on Ribery, you are the best partner." - Robben's social media posted a photo of Ribery with his arm around his shoulder "No. 7!" - Bayern captain Lahm
"Knock knock knock knock! I have a friend!" - Sagna's social media "Maël is the strongest! Congratulations to brother for his debut!" - Gilbert's social media "Congratulations to Maël for scoring 3 goals and 1 assist in his debut for the French national team! The team's most dazzling genius player!" - Van Persie posted a photo of him and Maël sliding on their knees together. Many media outlets reprinted the news they released and spread it to more places.
In addition to the Internet, in real life, many people also spread the news around, talking about it with their relatives and friends as after-dinner chats.
On October 22, many French team players had returned to their respective clubs, and some people had to continue to fight in the league with their clubs that day.
Spain, Barcelona.
At the Camp Nou stadium, the 13th round of La Liga is about to begin, and Barcelona's opponent is Zaragoza.
In the pre-match locker room, the players' expressions were relatively relaxed. As the peak Barcelona of Dream Three, they had no pressure to play against clubs of this level.
"That guy is very popular recently."
Pique brought up this topic while putting on his shoes, and asked, "Abidal, you also went to the French team for the last training camp, tell us about it?"
As soon as these words fell, a group of Barcelona players, including Fabregas, focused their attention on Abidal. They were all curious about this matter.
"Actually, it's nothing."
Abidal put on his socks. He was on standby as a substitute today, so it was good to sit here and gossip. "It's not as serious as the media says. It's a very simple matter. The outside world has complicated it.
"It's just that the new player came and directly took the position of the old player. The old player's protest method was a bit radical, and the two sides continued to add fuel to the fire, which intensified the conflict.
"There is nothing else besides that. Many rumors say that they fought, but in fact they didn't. They didn't even speak."
When he said the last sentence, his voice weakened a bit, because he remembered that a player who had fought with Maël was sitting next to him.
Fabregas really 'felt the scene' and lowered his head with a dark face and said, "Wherever Maël goes, something happens. There must be something wrong with this person."
"Not necessarily."
Iniesta looked like a good old man and said with a faint smile, "It may indeed be because he is strong. No matter how bad an ordinary player is, he can't provoke this kind of thing."
"He is strong?" Fabregas glanced at Messi and said, "Messi has already scored 31 goals and 16 assists so far this season. He is nothing."
"That's not interesting." Iniesta replied with a smile, turned and walked towards the door, "There is only one Messi."
Messi's expression was as usual. He had heard this kind of evaluation a lot and was used to being compared with others.
Compared to these, he still preferred to listen to people gossiping, "Abidal, how strong is he?"
"I personally think he is very strong." Abidal quickly replied, expressing his inner feelings: "Before this, I had heard his name and probably knew what kind of player he was.
"But after seeing him in reality, I had different feelings. He is indeed very fast and strong, his shooting ability and passing ability are very strong, his decision-making speed is very fast, and his way of playing is very reasonable.
"Compared to the media's reports about him, I admire his dribbling ability even more. It seems like no one has mentioned this before, but I saw it with my own eyes this time. He had over 15 successful breakthroughs in that match."
"It's indeed difficult for Ribery to compete with him for the core position in the frontcourt. His advantages are more obvious, and he's in better form."
Seeing Fabregas's malicious gaze, he added, "Of course, this doesn't mean I'm optimistic about him. I'm just speaking from Deschamps's perspective."
Messi nodded slightly, feeling a bit of anticipation in his heart for when he would face this player.
He still quite enjoyed competing against such talented young players, because he was also a genius, and the most outstanding genius of this era.
At most, he would include Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, but other than that, he didn't think there were any opponents in this world.
Maël? He wanted to see him in person.
...
Two hours later, at Valencia's home stadium, Mestalla Stadium, the match between Real Madrid and Valencia was about to begin.
Benzema took the initiative to bring up the topic in the locker room. He hadn't fully established himself in this team yet, so he actively chatted with the team's superstars to build relationships whenever he had the chance.
"I was affected too."
He smiled wryly, shaking his head, "I don't know if Deschamps considers me to be in Ribery's camp. He subbed me off during halftime. Actually, I just didn't pass the ball to him."
The Portuguese defender, Monk Warrior Pepe, glanced at him and asked, "You all didn't pass the ball to him, and he still scored a hat-trick?"
"Yes." Benzema said while putting on his shin guards, "Especially in the first half, his performance was amazing. He only got the ball 5-6 times at most, but he scored 2 goals."
The Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo looked up at this moment, but didn't say anything.
"Can he break through me?" Pepe asked with a smile. He was different on and off the field. Usually, he wasn't very serious.
"Haha..." Benzema laughed, giving him face by shaking his head, "I must say no."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Pepe was very pleased with this flattery he had solicited, and his face instantly turned red.
"What are you talking about?"
A voice sounded from outside the door, and Mourinho stepped into the locker room. The 48-year-old Portuguese coach joined Real Madrid last year. The team's expectations for him were clear: to lead the Galácticos out of Barcelona's shadow.
Last year, the team was crushed by Barcelona on all fronts, but fortunately, they won the El Clásico in the Copa del Rey final at the last moment, taking home a crucial championship trophy.
This year, as he gradually became familiar with Real Madrid, the team's performance slowly improved, and there were signs that they would secure the top spot in the league standings.
"Maël."
Cristiano Ronaldo looked up and took the initiative to say the name. He was no stranger to this player either. From the beginning of this season, Maël's name had slowly surfaced and gradually become a frequent headline.
What's more, his agent and Mourinho's agent were also Maël's agent.
"Him, huh."
Mourinho smiled faintly, joking, "Let me guess, are you analyzing his playing style? Or just talking about gossip?"
"Haha..." There was a burst of laughter in the locker room. They didn't have the leisure to analyze other people's playing styles.
"Cristiano."
He then pointed to Cristiano Ronaldo and said, "You have to be careful. Maybe in a few years, he will become one of your main competitors."
Cristiano Ronaldo raised his eyebrows and confidently pursed his lips, "I'm never afraid of any challenge. I hope he's a good opponent, haha."
...
On November 23, Maël, who had stayed at his home in Aix for a day, returned to London. There was no way around it, his body really needed rest.
He didn't participate in the training that day, and only returned to the team to report when the match preparation meeting was held at night.
He had been paying attention to the news online these days, or rather, he was forced to pay attention, because the comments on his social media would promptly give him feedback on everything.
There were those who supported him, and those who argued with those who supported him, in short, all kinds of strange things.
He didn't care about these, and he didn't delete posts and close the comment section like some stars do when something happens. He was relatively calm in accepting all voices.
Anyway, he wasn't wrong.
Having strong ability, earning a starting position, and gradually moving towards a core position, this has always been a matter of course.
It was unavoidable that it would damage other people's interests, but it wasn't like he was competing by improper means.
One could only say that his Arsenal rivals, Mark Yates and Arshavin, from Sheffield United, were decent people who didn't make trouble with the team over this. He had initially thought Ribery might be the same.
Top superstars are still difficult to deal with.
"Clap, clap, clap!"
As he pushed open the door and entered the meeting room, a round of applause erupted. The Arsenal players were all smiling as they clapped for him.
Maël was immediately flattered. After not seeing them for two weeks, he had to admit he missed them a little.
"Dang dang dang dang! I..." Sagna led everyone in singing the team song. The entire meeting room was quickly enveloped in a joyful atmosphere as the players congratulated Maël on his debut for the national team.
Wenger was also standing at the front, applauding. It seemed they had arrived early just to wait for him.
"I'm late."
Maël first gave Wenger a high-five, and as they hugged, he heard him say, "I'm also French, and speaking out for you in my position as coach would cause trouble, so I've remained silent.
"But know that I always support you. If any situation arises where I need to mediate, I will definitely help.
"And by the way, great performance. I didn't expect you to adapt so amazingly everywhere you go."
Wenger smiled, patted Maël on the back, and said in a low voice, "I've said it many times, I'm proud that you're an Arsenal player."
Maël also patted him on the back. Now that he was back, he would put the national team matters aside and focus on club matches, which was the main battleground.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Wenger, he walked towards his seat, giving high-fives or playful shoves to several teammates along the way.
"Two hat-tricks this season already."
"Not bad, you."
"See you at the European Cup next year."
"The new French winger king!"
"New supercar!"
The players laughed and exclaimed, their expressions towards Maël changing somewhat. If the old Maël only had the titles of second-tier league scoring king and Premier League rising star,
now he had another one to add: a mainstay of the French national team, and perhaps even a core player in the future! Once the noise died down, Wenger discussed the tactical arrangements and precautions for the upcoming home game against Dortmund.
With 4 wins in 4 group stage matches, accumulating 12 points and leading second-place Dortmund by 7 points, Arsenal had already secured their spot as group winners in advance. Most of Arsenal's key players were not included in the starting lineup.
Maël wasn't even on the roster. Wenger seemed to want him to rest for this match, saving his energy for a Premier League and EFL Cup match at the end of the month.
He gladly accepted and returned home to rest after the briefing.
In the evening, Maël took out the four washed photos, applied glue, and headed towards the photo wall.
He had always maintained his old habits, and even specially ordered a photo printing machine online to make it easier to use on weekdays.
Looking at it now, the wall, which had only a few photos at the beginning of the season, had gradually become dazzling.
It held many memories, and he often came to this room and stood there for a long time, admiring the path he had walked step by step, the mementos he had left behind.
"Finally have something in the national team section."
José and the other three team members also entered the room with him to witness this milestone moment. Progress from zero to one was always especially important.
"Yeah." Safina counted the photos on the wall and sighed, "There are already 21 Premier League photos and 9 Champions League photos. Not bad, that's 30 photos just from the club."
"15 goals and 6 assists in the Premier League? What about the Champions League?" Her brother Harry asked.
"5 goals and 4 assists."
Davis answered for everyone, his face filled with disbelief. "That means Maël already has 30+, that's too fast."
"A young player who scores 30+ goals in a single season in top-tier competitions is considered a top-level player, but Maël has achieved that in just half a season. That's another level of performance," José added, looking at the photos with some fascination.
The four of them stopped chatting and admired the photo wall, watching Maël paste the four photos in the blank space.
"Maël," Safina said, with her good memory, "This is the third time this season you've put up four photos from one match. The first time was against Manchester United, and the second time was against Marseille.
"These are all considered your classic matches. Do you still remember them vividly?"
"Of course, I remember them vividly."
Maël nodded, pasted the four photos, and stood back with everyone to admire them. "Now, all that's missing are photos from the EFL Cup and FA Cup, and of course the UEFA Super Cup and Community Shield Cup, as well as the European Cup and World Cup."
"There will always be some," José offered his blessing, "Didn't you say that one day you would fill this wall? At this rate, you will."
"Haha!" Everyone laughed together. Their goals were aligned, and sometimes chatting about these things was nice.
Maël smiled, remembering his promise to give everyone gifts if they achieved 30+ stats. Now that he was back from the national team, it was time to fulfill that promise.
I'll pick a time to go out and buy some things for them, give them a good reward! He walked out of the photo room, looking at the hall of fame on the other side with anticipation, "Hopefully, not only will the photo wall slowly fill up, but the hall of fame will also slowly be filled."
The national team matter still had some impact on him, but it was positive. He was even more eager to compete for championships on all fronts.
"Won't we have to add one next month?"
Davis looked at the hall of fame and smiled, "The Golden Boy Award trophy is also very beautiful."
Maël smiled, turned around, and went upstairs to rest. He was really tired from flying back and then taking a car all the way.
The next day, Maël and the other four watched the Champions League group stage, 5th round, Arsenal versus Dortmund match on TV.
Dortmund, playing with their full strength lineup, had a very strong oppressive force. They took the initiative from the start.
However, because goalkeeper Szczęsny was in excellent form, they failed to score despite taking nine shots in the entire first half.
After the second half started, they began to change their strategy, switching in two small, fast, and agile players to attack Arsenal's defense.
In the 49th minute, Kagawa Shinji scored with a shot, giving Dortmund the lead.
Zero to one!
After falling behind, Arsenal wanted to attack, but they were continuously scored on by Dortmund's Lewandowski and Götze.
Zero to three! Fortunately, substitute forward Benayoun scored a goal from a corner kick before the end of the match, preventing them from being shut out.
One to three was the final score. Arsenal's first loss of the season had arrived.
"What do you think?" Safina turned to look at Maël and asked.
"Nothing."
Maël picked up a water bottle and took a drink, laughing, "Strategic abandonment, and no team can avoid losing. It's good to let the main players rest.
"We've already secured first place in the group. It would be a waste to fight for victory and risk someone getting injured."
He was about to go upstairs to rest when he suddenly saw Mendes calling. He picked up the phone and answered, "Are you in London?"
"No." The voice on the other end of the phone was excited, first congratulating him, "Your debut performance for the French team was good. The Ribery incident wasn't a complete loss for you either. At least your social media followers have increased a lot."
"Is there good news?"
Maël asked with a smile. His Facebook and Twitter followers were approaching 10 million. Could there be new endorsement offers coming? "I think you guessed right." Mendes explained excitedly, "During this time, there have been countless advertising and endorsement invitations. The market seems to know that you are about to become a superstar!
"I need to carefully select the endorsements, but I've already accepted two advertisements for you, one is a snack company, and the other is a milk company.
"You only need to post a few posts. Haven't you been asking me about this? Now the opportunity has come."
"How much per post?" Maël's expression changed slightly, "It was £80,000 before, it should have increased now, right?"
Wasn't this the way to make money while lying down that he had always been looking forward to? Now he finally had the opportunity.
"£200,000." Mendes' voice was full of joy, "It's not just increased, it's increased a lot, a lot. After tax, you can get £102,000, which is equivalent to a week's salary."
"Not bad."
"And it's not just one post. Lay's Chips is preparing to launch a wave of advertisements before Christmas. They have booked three posts, and the other one is Mengniu Company of China, they have booked two posts."
"£510,000 in total income?"
"That's right, but they won't be posted on the same day. They should be posted every two days, and the payment progress will be aligned with the posting progress. You get a payment for each post."
"What about the copy?"
"You don't need to write it. They will write it and we will review it. In other words, you only need to move your fingers, swipe and get £100,000, swipe and get £100,000!"
Maël stood up excitedly. What was the difference between this feeling and a question he saw on Zhihu in his previous life?
If I give you a button, and pressing it will give you... He needed to stay calm, this was far from the end. He was waiting for the day when he could earn a million pounds per post.
"In addition, both companies are also interested in inviting you to be their spokesperson, but they are still in negotiations.
"This time, the basic quote I filled out for you is £1.2 million a year, and I will try to negotiate further and get a generous bonus contract."
"In that case, if you successfully win the Golden Boy Award, you'll receive a considerable bonus."
"What a calculation." Maël said, refreshed, as he walked to the window with his phone. But who would refuse to earn more money?
"Keep it up, kid. Your value has surged again. The next step is to truly develop into a superstar."
"Don't worry about the Golden Boy Award. I'll help you create momentum at the right time. You also have resources with ins and newspapers, so you need to put in the effort to promote yourself and increase your chances."
"One aspect is for you to familiarize yourself with the process in advance, preparing for the promotion of various awards in the future. I know you're setting up social media and newspaper connections, and you definitely have this in mind."
"This time, consider it a training exercise. I'll pass on some experience to you."
"Another aspect is for security. Even if you have an 80% chance of winning the Golden Boy, we still need to try to eliminate the remaining 20%."
"Awards can sometimes be very mysterious. In short, we need to be foolproof to feel confident."
"Okay."
Maël felt a surge of gratitude. From the perspective of imparting experience, Mendes was very good to him.
The other party wasn't afraid that he would develop on his own, gradually accumulating his own capital to break away from the control of the agent.
Treating him like a friend?
If he wasn't sure about this before, he's absolutely sure now.
He naturally regarded Mendes as a friend as well, and wouldn't think about abandoning him once he developed. Credibility is the foundation of a person's life.
As his value in all aspects increases, the cost of losing credibility will also increase.
Hanging up the phone, he didn't think about anything else. Now, continue forward! "Ole! Ole!"
...
November 27th, the 13th round of the Premier League kicked off amidst cheers at the Emirates Stadium. This was the second-to-last game of the month.
In this round, Wenger arranged a full starting lineup, striving to win against Fulham, who were currently ranked fourteenth in the league table, at home.
But the course of the game was somewhat unexpected. Fulham's four midfielders were in excellent form, and they used their tireless running to create difficulties for Arsenal in passing the ball from back to front.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Even if Maël sometimes managed to break through 2 or 3 opponents with his dribbling, he couldn't create too many good opportunities. The players in the opponent's defense were united, desperately trying to guard the goal.
"Bang!"
In the 66th minute of the match, Fulham unexpectedly scored an own goal through Vermaelen with an accidental cross during a counter-attack.
The situation took a sharp turn!
Arsenal was behind!
Wenger and the Arsenal coaches on the sidelines looked grim. They wondered if this was a chain reaction from the previous loss, or if the players needed time to adjust after returning from the National Team Match Day.
But once you lose in the Premier League, the 'undefeated season' spirit that you've been holding onto is gone, and the team may enter a period of turbulence.
"Zzzzz" Wenger frowned and pulled up the zipper of his windbreaker. When he was anxious, he wanted to do something with his hands, and pulling the zipper was quite stress-relieving.
But for some reason, the zipper that usually went up easily at home was stuck again on the field.
"Zzzzz...!" Wenger gritted his teeth and pulled hard a few times, only to find that the more he pulled, the more stuck it became, and there was no way to move it.
He was at odds with the zipper again, and he lowered his head to fix the garment in the coaching seat.
"The director's camera is on."
Philip covered his mouth and reminded him, looking at the big screen. Wenger's appearance was often filmed and used for memes.
"Tsk!" Wenger clicked his tongue and reluctantly unzipped the zipper, sitting upright in his seat.
Seeing that the director's camera wasn't filming, he started tearing at it again, already developing an obsession with the zipper. As a result, the director's camera switched back to him again.
"Damn it."
He couldn't help but curse inwardly, stood up and walked to the sidelines, pretending to wave his hands and direct the team.
I wanted to update 3 chapters, but the jet lag hasn't worn off yet. I've been feeling uncomfortable all day, and writing is so slow. There will be two chapters today, close to 20,000 words.
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