"Oh, André, my boy, let me have a good look at you."
Just as he stepped out of Turin Airport, André saw Dolores Aveiro standing there holding a young boy's hand. When André walked up to them, Dolores hugged him tightly, looking very excited.
"Mãe, I'm doing well. How have you been lately?"
"I'm fine. Cristiano had training, so I came to pick you up. Let's go."
"Uncle André."
"Ha, Júnior, you've grown so tall! I almost didn't recognize you." André looked at the little guy in front of him, grinned, and pinched his little cheek.
"Uncle André, you can't pinch my face anymore. I'm a grown-up now. Uncle, I want to learn boxing from you. The video of you fighting was so cool."
Looking at the little lad in front of him, André laughed happily. This was Cristiano Ronaldo's son, Cristiano Ronaldo Júnior. This kid had always been very close to André. Back when they were in Spain, André often took him out to play.
"Alright, when you're a bit older, I'll teach you."
Afterward, they got into a vehicle driven by a bodyguard and arrived at Cristiano's residence in Turin, a luxurious villa.
"Hello! Sister Georgina."
"André, I heard you got into trouble again. How is it? Is everything settled? I watched the video of you playing football, though—it was so brilliant."
"The reporters have been looking for me lately, so I came here to hide for a bit."
When Cristiano returned home after finishing his day's training, he was very happy to see André at the house.
"You brat, I heard you're a celebrity in Spain now. All those reporters are looking for you."
"Sigh, those people are too much trouble. Jorge also agreed to let me come hide for a few days, but what about my training during this time?"
"Hmm? How about I talk to the club? You can train with us."
"Is that okay?"
"It should be fine. If you keep a low profile, there shouldn't be any issues. It's just training, after all. Even if the reporters find out, I don't think it'll be a problem."
"Alright, I guess that's the only way."
The two of them made the decision just like that. Cristiano then contacted Juventus's head coach, Massimiliano Allegri, and introduced André's situation. Ultimately, Allegri agreed to Cristiano's request. Allegri's agreement was entirely out of respect for Cristiano—a player from the Segunda División wasn't enough to pique his interest.
The next day, André followed Cristiano to Juventus's Continassa training ground. Looking at everything before him, André finally felt the difference between a giant club and a small club like Oviedo. This first-team training center of Juventus made André feel like a country lad entering a grand palace.
As they walked, Cristiano introduced some details about Continassa to André. The Continassa Training Center was completed just at the end of last year. Previously, the Juventus first team trained at the Vinovo training ground. In 2013, Juventus obtained the usage rights for the Continassa land, and the first-team training center project was born.
The training center covers an area of 58,900 square meters, with the pitches taking up 37,000 square meters. There are four pitches in total, one of which has a stand that can hold 600 people, used for showing open training sessions to fans. Additionally, it boasts very advanced hardware facilities, including a media building with offices, a press room, film production, and interview areas.
All functions are complete. Furthermore, Cristiano mentioned that there are plans to connect the J-Hotel with the training center, and eventually, rooms in an entire wing of the hotel will be provided to the players.
Well, hearing Cristiano's introduction, André admitted he was a bit envious. Bloody hell, Oviedo's training ground compared to this was like night and day. No wonder those players dreamed of joining a powerhouse club.
"Hi, Cristiano, is this your cousin?"
"Yes. André, this is the team captain, Giorgio."
"I know. Mr. Chiellini, could I trouble you for an autograph?"
Seeing the person appearing before him, there was no need for Cristiano's introduction: Giorgio Chiellini, the current captain of Juventus.
Seeing his cousin's 'fanboy' behavior, Cristiano rolled his eyes.
"Of course, no problem. But training is about to start. Massimiliano already told me today that you'll be training with us for the time being. Young man, I've seen your match videos. You're very impressive."
"Really? Thank you for the compliment."
"Let's go, I'll take you to the dressing room. Cristiano, this cousin of yours is quite interesting."
Following Chiellini to the dressing room, seeing one familiar face after another made André turn into a fanboy again. However, his naturally friendly personality made it easy for everyone to accept this temporary teammate. Of course, another important reason was that everyone knew he was Cristiano's cousin, so they were very welcoming toward André.
"André, you'll use this locker for the next few days. There's a training kit inside, but the cost will be deducted from Cristiano's salary."
"Oh, that's fine then."
"Hey, you brat, what do you mean 'fine'? I'm telling you, you have to pay me back for this."
Bloody hell, are you the reincarnation of Scrooge? You're even asking me for this money? André rolled his eyes.
"Fine, I'll have mãe give it to you."
"You..." Hearing André's words, Cristiano was instantly choked up.
After changing clothes, André followed the Juventus players to the training pitch. At this time, four or five assistant coaches were setting up training aids. André knew what some were, while others he didn't recognize.
However, Allegri didn't have André train with the Juventus players. After all, that wouldn't be proper. Instead, he arranged for an assistant coach to take André to a nearby area for some routine training.
Even so, André benefited greatly. To be honest, the intensity of the entire morning's training took André by surprise. It was much higher than at Oviedo. Even with André's freakish physical fitness, he felt it was a bit hard to handle, yet he observed that the Juventus players were all able to cope with it easily.
This is the gap, was the only thought that popped into André's mind after seeing it.
The start time for Serie A is similar to La Liga. Currently, eleven rounds of Serie A had been played. Juventus had remained undefeated so far this season with a record of 10 wins and 1 draw. However, in the next round, Juventus would challenge AC Milan away. Everyone at Juventus was taking this match very seriously, so they'd been doing targeted tactical training during this period.
André watched.
And he learned.
This was world-class football.
And he was just getting started.
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