Chapter 1 Raul's Arrival

ps, Happy Lunar New Year! Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous Year of the Dragon! May you all be as spirited as dragons and leap like tigers!

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Raul's joining Napoli could be considered the biggest signing for the team since the Maradona era. Players like Cassano and Arshavin can't even compare to Raul!

Back then, Florentino spared no effort in building the Galácticos, bringing in one superstar a year. He poached Figo from Barcelona, bought Zidane from Juventus for a world-record fee, brought Ronaldo from Inter Milan, and snatched Beckham from Manchester United. These were all top figures in the football world at the time. If the football world had a ranking of the top ten martial arts masters like in wuxia novels, these four would undoubtedly be on the list.

But no matter how many people came, they couldn't shake Raul Gonzalez's position at Real Madrid. Whether it was Barcelona's former captain and leader, or Juventus and the French national team's dual-core, or the "new king" alien Ronaldo, or the "most popular" Beckham, Raul was the real boss in front of them.

Real Madrid advertised that they had seven superstars at the time, and Raul was the only Spanish player.

It can be said that Raul has seen it all in his career. He has weathered many storms. He has seen countless big names in the martial world, and even worked with them. His aura and reputation are truly top-notch in today's football world.

So Raul's arrival at the team was a huge sensation.

This sensation was not only reflected in the ten thousand Napoli fans who came to the Stadio San Paolo to welcome him, but also in the team's dressing room.

Even before Raul arrived, the dressing room had discussed him many times. Some people had watched Raul's press conference. A player's transfer could warrant a special press conference from a giant like Real Madrid, with the club president, general manager, and coach all attending, and dozens of media outlets swarming in. This was a great honor and showed his prestige...啧啧, it was really something else.

Compared to him, they realized what a true "world-class star" was.

To put it bluntly, Napoli was really a bunch of country bumpkins.

Of course, there were many voices praising Raul and envying him, but there were also voices full of worry.

What kind of person was Raul? A world-class star, the captain of a giant like Real Madrid, and the flag of the Bernabéu, the temple of football.

He was the boss at Real Madrid. Would he be willing to be second in command in a small place like Napoli?

Moreover, there were many rumors outside that Raul was a..."ball hog."

Everyone knew what a ball hog was.

It's not uncommon to be a dressing room leader, but adding the word "hog" makes it bad. Being too domineering is annoying.

If he really was a "ball hog," then the dressing room, which Napoli had worked so hard to unite, would probably not have any peaceful days...

The current team captain is Paolo Cannavaro, who is a qualified and capable person. He came from Napoli, and is also the younger brother of former Italian national team captain and FIFA World Player of the Year Fabio Cannavaro. He comes from a famous family, has prestige in the Napoli region, and is the most senior player in the current team, so everyone trusts him to be the captain.

The team's captain is Cannavaro, but the dressing room leader is not just him. Chen Hero is young, but he is especially valued by coach Mazzarri, is strong himself, and is also the club president's "adopted son." In addition, he is generous, forthright, philanthropic, likes to make friends, and has a lively personality. As the team's most popular star, he doesn't put on airs... such a rare person is of course one of the dressing room leaders.

The other dressing room leader is the relatively low-key Hamsik.

These three are the people who have a say in Napoli's dressing room. When Chen Hero first came, the dressing room still had three leaders. In addition to Hamsik and the captain, the other person was Lavezzi. However, Lavezzi failed in the team's political struggle and was sold to Juventus by the club. It is said that he is not doing very well at Juventus either.

Among these three, Hamsik is the head of Chen Hero's group of friends for eating, drinking, and having fun. Of course, he is on Chen Hero's side, so Chen Hero's group has the loudest voice in the dressing room.

Fortunately, Chen Hero and his friends don't do anything bad other than making jokes and pranks, so everyone doesn't think there's anything wrong with it.

But now that a world-class star has parachuted in, many people are unsure whether the balance in the dressing room will be broken as a result.

What if Raul wants to be captain when he comes?

What if Raul wants to be the boss when he comes?

What if he clashes with Chen Hero?

Will there be any peace in the dressing room then?

If a team is not united internally, will it still be able to fight?

These questions are in the hearts of every Napoli player.

With all sorts of questions, they finally met their new teammate, Raul Gonzalez.

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Mazzarri fully learned the lesson from Cassano's arrival last time. In order to avoid those completely unpredictable accidents, he would tell the captain, Paolo Cannavaro, in advance before introducing new teammates to everyone. Then the captain would tell the whole team the news.

The meaning was—a new person is coming, you better hold your tongues and don't gossip behind people's backs.

The last time with Cassano was really awkward for both sides.

So the Napoli players knew it well.

Therefore, when Raul was brought into the dressing room by Mazzarri, there were no waves.

He still introduced Raul to the captain first, and then Paolo Cannavaro introduced the whole team of players.

Since Raul couldn't speak Italian and Cannavaro couldn't speak Spanish, the translation work fell on Chilean winger Sanchez. He is Chilean, and the official language of Chile is Spanish. Sanchez has also been in Italian football for several years and can speak Italian. He is really the right person to be a translator.

With the introduction of Captain Cannavaro and the translation of Sanchez, Raul met every player, introduced himself, and shook hands.

Throughout the whole process, Raul wore a modest and gentle smile, without putting on the air of "I'm a world-class star, so I'm the boss." He seemed very approachable.

Many Napoli players, who were observing coldly from the sidelines, secretly breathed a sigh of relief—such a big star seems to be easy to get along with? Where can you see that he is a "ball hog"?

Of course, if he really was a ball hog, you wouldn't be able to tell by just looking at him a few times.

Kaka has an excellent appearance and skills, but he was really a "ball hog" when he was at AC Milan...

When Paolo Cannavaro introduced Chen Hero, he was a little nervous. He didn't know how Chen Hero would feel about Raul. But from what Chen Hero expressed in the mixed zone interview after Napoli defeated Real Madrid away last season, he seemed to disdain Real Madrid?

What if he hates the crow and the roof, and also looks down on this Real Madrid captain, and is dismissive of him? Wouldn't that ignite the conflict in the dressing room from the very beginning?

But he was overthinking.

Chen Hero's meeting with Raul was very ordinary. Chen Hero shook hands with him with a smile on his face.

Raul also said a few words like he was meeting other teammates: "Your three goals against Barca were all beautiful! It's just that the result... is a pity."

Chen Hero shrugged: "There's nothing to regret, we'll get our revenge one day!"

At this time, there was some arrogance on his face.

Raul immediately looked at this Chen Hero with admiration.

He praised Chen Hero for scoring beautiful goals, which was just a way to greet him when they met. Most people would just say "thank you," but Chen Hero's answer was extraordinary, thinking very arrogantly and rampantly.

But Raul didn't hate it, he even liked it. Why?

Because this kind of temperament is actually the temperament of Real Madrid. Real Madrid is a world-class giant, and it should have such boldness—no matter who the opponent is, I'm not afraid of you! Even if I lose, I will have the opportunity to avenge this revenge!

It's just that Real Madrid, which has been firmly suppressed by Barcelona for several years, is no longer qualified to have such a temperament—for the winner, it is the air of a king. For the loser, doing so is overestimating one's abilities and being arrogant and conceited.

Real Madrid can be confident, but never conceited.

Raul saw the temperament of Real Madrid in a Napoli player, and he was a little emotional. He held Chen Hero's hand with one hand, patted Chen Hero's arm with the other, and then let go to meet the next person.

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In this way, Raul became a member of Napoli and officially began his two-year life in Napoli. His first training session with Napoli attracted hundreds of Napoli fans to watch, vying to catch a glimpse of this former Real Madrid superstar.

Raul is currently staying at the Paradise Hotel.

Considering the less reassuring security situation in Naples, he did not let his wife and children come with him, but they will occasionally come to see him, but not live with him permanently. Therefore, he is currently alone here.

The club is helping him find a house. Letting someone live in a hotel all the time is not a way to keep people. In order to make a new player feel at ease staying with the team, it is of course necessary to solve his worries. If Raul brings his wife and children, it includes helping his children find a school.

Italian clubs have people in charge of this kind of thing, so players don't have to worry about it themselves.

Some clubs even have the wife of the club president in charge of this kind of thing. For example, Udinese's owner's wife, Mrs. Giuliana Pozzo, is responsible for these specific matters. Giuliana's first job is to be responsible for the "Udinese for Life" charity plan, which started in 1998. Currently, online fundraising has reached one million euros, which is similar to Leonardo's initial official work in Milan. Other tasks, such as the proper placement of new players, including finding houses, finding schools and registering their children, finding nurseries, arranging Italian language courses for players, hiring teachers, and the social integration of players, may seem like trivial matters, but they are also major events that affect performance. When necessary, she has to intervene to mediate the player's marital crisis...

She manages all of these.

Napoli's boss De Laurentiis also has such a capable assistant. His wife, Jacqueline, is not responsible for the club's specific operations, but she manages the family problems of the player team, especially the family harmony problems that may affect the entire team, she is obliged to do so.

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Criscito is here, and Raul is here too.

Napoli's transfer activities are still continuing.

The club is busier than Bigon, and the players are not relaxed either. They are tortured by their coaches on the training ground, and they have to pay the price for their indulgence during the holidays.

Napoli's pre-season preparations are slowly unfolding in such a busy but not chaotic atmosphere.