After all procedures were completed, Geronimi, Chataigner, and Julien put their hands together.
Geronimi, this used car company owner, was now full of ambition.
"You're the biggest contract I've ever signed, Julien. I expect you to continue creating miracles at Bastia!"
Chataigner also chimed in, "Now walking through Bastia's streets, no one doesn't know the name Julien. Street graffiti everywhere has your name.
Even among the street kids, there's a joke going around: A child walked past some graffiti and suddenly fell down. Do you know why?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Chataigner laughed, "Because the graffiti the child passed was of Julien, and the child got nutmegged."
"Hahaha!"
Geronimi burst out laughing.
Julien was also somewhat helpless at such jokes. He had to admit that in his previous life, he knew many people liked making jokes about France.
But when it came to self-deprecating French humor, the French themselves were the best at it.
Take this classic example: "Why does the French army issue baguettes to their soldiers? First, the length exceeds German bayonets so hand-to-hand combat becomes unnecessary. Second, after three days they harden enough to serve as anti-tank obstacles. And most importantly, when you need to wave the white flag of surrender, you already have the perfect flagpole."
September 29th.
At 11:29 AM, Bastia's official website suddenly posted an announcement—
"After mutual consultation, Bastia has completed contract renewal with team captain Julien De Rocca, signing a new five-year contract lasting until October 2017.
Since entering the first team in the 2011/12 season, Julien has quickly become a key figure in Bastia's lineup.
In the 2011/12 season, he delivered outstanding statistics across multiple competitions:
French Cup: 8 goals and 3 assists leading the team to victory, achieving double crown champion status that season;
Ligue 2: 19 goals and 3 assists, helping the team successfully promote to Ligue 1, personally winning the Ligue 2 Golden Boot;
At national team level: scored 1 goal representing France U21 against England in a friendly; Represented the national team in the European Championship contributing 4 goals and 1 assist, becoming European Championship Best Player, Best Newcomer, and Top Scorer.
In friendlies against Uruguay and the 2012 World Cup qualifiers, he totaled 3 goals and 2 assists, demonstrating his ability on the international stage.
In the 2012/13 season, Julien continued his hot form:
French Super Cup: 2 crucial goals helping the team win their first championship in history;
Ligue 1 (first 6 rounds, 4 appearances): 8 goals and 3 assists, leading the team in efficiency;
Europa League (1 appearance): 2 goals scored, contributing to the team's European campaign.
The legend continues."
This news instantly made the small city of Bastia boil with excitement.
Bastia people were incredibly excited upon seeing this news, happier than winning a match!
"Hahaha, everyone said our summer signings were very good, but we must admit that now we have the strongest signing!"
"I love you, Julien!"
"My God, when I saw this news, I was wondering if it was real or fake. I didn't expect it to be true."
"Looking at these statistics Julien put up, honestly, in Bastia's history, there's never been a stronger player than him. Although the team didn't reveal contract details, I hope the team can give Julien a big contract worthy of his value."
Soon, media quickly followed up with special interviews with team management.
Geronimi emphasized: "Julien's renewal is a sign of the team's stable development. We expect him to become a top striker in Ligue 1 and even European football in the future, leading Bastia to write new historical chapters."
Chataigner said, "Julien is a core member of Bastia's revival plan. His versatility, crucial match ability, consistency, and loyalty to the team perfectly match our long-term vision.
Whether leading the team's promotion to Ligue 1, winning the French Cup for double champion status, or breakthrough performances in the Europa League, he has proven himself to be a leader the team can trust.
We desire him to create new miracles together with Bastia."
As for Julien himself, he didn't accept interviews.
This was his consistent style.
However, while external discussions about Bastia's signing continued, internal players only briefly congratulated Julien.
Then they threw themselves into preparation for the next Ligue 1 match.
They would challenge the strong Ligue 1 team Nice away on the 31st.
Nice is located in Nice, the administrative center of Alpes Province in southern France.
Founded in 1904, it's an old Ligue 1 powerhouse.
Nice's most glorious period was in the 1950s, winning consecutive championships in 1951 and 1952, then again in 1956 and 1959, reaching the team's peak.
However, Nice has had significant ups and downs in recent years.
In the 2010-11 season, they finished 17th in the league, nearly relegated. In 2011-2012, they also hovered around the relegation zone, barely surviving both times.
After six Ligue 1 rounds currently, the team sits in 13th place with 7 points, only 4 points behind Bastia.
Early in the season, the gap between teams wasn't too large.
Except for Marseille.
Current Marseille had won all six rounds with 18 points, running away with the lead.
They led second-place Lyon by 4 points.
You have to know that 4th-place Bastia only led 13th-place Nice by 4 points.
Marseille's performance had real substance.
Currently, for Bastia to catch up to Marseille was quite difficult, with a full 7-point gap. They had to wait for Marseille to drop points themselves and defeat Marseille in direct encounters.
Forget about winning the Ligue 1 championship—for Bastia to qualify for next season's Champions League, they needed at least third place.
Currently in Ligue 1, the top two could directly qualify for Champions League group stage, while third place went to Champions League playoffs.
On the 30th, Hadzibegic held the pre-match press conference.
Reporters naturally first asked Hadzibegic about Julien's contract renewal.
After all, this was hot news from the past two days.
Hadzibegic smiled, "He's the tactical 'master key.' When we need to break deadlocks, the whole team instinctively passes the ball to Julien. This trust comes from the incredible goals he's scored one after another.
I must admit that Bastia currently can't do without Julien. His willingness to stay at Bastia is a sign of mutual devotion. I'm very happy, and everyone at Bastia is very happy."
Reporters asked many questions about Julien before letting Hadzibegic off the hook. But then they turned to question Rothen, who was also attending the press conference.
Rothen said, "Without Julien, we would have found it very difficult to win the championship last season—in fact, it would have been impossible. We also couldn't have entered the Europa League. All of us know clearly that when Julien is on the pitch, we have more confidence."
Regarding the match itself, reporters asked very few questions.
Hadzibegic's answer was also simple—they would give their all and try hard to avoid relegation.
Reporters had become immune to the word "relegation." They were already fourth in the league, still talking about relegation?
Europa League team talking about relegation?
Hadzibegic dared to say it, but they didn't dare write it in reports. After all, no one would believe such reports anyway.
Last season, Hadzibegic kept saying this, and in the end, Bastia won the double crown.
Reporters were afraid that this season, Bastia would again "avoid relegation" their way to a championship.
On the other side, Nice's newly appointed head coach Claude Puel, who took over during the summer window, was also asked by reporters, "Do you have any targeted deployment against Julien?"
Puel smiled, "We've made special deployments for every player at Bastia. They're very strong, and we don't dare to relax in the slightest."
Regarding this head coach, reporters actually felt he was somewhat overqualified for coaching Nice.
Previously, Nice had long fought against relegation, while Puel, as a championship-level coach who had previously managed Monaco, Lille, Lyon and other teams, taking charge of Nice was completely like a big fish in a small pond.
However, Puel indeed had ability. At least Nice's current performance was much better than the previous two seasons' starts.
Of course, they were still far from their historical best start.
Since Ligue 1 implemented the 3-point system in 1994, only 2 teams had gotten more than 29 points after 11 league rounds: Nice (29 points) and Lyon in the 2006-2007 season (31 points).
At least Nice's current fans were full of confidence in Puel.
Puel had proven himself with his resume.
He was a team-building type of head coach who stayed at each club for a particularly long time.
As a player, he had only played for Monaco.
From entering Monaco's first team in 1978, he made 597 appearances for Monaco.
He played for a full 18 years. Then retired from Monaco in 1996.
Subsequently, he began developing his coaching abilities in Monaco's youth system, and in 1999 officially began coaching Monaco's first team.
After coaching for two years, he went to Lille, staying there for six years.
Then he spent three years at Lyon.
Now he had come to Nice.
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