Tuttosport has announced the 40-man shortlist for the 2012 European Golden Boy Award.
Leading the prestigious list is Julien.
AC Milan's 20-year-old birthday boy Stephan El Shaarawy and last year's Golden Boy winner Mario Götze have both made the shortlist again.
Additionally, Bayern's David Alaba, Inter's Philippe Coutinho, Barcelona's "New Ronaldo" Gerard Deulofeu, Real Madrid's rising stars Jesé Rodriguez and Raphaël Varane, Liverpool's Raheem Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey, Juventus's defensive midfielder Paul Pogba, Málaga's Isco, and other promising European talents have all been included.
All the young players currently receiving widespread attention across Europe are on this list.
Regardless of how the rest of Europe discusses this shortlist, in the eyes of Bastia supporters, there's only one person on this list who deserves the Golden Boy Award and that's Julien.
"Julien isn't just leading the league scoring charts, he's also top of the Europa League scoring charts. What do the others have to compare?"
"It's not just about the statistics. The key is Julien's performances on the pitch, aren't we all well aware of them? He's absolutely the core player. And his national team performances at the Euros, leading the team to the semi-finals that's a demonstration of real ability. The others probably haven't even made their national team debuts yet."
"Julien's worth sixty million euros. How can the others compare?"
Bastia fans discussed excitedly, beaming with joy. If Julien truly wins the 2012 Golden Boy Award, he would become the first Golden Boy Award winner in Bastia's club history.
Previously, the Golden Boy Award only appeared in the history of top-tier clubs. That era would end.
Small clubs can produce geniuses too!
At the Bastia training ground, teammates congratulated Julien, even offering him advance congratulations for winning the Golden Boy Award.
Their views aligned with the fans'—how could anyone else compare to Julien?
In terms of honors, Julien achieved a domestic double with his club last season and reached the Euro semi-finals with the national team as a starter.
In terms of statistics, this season he leads the scoring charts in both competitions.
In terms of performance, does this even need saying? Just watch one of Julien's highlight reels and you'll know.
De Bruyne said in a joking tone, "You'd better win this award."
Julien laughed, "Don't worry. Even if it's not me, Courtois doesn't have any chance either."
Courtois was also on the candidate list.
After the shortlist was announced, Julien received many congratulatory text messages on his phone, with everyone hoping he would successfully win the award.
Truthfully, Julien wasn't particularly interested in the Golden Boy Award though he wouldn't say he had no interest at all.
If it were the Ballon d'Or, he might care a bit more.
Last night after the match, when discussing the Golden Boy Award, Zidane told him, "The Golden Boy Award doesn't really mean that much, it's more about potential. But the Ballon d'Or is the true honor. I hope you'll become France's next Ballon d'Or winner."
When Zidane said this, his voice was full of expectation.
Because he was France's last Ballon d'Or winner!
That was back in 1998. Fourteen years had passed since then, and France hadn't produced another Ballon d'Or winner.
Currently in all of France, perhaps only Franck Ribéry could make a push for it, but he was at his peak now, his ceiling was known.
Only Julien, overflowing with talent and still so young, inspired such hope.
Moreover, among French players, only one had ever won consecutive Ballon d'Or awards—Michel Platini, who won three in a row.
Now, Barcelona's Argentine genius Lionel Messi had already won three Ballon d'Or awards and was pushing for a fourth this year.
After that day's training ended, Chataigner found Julien. They'd already had a conversation last night, but today was different.
"I said last night that you're definitely a favorite for the Golden Boy Award, though I'm sure you don't need my congratulations—everyone else has already said it all."
Chataigner changed tack and told Julien, "While we were playing in the Europa League, I made a trip to the Netherlands and England."
He was all smiles. Julien immediately understood what Chataigner meant. "Progress on the winter transfer window?"
Chataigner nodded. "Mainly reinforcements for the back line. We've nearly finalized two deals—one is Ajax's young right-back Ricardo van Rhijn, and the other is a center-back, Virgil van Dijk from Groningen."
He then expressed some regret. "It's a shame that Arne Slot, Zwolle's attacking core from last season, isn't willing to join. He doesn't want to leave the Netherlands now—maybe next year or sometime he'll retire. If he could have come, our attacking options would have been much more diverse."
Then Chataigner shook his head. "However, these two transfers will likely exhaust most of our transfer budget. If we want to add more, it won't be easy."
Julien nodded. He was well aware of Bastia's current financial situation—it was teetering on the edge.
It could collapse at any moment.
But he also knew clearly that he was the club's trump card, the only one who could save the club.
The day he transferred, all of Bastia's financial problems would disappear.
They'd even be left with a substantial amount of funds for future survival battles.
Julien understood this very clearly.
Then he asked, "What about the goalkeeper position? Is Martínez willing to come?"
Chataigner smiled. "Of course. Wenger agreed to let him go, but only on a pure loan with no buyout clause."
Julien nodded. That was enough.
Emiliano Martínez actually had talent; he'd just wasted a lot of time at Arsenal. Of course, this couldn't be blamed on Arsenal—the competition for the goalkeeper position there was too fierce.
With this squad and a strengthened defense, they had real hope.
After chatting a bit more, Chataigner brought the conversation back to Julien. "The media is saying everywhere that you'll join Real Madrid or some other powerhouse club. Have you thought about where you'll go in the summer window?"
Chataigner's question was remarkably direct. After all, it was quite rare for a club's sporting director to directly ask their core player where he planned to go in the summer.
Of course, given the relationship between Julien and Chataigner, this was perfectly fine.
They always spoke directly with each other.
Julien shook his head. "Father helped me turn down all contact from other clubs."
'Huh?'
Chataigner was somewhat confused. When clubs interested in Julien contacted Bastia, he hadn't refused them, only saying they'd wait for Julien's decision.
"You don't want to decide yet? You're not still thinking about staying at Bastia, are you? The club's finances can't hold up."
Chataigner was on the verge of saying "you must leave in the summer."
He certainly knew that with Julien staying, Bastia's competitiveness would be strong. But the problems were also severe. Right now, the team's wages, various costs, and loans were all piling up.
If Julien didn't leave, Bastia would go bankrupt next season and wouldn't even be able to pay wages.
Ligue 1's meager revenue sharing wouldn't be enough to fill the hole.
Unless they won the Europa League that might help them hold on for a bit, but it would only treat the symptoms, not the cause.
This was the tragedy of small clubs. Even when a core player wanted to stay, the club's financial situation couldn't support keeping him.
Julien shook his head. "I'm aware of all this, but I don't want to think about these things before we've secured any titles. I just want to help the team go further. I want championships."
Julien's eyes were crystal clear.
Warmth filled Chataigner's heart. He smiled. "Alright, you decide. Either way, the club will support whatever decision you make."
Internally, he added, 'Though of course staying isn't an option.'
That evening, all the matches of Ligue 1's tenth round concluded. Marseille had won again.
Bastia fans were slightly disappointed.
They'd fallen back to second place.
After the match, Élie Baup, who had replaced Didier Deschamps as Marseille's new head coach, was fairly satisfied with the result.
Baup's playing career was almost non-existent. He'd transitioned to coaching very early, having managed four French clubs: Toulouse, Saint-Étienne, Bordeaux, and Nantes.
He was better at maintaining than innovating.
When reporters asked him about the title race with Bastia, Baup said, "Bastia is a team creating miracles, but we're not willing to fall behind either. We hope to have a place in today's competitive Ligue 1. Just qualifying for the Champions League is absolutely not our goal—we have one and only one goal, and that's the championship."
Of course, in interviews you have to talk about winning the title.
Like PSG, Ligue 1's most-watched club, who'd spent a hundred million euros in the summer window and were currently only in fourth place—it was obviously not acceptable to them.
But in his interview, Ancelotti said, "Our squad has undergone major changes. The beginning of the season is just about chemistry. We'll catch up to them. Paris only has desire for the title, any other position cannot satisfy us."
Ancelotti was actually quite confident.
Why?
Because PSG, given their current unsatisfactory results, had decided to keep spending.
Media reports now showed PSG might sign Brazilian prodigy Lucas Moura.
There was also a more blockbuster signing currently undisclosed.
However, French media had already leaked some related information—this player had previously played for Manchester United and Real Madrid.
This led to various names surfacing.
But all this was too distant for Bastia. In the pre-match press conference for the new round of Ligue 1, Hadzibegic said, "I've said it before—we always maintain a relegation team's mentality. We won't think about how many we've won, but how many more we can still win."
Amid all the commotion, Julien remained focused on the pitch, regardless of what other Bastia players might think.
November 4th, 9:47 PM.
A long whistle pierced the night sky at Stade Francis-Le Blé.
Brest fans were cheering wildly. They were very satisfied with this first-half result—leading Bastia 1-0 at home.
However, newly appointed head coach Alex Dupont wasn't as optimistic as the fans.
Because Julien hadn't started.
They were only leading against Bastia's semi-reserve lineup. Only when Julien took the field would it truly be Bastia in his view.
In the locker room, Hadzibegic patted Julien's shoulder. "Start warming up after the second half begins. I'll bring you on around the 60th minute, giving you half an hour."
"Okay." Julien nodded. Bastia hadn't actually played poorly in the first half, just had bad luck.
De Bruyne had created numerous threatening balls, but Palmieri, Lukaku, and Ilan, each and every one of them seemed to have left their shooting boots at home tonight.
Instead, it was the opponent's Charlison Benschop who, during a counterattack, dribbled into the box and won a penalty when Choplin handled the ball.
Benschop took the penalty himself and scored.
This was also Brest's only shot of the first half.
They'd parked the bus at home.
It was foreseeable that in the second half, they'd defend even more resolutely.
"In the second half, we must decisively push forward, decisively cross. Don't worry about their counterattacks. What we should worry about now is if they don't come out and just keep defending."
Hadzibegic's gaze swept over each player, his tone firm. "Attacking players, whenever you have a chance, seize it. Don't worry about missing shots. I won't blame you, as long as you're not wasting chances."
Hadzibegic mainly emphasized attacking issues and had nothing much to say about defense.
In this match, Rothen and Kanté had returned as the double pivot—they were very solid.
Both fullbacks pushed forward to attack without any defensive concerns.
As Hadzibegic said, he actually hoped Brest would come out and play an attacking game against Bastia.
The key question was: would they dare?
"Defend! Don't think about counterattacking. We're the ones leading now, we're going to implement a 1-0 mentality to the end!"
In Brest's locker room, Baup's emphasis was the complete opposite of Hadzibegic's.
He wanted defense!
"In the second half, their Julien will definitely come on. You need to be prepared. I'll emphasize again—don't let him through! Foul when you need to FOUL! Understand?!"
Soon, halftime ended and both teams entered the pitch.
At Stade Francis-Le Blé, Brest fans' cheers still echoed throughout.
The small group of Bastia fans were placed in a corner, their voices were completely drowned out. But they still shouted firmly, cheering for Bastia.
Even though they were down a goal, their voices hadn't diminished instead, they grew louder!
What does "support" mean?
It means shouting out when your team is in trouble, that's support.
Anyone can play when you're ahead. Fighting back from behind is when you show your mettle!
"Bastia are temporarily down by one goal away—this scoreline is actually somewhat surprising. Of course, considering Bastia's starting lineup, it's not that unexpected.
Probably rotating for the Europa League match in four days, Hadzibegic made changes to the lineup. Both wingers, Julien and Mané, are on the bench. Only Lukaku is up front, so it's really difficult to seize opportunities."
Amid repeated cheers from Brest fans, Bastia's multiple attacking attempts were blocked.
During this time, broadcast cameras repeatedly focused on Julien warming up.
Finally, at the 59th minute, there was a dead ball.
Bastia made a substitution.
Julien entered the match!
________________________________________________________
Check out my patreon where you can read more chapters:
patreon.com/LorianFiction
Thanks for your support!