Fox in the Penalty Area

Charlie Potter was telling jokes with his teammates in the dressing room, making everyone laugh when he felt a tap on his right shoulder, but when he turned to look, he didn't see it people.

Instead, a voice from the left said, "Where are you looking, Charlie?"

"Pete!" Potter yelled out just hearing the voice before turning his head.

Then he was surprised to see a smiling Pete Williams, who smiled at him and said, "Good morning, Charlie."

Then he greeted others in the locker room: "Good morning, captain."

"Good morning, Mykay."

"Hi Farek."

...

When he saw Hu Lai, the corners of his mouth curled up: "Hello, Hu."

He greeted each other like this until he came to his locker.

Behind him, the originally bustling locker room gradually became quiet, and everyone including Charlie Potter and the captain looked at his back in surprise.

Hu Lai was also quite surprised—since he came to Leeds, he always frowns slightly when he sees Pete Williams, with a preoccupied look, hardly a smile on his face, and he doesn't talk much. And because he heard that this person is a rare talented player in Leeds City, he even thought of Brother Huan before he was "put to death and reborn", and wondered if all geniuses are like this... No, they all so cold?

It turned out that after coming to the training base today, I found that Pete Williams, who had always been indifferent to him before, could greet him with a smile...

What the hell.

Was he stimulated by something last night?

Hu Lai couldn't help but speculate in his heart.

The other teammates were also surprised by the changes in Pete Williams. They had been in contact with Williams for a longer period of time than Hou Lai, and they naturally knew more about what Williams's changes meant than Hou Lai.

Captain Lorenzo looked at everyone, and then asked: "Peter, your contract renewal... is it done?"

Williams turned around and looked at everyone concerned, shaking his head: "I have agreed with the club, relegation is the most important thing now, so we won't talk about contract renewal until the end of the season."

The other players looked at each other.

Williams spread his hands and said to them: "I'm sorry I haven't played well during this period... I did suffer from some off-court influences. But it won't happen in the future, and I promise everyone that I will do my best to help Relegation. I don't want my hometown team to disappear from the Premier League."

Lorenzo went up and patted him on the shoulder: "No one blames you, Pete, everyone can understand the pressure you are under. None of us want the team to really relegate."

Charlie Potter also went up to high-five Williams: "Hey, Pete, come to me if you have any troubles in the future, I will take you to play, and make sure all your troubles will be wiped away! You know, stay with me Together you will be more favored by girls, except for Vieira..."

"****, Charlie!" Spanish player Jose Vieira greeted Porter with his best English words.

There was a burst of laughter in the locker room.

During the laughter, Williams glanced at Hu Lai and found that he was also laughing with the big guys.

Smiling and laughing, he seemed to notice that someone was looking at him, so he cast his gaze on Williams.

Seeing this, Williams quickly looked away, lowered his head and continued changing clothes.

※※※

When Hu Lai cast his eyes on Williams, he only saw the movement of the other party bowing his head.

He was looking at himself just now?

This question just flashed through Hu Lai's mind, but he didn't take it to heart.

He cares more about what Williams' abnormal performance means today than he does.

No, not abnormal. It's abnormal to myself, but judging from the performance of the captain, Charlie, and other teammates, the number one genius in the team seems to have returned to normal.

This should be good news...

The core midfielder of the team said that he must concentrate on relegation,

Leeds' relegation must be a major plus.

Of course, Hu Lai doesn't want him to play in the English Championship after he has just played for half a season and the Premier League.

Besides, he still has a task to do. Relegation is not a matter of his own decision. If one more person helps, the chance of success will increase.

When the task is completed, you will get 200,000 points and a bottle of [Powerful Charm Essence Lotion], isn't it good?

※※※

After a day of training, Hou Lai was left behind by Tony Clark, and the two chatted alone outside the locker room.

"Although there are still a few days before the next game, I still want to inform you in advance, Hu." Clark said, "I plan to put you in the squad for our next game against Sydenham at home. .”

Hu Lai looked at him, and he also looked at Hu Lai: "You don't seem surprised at all."

Only then did Hu Lai say, "Huh? Then is there still time for me to make a surprised expression, boss?"

Clark waved his hand a little speechlessly: "Forget it, I didn't want to see you surprised. I just wonder why you are not surprised."

"I don't think you signed me, boss, just to let me train?" Hu Lai explained. "So I will definitely play, it's just sooner or later. Don't worry about the boss, I have a very good mentality."

Hearing Hu Lai's explanation, Clark smiled and said, "You know, Hu. Matt once told me that after he signed you in the "Godfather of Champions" game, you went through an adaptation period of about six months. He put you on in pre-season and you played poorly. It wasn't until three months into the league that you scored your first official game goal..."

Hu Lai's eyes widened, this time he was really surprised: "Is it so miserable?"

"But in fact, in my eyes and his eyes, your performance like this is already a miracle. Oh, I forgot to say, this performance is a matter of 2023."

2023? Hu Lai frowned and thought about it. It was the second year of his career. In July of the previous year, he transferred from the Poseidon youth team to the Flash Star first team, and then played in Flash Star's Chinese League One for half a season, scoring 11 goals.

No wonder the boss would say that this performance is a miracle-according to the game time, it is equivalent to going to a Championship team after just playing for the Flash Star for a year. It is indeed remarkable that a player with basically no professional game experience can score his first goal in the British Championship in just six months.

"I talked to Sam about you before, I think you can score five goals in the rest of the season, but Sam thinks I am too optimistic. I take your performance in the game as evidence, but I was ridiculed by Sam, he said it was just a game, how can the performance in the game be taken seriously? It’s so funny, I used the same reason to face Matt who recommended you to me, but in the end I still signed you Come down..." Clark said.

"I really can't convince Sam with game statistics, so I made a bet with him. I bet you can score five goals, and he bet you can't. What do you think of this bet, huh?"

Hu Lai first asked: "Boss, do you have any bets?"

"Twenty pounds."

"Boss, if you win, can you give me half?"

Clarke was surprised: "Do you want ten pounds? Your bonus for scoring five goals is far more than that..."

Hu Lai moved to Leeds City and signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with the club. The annual salary in the first year is 2 million pounds, which is equivalent to a weekly salary of about 38,000 pounds. This weekly salary level is not enough for the entire Premier League. , in Leeds City is also in the upper middle reaches.

However, the contract stipulates that all proceeds from the portrait rights belong to Hu Lai himself, which means that apart from the fact that the club needs to pay additional money to use his portrait, all the endorsement advertising revenue he receives outside does not need to be shared with the club.

In addition to the basic salary, there are various types of bonuses, such as the goal award, which Hu Lai insisted on, and what Yong Jun negotiated was 50,000 pounds per goal.

So it's no wonder Clark said that.

Hu Lai scored five goals and was worth 250,000 pounds, so why should he value 20 pounds?

In addition, Yong Jun also helped him negotiate some progress-related bonuses.

For example, the contract stipulates that if Hu Lai makes 30 goals in Leeds City - the sum of goals and assists - he will receive a bonus of two million pounds.

Also, if Hu Lai wins the Premier League Golden Boot in Leeds, he will also receive an additional reward of one million pounds.

When Nevin Bauer was discussing the terms of this contract with Yong Jun, he couldn’t understand how the agent’s confidence came from—negotiating such conditions for a player who had never played in Europe, he was Do you really think Hu Lai can win the Premier League Golden Boot?

How did he know that these clauses were actually proposed by Hu Lai to Yong Jun, hoping that Yong Jun would definitely add them to the contract no matter what.

Hu Lai's idea is - don't worry about whether I can do it now, just write it in. In case I did it, but there was no reward, wouldn't I lose money?

Yong Jun already understood Hu Lai's thoughts very well, so he naturally said nothing, and tried his best to help him add such requirements into the contract.

Leeds City also felt that it didn't matter. Anyway, Hu Lai would only give out the money when he got the Golden Boot. If he couldn't get it, the club wouldn't lose a penny. They were also happy to join the contract, showing their thirst for talent.

So looking at the annual salary alone, Hu Lai doesn't earn much, but if you add various bonuses, Hu Lai's income is still very considerable. After all, the units of these figures are British pounds. Have to multiply by ten. According to their family's current simple outlook on life, they have already achieved wealth and freedom.

After hearing what the coach said, Hu Lai said: "Boss, there is a saying in China, which is called mosquito-sized meat, which is also meat. Besides, the most important thing about the ten pounds is that it is commemorative. After all, I used it Five Premier League goals in exchange for..."

Clark laughed: "Okay, I won't give you the money. If you can score five goals this season, I will allow you to indulge yourself and invite you to 'Red Pepper' for a Chinese meal. You see How about it?"

On the first day he came to the team, Hu Lai was warned by Clark to try to stay away from Chinese food and strictly follow the nutritious meal recipe formulated by Ms. Schmidt.

I have to say that although Ms. Schmidt's recipes are very healthy and nutritious, and meet the physical needs of professional athletes, but to a Chinese taste, it is really unpalatable...

Although Uncle Yong, the chef, has tried his best to make those dishes according to the recipe and make them more palatable, every time he eats, it is still a torment for Hu Lai.

Hu Lai's eyes lit up when he heard that the head coach actually wanted to invite him to a Chinese meal.

After coming to Leeds, he heard that "Red Pepper" is a famous Chinese restaurant in Leeds. The Chinese food there is delicious, especially Hu Lai's hometown dish, Anton cuisine, which is even more authentic, and even the ingredients are from Jincheng. bought.

"Boss, are you serious?" Hu Lai stared at Clark with wide eyes.

"Of course it's true. I keep my word. As long as you score five goals, I'll treat you to a 'red pepper'!" Clark said with certainty.

※※※

On the way back to his office, Tony Clark was still thinking about how happy Hu Lai was just now.

It seems that the story of the bet he made up has worked, successfully inspiring the fighting spirit of the young people.

The price he paid was just a "red pepper" Chinese meal...

And the five goals of Duhulai may be able to increase the team's hope of relegation.

If a meal can be exchanged for the team's relegation, it is simply a huge profit, and there is no more cost-effective deal in the world.

Young people are good, you can go to heaven if you give them some sweetness.

Clark walked gleefully back to his office, where he met assistant coach Sam Randyll at the door.

"You told Hu about drafting him, Tony?" Randyll asked.

"Yes, Sam."

"What was his reaction? Was he nervous?"

Telling Hu Lai this decision in advance was also discussed by the two of them. I was afraid that the young man would lose his composure, so I gave him a few days to digest this decision, so that when the match day really came, his mentality would probably be at peace.

Clark thought about Hu Lai's performance after he knew the news, and then he suddenly realized that the kid was more excited about being included in the squad for the competition than hearing that I was going to treat him to Chinese food...

"Sam..."

"how?"

"I think...we thought too much before. Matt said that the reason why he thinks Hu can become a top striker is because of Hu's high composure..." Seeing that Sam was a little confused, he changed his words , "Uh, to put it simply, this kid has a big heart. It's impossible for him to feel nervous just about putting him in the squad for the game."

Sam Randyll doesn't play The Godfather, but after Clark puts it another way, he gets it.

"That's good, and hopefully when you put him on the field, his big heart works."