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"Have you made up your mind? Where do you want to go?"
"Not yet. To be honest, I don't even know myself..."
At night, Lance, unusually, sat on his flat balcony with a bottle of beer.
Looking at the crescent moon in the sky and the small city of Leverkusen before him, he suddenly felt a pang of reluctance.
On the trophy display cabinet in the living room behind him, there were the German Cup winner's gold medal, a replica of the championship trophy, and the German Cup final MVP trophy, all acquired just two days prior...
The display cabinet, bought when he moved into the flat last season, was already packed full, with no space for any other trophies.
Lance had received so many MVP trophies that his hands were tired.
There were also two Bundesliga Golden Boot cannon trophies, and two 1:1 replica 'salad plate' trophies.
There was even the authentic German Cup trophy on the sofa, Lance had it for a couple of days to admire, but would have to return it to the club later.
The lack of space in the trophy cabinet seemed to foreshadow that Lance had reached the end of his journey in the Bundesliga, and it was time to embark on new challenges.
His mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts, faced with requests from numerous giants like Real Madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Manchester United, and Bayern, Lance was undecided.
Each of these clubs had its advantages, but also its own problems.
Take Real Madrid, for example, everyone dreams of playing for Real Madrid, but how easy is it to get into Real Madrid?
J-Rod, James Rodríguez, is the best example.
A talented midfielder, valued at 80 million, who burst onto the scene at the 2014 World Cup, logically, he should have secured a regular starting spot at Real Madrid and become a star player on par with Cristiano Ronaldo.
But later, J-Rod gradually couldn't even make the starting lineup, and almost consistently warmed the bench for the latter half of the season.
The Portugal faction of Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, and Marcelo, the Spain faction led by Casillas, Ramos, and others, and then there was the France faction, the neutral party... All in all, the atmosphere in the Real Madrid changing room was more complex than the imperial harem in 'Empresses in the Palace'.
If Lance went, there would inevitably be a struggle for the spotlight with Cristiano Ronaldo.
One mountain cannot hold two tigers, Lance's ball-carrying style would definitely have its space squeezed by Cristiano Ronaldo.
It would be one thing if he were another white player, but the key was Lance's yellow skin and black hair, which put him at a natural disadvantage with the Real Madrid management.
The arrogant white gentlemen only wanted Asian players to play a supporting role, the prince of Real Madrid could only be Cristiano Ronaldo.
Florentino, Mendes, and many other Real Madrid executives would undoubtedly stand firmly with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Lance wasn't afraid of a fight, he could always conquer everyone with his performance on the pitch.
But this would go against Lance's original intention, he hoped to play in a purer environment, and hoped to overthrow the hegemon of the original timeline as a challenger.
Nothing was more exciting than challenging Real Madrid, just as overturning the destined champions Barcelona this season and rewriting history!
"So, you don't want to go to Real Madrid?"
"Of course not."
"What a pity, I thought I could make a Real Madrid friend."
"Oh, really? Then I'll introduce Cristiano Ronaldo to you."
"No thanks, if it's not you, I'm not interested in meeting him."
"Huh? What did you say?"
"Nothing!!! I didn't say anything just now!"
The girl on the other end of the phone was quite flustered.
In reality, Lance's surroundings were exceptionally quiet, and he heard her quite clearly, feeling a flutter in his heart.
He hadn't known who to talk to about his worries earlier, De Bruyne had gone with his girlfriend, his other brothers were also out having fun, Lance looked at his contact list and instinctively dialled Chloe's number.
He didn't expect her to answer immediately.
After their last 'home tutoring' experience, the two seemed to have regained their closeness after the awkwardness.
Lance could feel the pull between them, but with too much going on lately, he temporarily couldn't bring himself to break through that barrier.
From Chloe's tone, Lance could almost imagine her blushing face, he was about to tease her a bit more, when his phone suddenly vibrated; it was a call from Mendes.
Lance had to let her go for now.
"Chloe, my agent is calling me. I'll chat with you later. Get some sleep."
"Ah? Okay... Good night."
The girl was clearly a bit disappointed.
He hung up and answered Mendes's call.
Jorge Mendes wasted no time with pleasantries:
"Lance, meet someone with me tomorrow."
"Who? From Real Madrid? I won't meet anyone from Real Madrid."
"Oh? Young man, are you really not considering Real Madrid?"
"Yes, after careful consideration, Real Madrid isn't suitable for me. I'd rather meet them as an opponent."
"Alright, that's a pity. Mr Florentino and I had a very good talk, and we could have offered you a big contract with an annual salary of 20 million euros..."
"Damn it!! I won't be tempted by money. I'm not short on money."
Lance said this almost through gritted teeth.
Not being tempted was a lie.
What did 20 million euros mean?
It was the top player value in football for Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi in 2015, double Lance's current value.
In one year, from a million-euro annual salary to a ten-million-euro annual salary, and then to 20 million, Lance's income growth rate was unprecedented!
If you added income from advertising endorsements and establishing his own brand, Lance was very likely to break 30 million in annual income before the age of 20, becoming one of the wealthiest young talents in the world.
Not being tempted was a lie, but considering his dream for football, he still resisted the temptation of a high salary.
Lance quickly realised, Mendes must have already guessed his decision and was deliberately teasing him.
"So, who do we need to meet?"
"To be precise, people from two clubs. One is Begiristain, the Director of Football for Premier League Manchester City. The other is Gil Marín, the CEO of Atlético Madrid."
"Oh?"
Mendes's words greatly surprised Lance.
Manchester City contacting him was within expectations.
Manchester City had recently been rumoured to be interested in Kevin De Bruyne, preparing to spend over 50 million pounds to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
De Bruyne's hesitation last time was also related to this matter.
He wanted to invite Lance to Manchester City with him, for the two brothers to continue fighting side-by-side in the Premier League.
As a Belgian, Lance was from an EU member state and would not occupy Manchester City's non-EU quota, and there would be no obstacles to getting a Premier League work permit, Manchester City was very keen to acquire this Belgian twin duo, and only an oil-rich club like Manchester City in all of Europe could simultaneously acquire both Belgian stars.
Their transfer budget this summer would likely exceed 200 million euros!
During this time, Bayer Leverkusen fans would often gather at the training base entrance, pleading with the Belgian twins not to leave.
Transfer rumours were rampant, dominating German mainstream news media and social media trending topics, news about the two was everywhere.
It would be hard for Lance not to know.
As for Atlético Madrid's invitation, that was a bit surprising, in 2015, the Wanda Group did acquire a portion of Atlético Madrid's shares, and the Calderón stadium was renamed "Wanda Metropolitano Stadium."
The golden age of Chinese football's real estate capital was at its peak during this period, a few years later, it would rapidly decline, leaving chaos in its wake.
"Yes, initially I didn't plan to invite people from Atlético Madrid. But they showed great sincerity, the CEO himself came to Germany to meet you, and also brought a Chinese representative, Mr Chang Lin, a board member. I think it's worth meeting them, what do you think?"
The so-called board member was likely Zhang Lin, the Wanda executive mentioned in the news who participated in Atlético Madrid's management.
He had no decision-making power at Atlético Madrid, only an observer's role.
His visit this time was probably to persuade Lance through a sense of kinship as a fellow Chinese.
"Alright then, let's meet them."
Lance took a deep breath.
Looking towards the Bayer Leverkusen training base in the distance from the balcony, he had a premonition, that this summer, he might truly be saying goodbye to this place.