Chapter 1 Zenit St. Petersburg's crushing 4-0 victory over Bayern Munich at home garnered attention not only from the Russian and German media but also from across Europe.

The Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, getting trounced 0-4 away from home was not an everyday occurrence.

The entire continent of Europe opened its eyes for the first time to closely observe Zenit St. Petersburg and Chen Yingxiong, who had scored a hat trick in the match…

If Chen Yingxiong's previous outstanding performances had shown his potential, his hat trick against Bayern Munich proved he was a player who could handle tough battles. He performed well even against strong opponents, which was enough to make many teams interested.

Some teams had been interested in Chen Yingxiong before, but they worried he was just a flash in the pan or could only perform well in lower-level leagues like the Russian League. They feared he would become sluggish once he reached a top league. It wasn't that the clubs were wrong to think that way; there were just too many such precedents.

Many players who performed well in lower leagues and smaller teams had disastrous performances after reaching the top leagues and big teams. Such players could only reign supreme in small teams for their entire careers, losing themselves once they went to a bigger stage. One UEFA Cup performance really couldn't prove anything.

The most typical example was Mateja Kežman, the Serbian striker who was once the Eredivisie's top scorer at PSV Eindhoven. He scored thirty-one goals in one season for PSV, becoming the club's highest single-season goalscorer. He also proved his ability in European competitions and was a key striker in the Serbian national team. In the Eredivisie, he made a total of 122 appearances for PSV Eindhoven, scoring 105 goals, a terrifyingly high goal-scoring rate that even surpassed his predecessor, Ruud van Nistelrooy.

He was once considered Ronaldo's successor.

But this excellent striker, after transferring away from Eindhoven and the Eredivisie's "small stage," became sluggish and declined day by day. He moved to Chelsea, Atlético Madrid, and Fenerbahçe, but was unhappy in all of them, never regaining the momentum he had at Eindhoven.

It wasn't that countless wealthy clubs would be scrambling for a striker just because he could score a lot of goals. First, they had to look at the quality of the striker's goals. It wasn't unusual to score thirty-eight goals in a season in a lower league; there were too many such cases. Otherwise, why would UEFA establish different coefficients for goals scored in different leagues when awarding the European Golden Shoe? The rules stipulated that each goal scored by a goalscorer counted as one point, which was then multiplied by the football coefficient of the country's league. This football coefficient was determined by UEFA based on the country's ranking in the three major European cups (now two major cups). The league scorers of countries ranked first to eighth by UEFA had a coefficient of 2; the league scorers of countries ranked ninth to twentieth by UEFA had a coefficient of 1.5; and the league scorers of countries ranked twenty-first and below by UEFA had a coefficient of 1. This prevented various corrupt practices that might arise in smaller leagues to obtain the European Golden Shoe. It ensured the fairness and impartiality of the European Golden Shoe award (Note: You can search on Baidu for the European Golden Shoe's encyclopedia for behind-the-scenes stories about the award. I won't use Baidu here to pad the word count).

This coefficient fully reflected the level of different leagues and the quality of the players' goals. Scoring fifty goals in a season in a lower league couldn't prove that you could still score like that in a higher league because the strength of the opponents in lower leagues was different, and the level of defense was really not high.

Now, Spartak Moscow striker Pavlyuchenko has been flirting with English teams. There are rumors that he will join a Premier League team this summer, not because he was once the top scorer in the Russian League. The reason why English teams are interested in him is very simple—in a crucial European Championship qualifying match at the end of last year, Pavlyuchenko came on as a substitute and scored twice, helping Russia defeat England 2-1. While sending the Russian team into the 2008 European Championship finals, he also kicked England into the abyss. It was this game that made him famous throughout England. Before that, even if Pavlyuchenko scored many goals in the Russian League, he was only a fringe player in the Russian national team, a substitute. He was ranked behind Zenit's Kerzhakov and Tomsk's Pogrebnyak on the front line…

Secondly, you also have to see whether his personal characteristics and style are suitable for the style of the clubs that are interested in him. Kežman's transfer to Chelsea was because his personal characteristics did not match the team's characteristics, and he could not integrate into the team.

In addition, you have to look at the player's psychological quality and physical condition. It's better not to buy him if he gets injured as soon as he arrives. If the psychological quality is not good, he can't cope with the fierce competition in the higher-level leagues and the cruel competition within the big clubs, then even if he is a genius, he won't be able to perform.

There is also a typical example here. Former Sevilla player Reyes, after transferring to Arsenal, was unable to adapt to the English climate and the pain of being away from home, which prevented him from integrating into Arsenal and eventually led to his downfall. One of Reyes's faults that has always been criticized is that his psychological quality is not good enough. He also has a nickname called "Melon," which fully illustrates his "soft" characteristics…

Therefore, European teams are more cautious about Chen Yingxiong—his scoring frenzy at Zenit does not mean he can continue to score frantically in a different environment. What they see is that the reason this kid can score frantically at Zenit is related to Zenit coach Advocaat's almost paranoid trust. Advocaat's affection for Chen Yingxiong is not just liking him, it's simply spoiling him! His going to bars and nightclubs will not affect his status as the team's main center forward. If this were changed to other European team coaches, how many could tolerate Chen Yingxiong doing this?

Even if the managers of those clubs like Chen Yingxiong and buy him, the person who arranges for him to play is still the coach. If the coach doesn't like him, he won't even have a chance to play, let alone score frantically.

Any player transfer is a gamble for both the player and the club. No one knows whether they will be better off in a new environment, and the club doesn't know whether the player they buy will adapt to the new environment, win the coach's trust, get support from the dressing room, or maintain their previous form.

The world of football has no shortage of players who fail in transfers, and club managers who buy duds and can't complain.

However, these concerns were slightly alleviated after Zenit's 4-0 victory over Bayern Munich at home.

What everyone saw was a striker who could score a hat trick against a goalkeeper like Kahn, a fearless newborn calf who didn't flinch when competing with Bayern Munich for a place in the final.

At least this shows that he has real talent and that his psychological quality is acceptable.

With these two points, even if he transfers to another club, he will have a foundation for success. The remaining question is how the coach will use him well…

That's not something the player can decide.

So when Sassania suddenly received inquiries and offers from many clubs for Chen Yingxiong, the feeling in his heart was… a mix of emotions.

You should know that the clubs making these offers are no longer those third-rate small teams, but many first-class strong teams in top leagues!

But now, Sassania can't be happy at all. He feels like crying—like guarding a treasure mountain, but only being able to watch those glittering jewels and not being able to take a single one away.

Because the club has already signed a transfer agreement for Chen Yingxiong with Napoli!

In other words, he no longer has the right to decide where Chen Yingxiong goes or doesn't go…

No matter how valuable Chen Yingxiong is, he can't get a penny.

He really wants to roar at those clubs: "Why the hell didn't you come earlier!!!"

※※※

Zenit's elimination of Bayern Munich to advance to the final made Napoli's owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis, and general manager, Pierpaolo Marino, the happiest people besides Zenit's fans.

Chen Yingxiong's outstanding performance in the game against Bayern Munich made them overjoyed.

Because they really dug up a treasure!

De Laurentiis was smug about his vision. He didn't interfere much in the team's internal affairs, but he interfered this one time and brought a particularly capable and goal-scoring forward to the team. How could he not be proud?

What made Marino happy was that although the total value of fifteen million euros was slightly high, he believed that Chen Yingxiong's future value would definitely break through twenty million euros and head straight for thirty million euros if this momentum continued.

Buying Chen Yingxiong was definitely another good deal that was guaranteed to make a profit.

Previously, Napoli and St. Petersburg had not announced Chen Yingxiong's transfer because there wasn't enough time. They had just signed a contract with Chen Yingxiong when the two semi-final matches against Bayern Munich began. They originally planned to announce it after that, but now it seemed that announcing it at this time was a really good opportunity.

Chen Yingxiong had just made a name for himself, and they immediately announced that Chen Yingxiong already belonged to Napoli… What a wonderful publicity stunt!

The majority of fans and the media were still in the dark, not knowing that Chen Yingxiong had already decided to transfer to Napoli. Their news was a bit behind. They only knew that Chen Yingxiong was talking to Napoli, but they didn't know how the talks were going. There were even rumors that Chen Yingxiong rejected the contract offered by Napoli because he was not satisfied with the salary.

On the other hand, the transfer rumors of Arshavin, because they had to seize the time, did not deliberately conceal the news, causing a storm in the city, known to everyone.

On the second day of the match, while everyone was still hotly discussing the game and Chen Yingxiong, who had scored a hat trick, the Napoli club announced the news on its official website.

"...We are very pleased to announce that Zenit St. Petersburg center Chen Yingxiong has signed a four-year transfer contract with Napoli, and he will officially become a member of Napoli starting from July 1..."

This news release, which was not very long, dropped a huge stone in St. Petersburg, causing an uproar…