Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 78 Halfway Through the League
With the first half of the Serie A season concluded, the media has been summarizing the results.

The best performing team was undoubtedly Roma, but the performances of the two Milan clubs were also commendable. Inter Milan performed relatively consistently, winning the vast majority of their matches, while AC Milan, although having a poor start, gradually caught up later on.

However, both Milan clubs suffered defeats in their direct clashes with Roma, drawing criticism from the Milanese media, especially Inter Milan, who lost 2-5 at home, a humiliating defeat.

The most disappointing team was Juventus. At the halfway point of the season, they had only managed to accumulate 27 points, ranking sixth in the league. They were also eliminated from the Champions League group stage and forced to play in the Europa League, which put Juventus coach Ferrara under tremendous pressure.

Their management has also drawn criticism from fans, especially regarding the summer signings Melo and Diego, who cost Juventus €5000 million in transfer fees but have failed to live up to expectations.

In particular, Juventus had the best chance to sign Shan Yongzhuo in the summer, but almost ended up handing him over to Roma. Now, seeing Shan Yongzhuo's outstanding performance in Serie A, Juventus fans are even more dissatisfied. They are criticizing the three management leaders online, affectionately calling them "three pigs".

However, these things are irrelevant to Shan Yongzhuo, who is now considering his vacation arrangements.

Christmas is just around the corner, and the team has already given everyone a break. Most of my teammates have already entered the "grave of marriage," so naturally, they're saving their holidays for their families.

Dan Yongzhuo was quite depressed. As a bachelor, he was at a loss for what to do during his vacation.

However, before he could figure out what to do, Kroos suddenly came to Rome. He came to invite Shan Yongzhuo to his home for Christmas, and he also brought Shan Yongzhuo several high-quality endorsements. In addition, he wanted to talk to Roma about a raise and contract renewal.

Toni Kroos is a typical German, and most of his player dealings are related to the Bundesliga. Shan Yongzhuo is the only Serie A player under his management.

He had initially paid attention to Shan Yongzhuo, but not to him that much, because he also had Manuel Neuer, the new German goalkeeper, under his wing.

However, Kroos now has to re-evaluate Shan Yongzhuo because Shan Yongzhuo's current performance is too outrageous.

These days, Cross has been extremely busy, with a significant portion of his time spent on the phone.

The reason is that Shan Yongzhuo's performance has attracted the attention of many top teams. They are not only looking to sign Shan Yongzhuo in the winter, but what about next summer?
Therefore, it is very important to maintain a good relationship with Kroos.

Kroos also realized that he had signed a remarkable young man who might help him advance further in the agent field, allowing him to break out of Germany and become a top agent like Mendes or Raiola.

Therefore, he felt he needed to get closer to Shan Yongzhuo and maintain their relationship.

Shan Yongzhu politely declined Kroos's invitation, mainly because he was lazy. Although Italy and Germany are not far apart, the thought of it being an invitation from a grown man made Shan Yongzhu uninterested.

However, he still wanted to go to Milan with Kroos first to shoot a few commercials.

Shan Yongzhuo and Kroos spent two days in Milan shooting three commercials: one for a pajama brand, one for a beverage brand, and one for a shampoo brand.

With three endorsements, he earned 450 million euros a year, which is higher than his salary, so it's not bad for Shan Yongzhuo.

The contract renewal negotiations between Shan Yongzhuo and the company were completed smoothly with almost no setbacks. His weekly salary was increased to 8 euros, which surprised even Shan Yongzhuo.

"Okay, then Merry Christmas in advance. Oh, and I should remind you that you'll likely have to leave Rome this summer."

As Kroos was leaving Italy, he suddenly said mysteriously, "What do you mean?"

Shan Yongzhuo felt somewhat puzzled.

“Sensi can’t hold on any longer. As far as I know, Rosella is contacting buyers everywhere; she wants to sell Rome.”

"But this doesn't conflict with me staying in Rome, does it? I just got a raise..."

Shan Yongzhuo was somewhat puzzled.

Shan Yongzhuo knew something about the Sensi family's bad situation, but in his view, it was just a change of ownership at the club. He was just a player, and all he had to do was play well and collect his salary. Surely a big club like Roma wouldn't owe him wages.

"You probably have no idea how crazy you're acting right now?"

Kroos smiled wryly and reminded him, "If you continue to perform like this in the second half of the season, Roma probably won't be able to keep you in the summer because they will receive offers they can't refuse. At that time, some teams will offer you high salaries, so why would you want to stay in Roma?"

"So, Rosella doesn't care about giving you a raise because by next season, she'll likely no longer be the team owner, and all of this will be irrelevant to her. Can you understand that?"

"..."

Although Shan Yongzhuo didn't really know much about club operations and transfers, after Kroos's explanation, he understood why his contract renewal went so smoothly.

Since the era of former president Franco Sensi, the Sensi family has never managed Roma very professionally. The club does not have a professional business team, a data team, or a professional studio. The entire management even has a somewhat family-like feel.

Now, Rosella is really struggling to keep up with the high debt, and it's very likely that the club will change hands in the summer.

At this point, Rosella didn't care how much of a raise he got. In fact, after negotiating his contract extension, it would be more advantageous for him to sell Roma. Having such a super striker with unlimited potential in the team would be an intangible boost to the team's assets.

However, this is not actually very advantageous for Shan Yongzhuo, because his release clause has been raised to 5000 million euros, which has made it more difficult for him to leave the team.

However, in Kroos's view, this is nothing. As long as Shan Yongzhuo continues to perform like this, there will be plenty of big clubs willing to wave their checkbooks for 5000 million euros.

"It's too early to talk about this now. Let's see how it goes in the summer."

"That's what I think too. I haven't explicitly rejected those big clubs; I've left some room for maneuver. It's up to you to decide in the end."

Kroos finally reminded him, "Of course, it depends on your performance in the second half of the season. I hope you can keep up this crazy pace."

"That's what I hope for myself too..."

(End of this chapter)