Chapter 190 Arshavin's Transfer

During this time in St. Petersburg, one piece of news overshadowed Chen Hero's continuous scoring streak. Zenit's star player, their core Arshavin, was finally going to betray his team.

Although there had been similar rumors before, this time it seemed like the real deal.

Napoli relentlessly pursued Arshavin.

This offensive still felt inexplicable—weren't they only interested in Chen Hero before? How did they suddenly express interest in buying Arshavin?

If one were to choose the team Zenit fans hated the most during this period, it would definitely not be CSKA Moscow, nor Spartak Moscow, but Napoli, far away in Italy.

Because they not only wanted to take away the team's number one scorer, Chen Hero, but also the team's number one star, Arshavin!

Taking away Zenit's two mainstays in one go, this was going to kill Zenit!

This week, the developments left Zenit fans overwhelmed and dazzled.

When the transfer rumors first surfaced, Zenit fans firmly believed that the team's banner would never abandon them. How could Shava, who grew up in St. Petersburg, be like Chen Hero, a player of "another race"? He would definitely come forward to clarify the transfer rumors to Napoli!

But a day later, Arshavin did not come forward to refute the rumors. He remained ambiguously silent, and rumors began to circulate that "Shava wants to leave Zenit."

Two days later, Arshavin's agent, Latchit, came forward, but not to refute the rumors. Instead, he said in an interview with the media: "Napoli? Why not? That's a Serie A team!"

Three days later, Arshavin and Advocaat had a face-to-face conversation. Besides the two of them, and perhaps the agent Latchit, no one knew what they talked about. But when Advocaat came out, he looked very angry. And Arshavin still refused to utter a word in front of the microphones.

On the fifth day, the media gathered at the Zenit club, because Arshavin would be meeting with the team's general manager, Sazonia, that day. Judging from this matter alone, Arshavin had obviously settled Advocaat, and now it was his turn to settle the club's general manager, Sazonia. So what would be the result? This was the reason why so many media gathered outside the club. You must know that Sazonia was firmly opposed to Arshavin's transfer. Over the years, Arshavin was able to stay in Zenit, which was largely due to his efforts.

But… on the sixth day, when reporters asked Sazonia about Arshavin and Napoli, his answer was: "At least twenty million euros, otherwise, no deal!"

Twenty million might be considered a "high price" for Arshavin, but it probably wasn't anything to Napoli. The most important thing was that Sazonia, who had previously refused to talk about prices with any team, had now offered a price, which showed that his attitude had softened.

On the sixth night, Napoli offered 13 million euros to buy Arshavin.

Both sides had made their offers, and now everything seemed irreversible.

At least for ordinary Zenit fans, they could only watch the back-and-forth haggling between the two clubs on the media, just like buying a jacket in the Chinese market, discussing the future of the team's banner in their hearts.

Some fans held banners and posters of Arshavin outside Zenit's Yudeni Park training base, begging him to stay.

But the power of ordinary fans was insignificant, and they were unable to influence the will of the club's top management, especially after Arshavin finally made a public appearance and expressed his dream of leaving Zenit to pursue a bigger stage…

"I am very grateful for the time I spent in Zenit, and I also know what this team means to me. But I am already twenty-five years old, and I want to find my value in the top European leagues… I really don't have many years to waste. I hope everyone understands my decision. I will never betray you, betray St. Petersburg, betray Zenit! No matter where I go in the future, I am a child of St. Petersburg. My girlfriend and my children are all from St. Petersburg. I have been branded with St. Petersburg for the rest of my life…”

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When Arshavin sincerely spoke his heartfelt words to everyone on the TV screen, many fans were in tears in front of the TV.

Because they knew that the departure of their idol and banner was irreversible.

At this time, Chen Hero was in the "Autumn Chrysanthemum" private room of Ruilong Residence, facing Arshavin again. This time, there was also Arshavin's agent, and the general manager of Napoli, Pierpaolo Marino.

After Napoli raised the transfer fee to 16 million euros, this transfer deal was almost impossible to stop. St. Petersburg Zenit also put forward their demands, and they were absolutely unyielding, that was to require Arshavin to finish the 2008 Russian Premier League season before going to Napoli, that is to say, his transfer time was January 1, 2009.

Chen Hero certainly wanted to go to Napoli with Arshavin, but he didn't have the final say.

And St. Petersburg Zenit's meaning was very clear—if you don't agree to this condition, then we won't talk about Arshavin's transfer. Even if you offer 30 million euros, we won't talk.

Napoli quickly made concessions, anyway, they valued Chen Hero the most, as long as Chen Hero could come this summer. As for Arshavin… he was originally just a bonus for Chen Hero's transfer, it didn't matter when he came… January 1st would be fine.

Now, Marino flew from Italy to discuss personal contracts with Arshavin.

When Chen Hero invited them to dine at his "designated Chinese restaurant," the personal contracts had actually been negotiated. Chen Hero didn't know how much Arshavin's weekly salary was. It was someone else's privacy, and he didn't ask.

The TV in the private room was broadcasting a special report on Arshavin's transfer.

"Shava?"

Arshavin shifted his gaze from the TV screen.

Marino had extended his hand to him.

"Welcome to Napoli, Mr. Arshavin!"

Arshavin had a faint smile on his face, but no one could see his inner thoughts from this smile. Leaving St. Petersburg Zenit in this way and going to a completely unfamiliar team, what would the future be like? Was this transfer beneficial to the player, or to the agent?

At least Latchit, the agent standing next to Arshavin, was beaming, very happy.

After shaking hands with Arshavin, Marino turned to Chen Hero and shook hands: "Now you can sign the contract, right, Hero?"

He later learned why De Laurentiis wanted him to contact Arshavin. It turned out that this guy had directly called the boss… and told the boss that if he didn't sign Arshavin, he wouldn't sign the contract that had already been negotiated!

What a daredevil!

Marino knew the boss's temper very well. If a player dared to blackmail him like this, he would definitely die miserably. After seeing De Laurentiis's power, Lavezzi never mentioned a raise again…

But what surprised Marino was that De Laurentiis, this fickle and eccentric boss, actually agreed!

Like spoiling his grandson, he agreed to this request that Marino thought was absolutely unreasonable!

And under his push, Arshavin's transfer was really successful!

Of course, he knew how difficult it was to take Arshavin away from St. Petersburg Zenit… but now he had signed two Zenit players in one go. These two players were definitely not cats and dogs that could be easily replaced, but… core pillars! One was an absolute main striker, and the other was an absolute main core!

After knowing these behind-the-scenes stories, Marino was completely speechless to the big guy in front of him.

At first, he was only slightly interested in that self-promotion disc with very煽动性 (shān dòng xìng) copywriting. Out of curiosity, he opened the disc… he didn't expect that this disc would trigger so many stories behind it, and change the fate of two people. Of course, it might also change the fate of more people…

Who knew?

Chen Hero smiled and shook his head: "I can sign now!"

Holding his hand, Marino shook his arm: "Then welcome to join us, Maradona's Napoli welcomes you, Hero!"

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Chen Hero and Arshavin's transfers were finally settled before the match against Bayern Munich. For Advocaat, this might be the only comfort—because in this way, the impact on his team's preparations for Bayern Munich was minimized.

While these two transfers were happening, Zenit also finished two rounds of league matches. In the fifth and sixth rounds of the league, Chen Hero seemed to be proving to Napoli that he was definitely worth the money, and that every euro of transfer fees and bonuses Napoli paid him would not be wasted. He scored three goals in these two rounds of league matches.

He scored a goal against Soviet Wings in the fifth round, helping Zenit tie Soviet Wings 1:1 at home.

In the sixth round against Saturn, he scored twice, helping the team defeat Saturn 3:1 away.

Although his record of scoring twice in four consecutive matches was broken in the match against Soviet Wings, this did not detract from his fame spreading throughout Russia. Moreover, he quickly scored twice again in the match against Saturn. Some media even gave Chen Hero a new nickname: "Mr. Brace"!

He has scored twelve goals in six rounds of the league, and he is sprinting towards his crazy goal!

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ps, The transfer plot is over, let’s go back to the passionate and exciting green field!

In the UEFA Cup semi-final, Zenit will face a terrifyingly strong opponent, Bayern Munich. What kind of performance will Chen Hero have? Stay tuned!