When playing football, you should call it GOAT.

Chapter 73 Remarks on the launch
"This book has been written with many stumbles and falls over the past month, and it will finally be available for sale tomorrow."

Then.

I'd like to start by telling a story about this book.

2003, Champions League final, Old Trafford Stadium.

The moment Shevchenko scored the winning penalty, the AC Milan bench erupted in celebration, while on the Juventus side—Piero squatted on the grass, Buffon looked up at the sky, and Davies kicked an advertising board hard.

The television cameras panned across the stands, where Beckham, dressed in a suit and tie, sat in a VIP box next to Keanu Reeves, who had just finished filming "The Matrix".

Three days later, The Sun's front page featured transfer rumors involving Beckham and Victoria, while in a corner of the sports section, it read: "Juventus midfielder Davies may be sold."

That year, football was dying and being reborn.

Commercialization is devouring the last vestiges of romance. Before the phone cameras could even be pointed at the locker room, Ronaldo and Messi were still training extra in the youth team, while Ronaldo's knees were already struggling to support his talent.

—What I want to write about is just such an era.

This is not a traditional football novel.

My initial definition of it was that it was a "historical novel about professional football players".

This is my original intention, and also my ambition.

That was also the initial reason I wrote this book: I wanted to read it myself, so I wrote it, even though my abilities might be lacking.

What I want to write about is not just the growth of a player, the outcome of a match, or the rise and fall of a club.

What I want to write about is an era—an era of transformation in football, from classical to modern, from pure to commercial, and from regional glory to global celebration.

What I want to write about is a group of people—those geniuses who sweat it out on the green field, yet lose themselves under the spotlight.

What I want to write about is a kind of life—the glamour and struggles of top players, the glitz and emptiness of the world of fame and fortune, and the cruelest truth of competitive sports: winners take all, losers are forgotten.

Why is it a "historical story"?
I want to recreate as accurately as possible the golden age of football (late 90s-2010s), when football had not yet been completely distorted by algorithms, social media, and capital, and geniuses could still change their fate through pure talent.

I want to document the transformation of an industry as much as possible—from local youth training to global star-making, from locker room politics to brand endorsement wars. Football is no longer just a game for 22 people, but a business worth hundreds of billions.

I want to explore a career paradox as much as possible—when your passion becomes your job, when your dreams are put on a price tag, when your success depends on the evaluation of others, can you still remember why you started playing football in the first place?

as well as.

The core theme that runs throughout the book is "GOAT".

Roy has no father; in a sense, this phrase is Roy's father.

Everything about him is designed to serve this phrase, even his name ROI, which means "king" in French. Of course, the pronunciation of this word as "Roy" is a transliteration from English.

All conflicting settings and plotlines were eliminated:
The first option to be eliminated was the Chinese national football team.

This is an unfortunate reality; the GOAT calculation method in football differs from that in other sports.

For example, in basketball, nationality doesn't matter, and neither does the Olympics.

All you need to do is throw seven championships and six MVPs in Dan's face and tell him that from now on he is the vice GOAT.

So at the beginning, some friends questioned why I didn't write about the national football team, saying that writing about the national football team's performance was good.

The problem is, I didn't come here to write football articles at all, nor did I come here to boost my grades by writing football articles.

I'm here to write about the career of one of the greatest professional athletes in history.

I made these dumplings specifically for the vinegar.

I admire Shevchenko's statement, "The Champions League is my World Cup."

But this is also a kind of helpless self-hypnosis. If the powerful Soviet team still existed, his words would have become: "Win the World Cup and dedicate it to the Party and the people."

What I need to consider is that the World Cup title is a must, and there can't be only one.

Therefore, we decisively ruled out (national teams such as Croatia, Czech Republic, and Belgium that had a "golden generation" window of opportunity).

The "golden generation" means a fleeting moment of glory, implying that these teams lack the ability to consistently compete for championships for two decades.

Then, with great difficulty, the following options were eliminated:

Spain (at its peak, it's suitable to be the villain).

England (occasionally shining, consistently disappointing).

Brazil (already has a football legend, the Copa America is less prestigious than the European Championship).

Argentina and Portugal (even the top two players in the team surpassed Pelé and Maradona in all honors and statistics, achieving a dual-kingdoms in one team).

At that time, my comment section will be filled with "Leo Yoshi" or "Aveiro, kneel down").

And my favorite team, Germany (with similar statistics for the Ballon d'Or, it's much harder to win such honors).

Italy and the Netherlands made it into the top three but were narrowly eliminated (they are not among the five permanent members of the Security Council, and their off-field drama was not as good as France's).

Then I created a lot of character settings for Roy around this word:
This includes, but is not limited to: how to make him more honorable than Messi and Ronaldo, better in statistics, more handsome than Messi and Ronaldo, have a more legendary story than Messi and Ronaldo, and adopt a business model similar to Beckham's.

We won't go beyond that; Beckham's business practices are a bit too flamboyant, so we only need to learn a thing or two from him.

Not everyone can find a marketing genius like Victoria Beckham. The more I researched her, the more I admired her, and I really wanted to hire her as my agent.

Then I started to give him a persona: some Mbappe, some Ronaldo, some Mourinho, some Zlatan.

One more thing: he won't win all the time, that would be too boring, but I'll make sure he loses standing up. He also won't lose to the teams of those two players, because that would cause a massive uproar among the opposing team's fans.

So I tortured them both equally.

Of course, in the end, the main characters will be the highest mountain and the longest river.

One reader's comment remains vivid in my memory: "It allows me to imagine what kind of life Cristiano Ronaldo or Kylian Mbappé lead on a daily basis."

Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to write.

Therefore, this book includes various off-field activities and business collaborations. I researched a lot of information on these aspects, and in some parts, it took me more time than I did researching football materials.

For example, the business logic behind the team's media fee swap. I've actually accumulated a lot of information on this, but I can't write about it in detail for now due to time constraints.

As I researched the materials, I gradually came to understand how complex the logic behind how the football world works is.

People may think that writing about daily life is superficial, but it is actually the most difficult and slowest thing to write.

Even with commentary, when I write about a match, I can basically go on a speed of over 2,000 km/h.

If I were just pushing the game aggressively, making 10,000 daily wins would be incredibly easy for me.

But for example, in the chapter about Beckham's transfer, how can the general outline be reconstructed through Ferguson's tone and Florentino's perspective, without distorting the characters, making Ferguson look like Ferguson and Florentino look like Florentino?

For example, in the chapter about the protagonist watching the Monaco Grand Prix, I actually looked at the race report and simulated the F1 race in my mind, but I wanted to write a vivid picture without taking up too much space.

These two chapters took about three hours to write.

Of course, due to limitations in length and writing ability, the early daily life descriptions were quite bloated, with a lot of unnecessary things and too many unnecessary details.

I will continue to adjust and improve in this regard.

The author really wants to write a good book and hopes everyone will offer suggestions.

In the past few instances where content contained inaccuracies, the author has made timely modifications and corrections.

Because I was the first reader of this book, it was written primarily based on the stories I wanted to read.

I want to make sure that after I finish writing this book, I will read it from beginning to end and enjoy it.

Therefore, I added various details.

I hope that when this book is finally finished, it will have provided a glimpse into the general outline of the development of the football world over the past ten or twenty years through Roy's perspective.

I hope that when I write "The End of This Book," you will have a genuine sense of déjà vu.

It seems that a player like Roy really did exist in the world.

Finally, I want to emphasize that this book will not deliberately respect any player or club. I can only try my best to avoid unwarranted criticism, but subjective evaluations are unavoidable.

Especially when it comes to Messi and Ronaldo, I won't be like other books, where I treat them with the same level of respect and brotherly affection.

Or, to put it another way, avoid writing about them later on and limit their screen time.

The protagonist's words become increasingly sharp as his honor and status rise.

His attitude became increasingly arrogant.

The author is a die-hard Debye supporter of fifteen years.

Müller, Ribery, Robben, Van Persie are all fans.

If you feel that my above comments were biased due to personal bias, please remember to remind me to correct them.

As for why Roy was set to be a former Cristiano Ronaldo fan.

Because of Messi himself, regardless of whether you like him or think he has a "kind" personality;
Or they might dislike him, thinking his personality is "hypocritical."

Both of these models can be summarized as having fewer thorns.

I can't write "After turning from a fan to a hater, the fan kills the idol".

Throughout his life, he proved the rivalry between "who is the peerless true master and who is the six-eared macaque."

The plot tension is far inferior to that of Luo Ge.

----------------

Thank you to editor Huya for her professional guidance.

Thanks to the hard work of Operations Officer Guihua Zaijiu w, more people have seen this story.

I also want to thank the readers who have been with me all the way, discussing the plot in the comments section late at night. You are like the most loyal fans in the stands.

It is your every click and every comment that gives this narrative about football and the times its true life.

Just as classic moments on the football field need an audience to witness them, a good story is made complete by the participation of readers.

Finally, to borrow a phrase often used by football commentators: "The game has only just begun."

We look forward to continuing to witness Roy's growth and experience the unique charm of this golden age of football in the following chapters.

Let us work together to complete this narrative about dreams, glory, and the times.

(End of this chapter)