"You're looking thin."

  When Marino received Gao Shen and Lucas at Naples airport, he was somewhat taken aback.

  After running around for half a month, Gao Shen indeed looked thinner.

  Gao Shen smiled.

  Although he flew from Europe to South Amerid took some time fhtseeing over the past two weeks, he had been more occupied with work.

  Fortunately, the results were fruitful.

  "How's the progress on the European side?" Gao Shen asked with .

  "Pelle, Bonucci, Hamsik, Handanovi?, and Gervinho have all been signed."

  After Marino finished speaking, he hesitated and asked again, "I'm very curious. Although Pelle is a pyer for the National Youth Team, there is a lot of troversy around him. Many people are not optimistic about him. Why did you want to buy him?"

  Graziano Pellè, who will soon turn 21, is a pyer for the Italian national youth team. In 2005, he performed well in the youth team friendly matches. In the U20 World Cup in the Uates, he scored foals in five games, and coach Paolo Berrettini praised him as the future hope of Italian strikers.

  However, in 2006, after the youth team ged coaches and the new coach Casiraghi took over, Pellè's performance was ckluster. It could even be described as poor. From the sed half of 2005, through the qualifiers to the official U21 European Youth Championship, he scored zero goals and faced heavy criticism.

  Not only that, but he also performed poorly at Lecce. In the 2004-05 season, he was loao ia in Serie B. He failed to score a single goal in 15 games.

  In Lecce st season, he pyed ten games and still scored zero goals until he was loao Crotone in Serie B after the winter break. There, he scored two goals in 17 games, and his performance was just as bad.

  It be said that Italy was not satisfied with Pellè's performand evehat his development was far below expectations.

  This is why Napoli was able to buy Pellè from Lecce for one million euros.

  Therefore, Marino uzzled about why Gao Shen wao buy Pellè.

  Gao Shehat not only now but in the ing years, Pellè's fate would be just as disappointing.

  In 2007, Van Gaal, who coached Alkmaar, took a liking to him and bought him for a high price of 6 million euros. It didn't take long for Van Gaal to leave, and Pellè was quickly sidelined. After returning to Italy, he still wasn't utilized much.

  It wasn't until 2013 when Ronald Koeman coached Feyenoord and brought Pellè to the Eredivisie again.

  This time, Pellè shined, sg 27 and 23 goals in two secutive seasons, being a sensation, and ter reag the peak of his career with Premier League club Southampton.

  Unfortunately, he was already in his early thirties by then.

  The reason was that Pellè's teical characteristics did not fit the maiactical trends.

  Van Gaal was the first to see Pellè's characteristics, but for various reasons, Pellè did not perform well under Van Gaal.

  Sometimes, one really has to admit that luck pys a big part!

  Gao Shen appreciates Pellè very much. His characteristics align with Gao Shen's requirements for a tre-forward: tall and strong, able to test, run, and pete in aerial duels. He serves as a crucial tactical pivot in the front.

  But now, the mainstream forwards in Italy are of the type like Pippo Inzaghi, Luca Toni, Iaquinta, and Amauri pure goalscorers.

  This made Pellè seem out of pce, and his low sg efficy drew criticism.

  Of course, this was not an isoted case. In 2006, even a target man like Drogba was criticized by tless people for his low sg efficy, so how could Pellè avoid the same fate?

  In Gao Shen's tactical pns, Pellè and i are two different types of pyers for different tactical enviros.

  Although i is tall, strong, and has excellent heading ability, he is better at direct impad is tireless. He is the kind of alternative forward who cover all the way from the oppo's goal to his own.

  Pellè, oher hand, is the tactical pivot.

  How to use them and when to use which pyer will depend och situation and oppos.

  For Marino's question, Gao Shen just ughed and did not answer.

  This made him seem very mysterious.

  ...

  Gao Shen's arrival, coupled with De Laurentiis' verbal battle with Juventus, drew a lot of attention to Napoli before the seasoarted, and the pyers they signed gradually attracted media attention as.

  The closer it got to July, the more media reporters paid attention.

  Especially when the successive signings were gradually announced on the official website, the Italian media were surprised to find that Napoli had introduced a group of young pyers iwenties.

  At the same time, after Gao Shen took over the team, Marino stepped in and sold a rge number of pyers. Some who hadn't been able to py st season were let go, and even key pyers like Giubito, sonni, Gatti, and Capparel were sent away one by one.

  What is he trying to do?

  Does Gao Shen really want to reach Serie A with a group of young pyers iwenties?

  Not only could the Italian media not uand, but even Sacchi said he could not fathom what Gao Shen nning.

  Turin Sports Daily even wrote an ironic article, g that Gao Shen wao replicate his success at Real Madrid but foolishly fot that at Real Madrid, the core bat power was not young pyers like De Red and Negredo.

  "Real Madrid won the double relying on superstars like Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, and Raúl!"

  Turin Sports Daily believed that Gao Shen was being blind and impulsive, and Napoli would pay the price for their decision.

  Even *Gazzetta dello Sport* ehat Gao Shen's signings seemed very immature.

  "Acc to insiders from Napoli, Gao Shen's signings have ore than 15 million euros. Even in Serie A, this is a massive expenditure, but the pyers he brought in are seriously g in petitiveness."

  "If you i heavily but fail to lead the team to Serie A, then Gao Shen will pay the price for his wrong decisions!"

  After multiple setbacks in finding a coach, Juventus finally succeeded when Bnc stepped forward and persuaded Deschamps to coach the relegated Bianeri in Serie B.

  Sp Director Seahe overall transfers. Although they sold pyers like Ibrahimovi?, Emerson, Zambrotta, Vieira, Mutu, avaro, and Thuram, Juventus remairong.

  This summer, Juventus spent only 3.6 million euros t iral defender Boumsong from Newcastle in the Premier League, Marni from Parma, and Cristiano Zai from Inter Min, all oransfers.

  In other words, Juventus sold nearly 80 million euros worth of pyers but only reied 3.6 million euros in signings.

  On this, Sp Director Secco proudly said that Juventus didn't o i more money because they were fident about being promoted to Serie A.

  "Only teams that have struggled their from Serie eed to i huge sums of moo transform their squad. We don't hat," Secco sarcastically sneered.

  Regarding Gao Shen's signings, Secco said he didn't uand them at all.

  "That's why I refused to hire him as our coa the first pce. I found he knew nothing about professional football. He didn't even know how to haransfer, so I refused to give him transfer authority."

  "Yes, Napoli gave it to him, but look at what he has do Napoli!"

  "I don't uand. He's dismahe entire foundation of the team. Does he io get promoted to Serie A with a bunch of twenty-year-old kids?"

  ...

  While Seceered at Gao Shen in Italy, Martín, the former chairman of Real Madrid, also spoke out in Spain, publicly acg Gao Shen of betraying him at a critical moment and warning Napoli's chairman, De Laurentiis.

  "He will bankrupt you, just like he did to me!"

  Martín said that he was the one who, against all odds, decided to let Gao Shen coach Real Madrid; he was the one who paved the way fao Shen by settling the superstars in the locker room; he was the one who gave Gao Shen unditional support and trust, which is why Gao Shen succeeded at Real Madrid.

  "But what did I get?"

  "At the most critical moment of my re-ele campaigrayed me. I know why: he wao please my oppo. But unfortunately, Capello will be coag Real Madrid in the new season, and he will only end up coag a newly-promoted Serie B team."

  Martín said that Gao Shen did not uand football at all, and his coag success was entirely due to his assistant, Maqueda, and others.

  "I'm afraid many people don't know that when he was coag Real Madrid, he visited Carlo's house every day to ask for help. He didn't even know how to set up a lineup or prepare fame. That's why when he went to coaapoli, he hired Carlo as his assistant."

  Martín took the initiative to reveal these iories with only oention to tell the world that Gao Shen's achievements at Real Madrid were fake!

  Gao Shen is the biggest liar in the world!

  This time, it wasn't just the Spanish media that picked up ooryvItalian outlets and other major European media also followed suit.

  Many had long harbored doubts: how could a 25-year-old coach lead Real Madrid and achieve such remarkable success?

  Now, the answer might be ing to light.

  Particurly ing was Gao Shen's decision after joining Napoli, where he spent over 15 million euros t in a group of retively unknown youngsters. To many, this seemed utterly absurd.

  Even respected publications like L'équipe and Bild expressed s about Gao Shen's future at Napoli.

  While they didn't directly question his achievements at Real Madrid sihe cims made by some, like Martin, were riddled with inaccuracies and seemed like mere sensationalism there was still a signifit worry among fans, especially those unfamiliar with Gao Shen or supporters of teams he had previously defeated.

  The real stemmed from his current moves at Napoli. This was his first season after a hugely successful stint at Real Madrid, and now he was coag a newly promoted Serie B team, bringing in a roster full of young and unproven talents. It was uandable why people were anxious.

  However, this uainty alsht unpreted attention to the uping Serie B season. With not only fallen giants like Juventus but also many other well-known Italian clubs and newly promoted teams led by an ambitious coach, the league was shaping up to be a fasating mix that drew in fans from all ers.

  Amidst all this attention, Napoli's summer training camp quietly enced.