Chapter 129 He's Here to Tell the Truth

In the weekend league match, Napoli defeated Parma 2:0 at home. Chen Hero scored both goals, taking all the goals in the match.

These two goals brought his total goals for the season to twelve.

After the victory in this match, he was greeted by the club owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis.

This was indeed a "simple meal" because the food was all made by Cabrera…

But Chen Hero's purpose wasn't really about eating anyway.

He was there to tell De Laurentiis the truth.

After they had eaten most of the meal, he revealed the whole thing.

"Some time ago, a few months back… a friend of mine told me he was going to buy Liverpool…"

De Laurentiis was stunned for a moment. "The Chinese owner of Liverpool is your friend?"

Chen Hero nodded and continued. "At the time, I thought he was joking, so I made a bet with him, saying that if he successfully bought Liverpool, I would go play for Liverpool…"

The expression on De Laurentiis's face changed again—even more surprised than before.

"Now, I plan to fulfill this promise."

After he finished speaking, he fell silent.

Having finally said what was in his heart, he breathed a sigh of relief and felt relaxed.

Then he looked at De Laurentiis with some trepidation, not knowing how he would react.

De Laurentiis reacted, placed his napkin on the table, and shook his head with a smile. "I'm very surprised."

"Uh, I'm sorry…"

"But what surprises me isn't that you want to leave, but that you would be so frank about telling me this…" De Laurentiis's smile deepened.

"Let me think. Generally speaking, if a player plans to leave the team he plays for, and he's sure his team won't let him go so easily, what will he do? He might choose to strike or refuse to play, or refuse to renew his contract with the team, forcing the team to either sell him early or let him leave for free when his contract expires. But I don't think many people would tell their boss so early: 'Hey, I'm leaving.' Should I call you stupid, Hero?"

Chen Hero scratched his head. "I thought we had a pretty good relationship, didn't we? So I came to talk to you…"

Hearing Chen Hero say this, De Laurentiis laughed heartily.

"Just like I was interested in you at first, you're a very interesting person, Hero."

"You're interesting too. I thought you'd be furious when you heard this news, then slam the table and tell me I'm not going anywhere!"

De Laurentiis continued to laugh heartily.

When he finished laughing, he continued, "I would like to do that, but I want to know why. Is it just because of a promise? A bet? I don't believe it anyway."

He looked at Chen Hero with a smile.

Chen Hero knew that this was a question he couldn't gloss over.

He considered it for a moment before saying, "Uh… actually, would you be very angry if I said I wanted to leave this team not long after I came?"

"Because of those fans?" De Laurentiis's expression wasn't surprised.

"Yes."

De Laurentiis nodded. "Understandable. Anyone who is booed by the home fans for most of the season would have that thought."

In fact, during that time, there were many rumors about Chen Hero leaving Napoli after the winter break or at the end of the season, because everyone could see that Chen Hero wasn't happy in Napoli, and the Napoli fans didn't welcome him at all.

If he didn't leave, then there would be a problem.

"But you still stayed." De Laurentiis said.

"Although I really wanted to leave Napoli, I never thought about leaving at that time. Because I wouldn't leave with my tail between my legs like a loser. If I were to leave, it would definitely be after achieving success." Chen Hero laid his true thoughts in front of De Laurentiis. He had never said these words to anyone else, not even Decula knew his thoughts.

"So do you think you will be a success after this season?"

"I hope to bring at least one championship to Napoli this season, then I will be a success."

Chen Hero said this very casually, as if it were a matter of course. It was as if he had already won at least one championship.

"If every sentence of our conversation today were leaked, I believe it would become a gimmick for the media to hype up." De Laurentiis shook his head and smiled. "You said you would win at least one championship, can you do it?"

"You have to try, right?"

Hearing Chen Hero's answer, the owner of Napoli was slightly stunned, and then he remembered the sunny afternoon in his villa on the mountainside of Mount Vesuvius, when he and Chen Hero strolled through the tree-lined paths and gardens, and he told him about Napoli's past glory and its current state of being obsessed with past glory.

When he talked about this matter, he once said, "Good memories are like drugs, everyone knows it's not a good thing, but they can't quit. So many years have passed, and no one has been able to wake up all of Naples from their past dreams."

What did the young man in front of him say at the time?

"I want to try something so challenging."

As a result, in the second season after that, Napoli surpassed their achievements in the Champions League during the Maradona era. For a time, the media exclaimed: "This is a Napoli that is enough to make people forget the Maradona era!"

Although not everyone may agree with this sentence, such voices have already begun to appear. It was no longer the time when Chen Hero said "Napoli should forget Maradona" and it would cause a storm in the city.

In fact, the reason why Napoli still remembers the Maradona era is because the history of this team is pale. Apart from the Maradona era, they have nothing to be proud of, and there is no memory worth keeping in their hearts.

In fact, many teams have been rich in the past. Verona even won the Serie A championship, but why hasn't Verona become a giant? Nottingham Forest also won an English First Division title and two European Champions Cups, but why are they still not a giant, and are now struggling in the third tier of English football? Because giants have been rich more than once—Real Madrid won five consecutive Champions Leagues and has long dominated Spanish football; Barcelona has the Dream Team and the Dream Team II, and has always been Real Madrid's arch-rival; Manchester United was a strong team before the Munich air disaster, and after the Munich air disaster, there were the Busby Babes, the Class of '92, the glory of the Treble in '99, and Ferguson's twenty-five years; Liverpool? From the Shankly era to the Paisley era, and then to the miracle comeback to win the trophy in 2005; Arsenal, although they have never won a Champions League title, established their status as a giant as early as the Chapman era; Inter Milan has the Great Inter era of Herrera and the era of the German Three Musketeers, as well as the current resurgence; AC Milan has the Swedish Three Musketeers and the Dutch Three Musketeers, and has lifted the European Champions Cup many times in the last twenty years; Juventus is the team with the most fans in Italy, which obviously didn't come out of nowhere, and is inseparable from their one championship trophy after another…

These giants have been brilliant more than once, but Napoli only has the fleeting Maradona era. Before Maradona, they were unknown grassroots, and after Maradona, they went bankrupt.

If Napoli also had one glory after another, even though they have gone through decline, those past glories can always bring strength to this team, which is a characteristic that distinguishes a team from other ordinary teams. Victory is not everything in football, but victory can bring confidence and temperament. Over time, it accumulates over the years and becomes the cornerstone of a giant.

Napoli lacks such a cornerstone. The Maradona era is lonely, and Napoli fans keep talking about it over and over again. They are constantly publicizing the glory of the "Maradona era," but they are also hiding their inner inferiority.

But if they have the Maradona era, and more such eras, they are a force that can never be ignored in Italian football. Who would dare to say they are not a giant?

A giant is built up by one victory after another, one championship trophy after another.

To put it mysteriously, it's called "giant heritage" or "noble temperament." So many teams in Spain have royal titles, which were awarded by the Spanish royal family, such as Real Sociedad, Real Mallorca, Real Oviedo… But why is only Real Madrid recognized as a giant by everyone? Of course, it is because Real Madrid has won thirty-one league titles, seventeen Copa del Rey titles, and nine European Champions Cups…

What is Napoli lacking now? They have a football market that the entire Italy envies—in today's increasingly depressed Serie A, even the San Siro stadium has seen large areas of empty stands, but Napoli's home stadium is always full—they have the healthiest financial situation in the entire Serie A, so what are they lacking? Results!

If there are championships, that would be even better. One championship, two championships, three championships… more championships.

Aren't these championships gradually accumulating and building up the framework of a giant?

So the best way to get Napoli fans out of their past glory is to create new glory.

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For Chen Hero, the word "try" actually represents a certain kind of affirmation. He doesn't just plan to "try," he is very serious about doing it.

"What if you can't do it?" De Laurentiis asked.

"Then I'll wait until I do it before leaving Napoli." Chen Hero said without hesitation, as if this answer had been in his heart for a long time.

De Laurentiis smiled. "The way you are, you really make me wonder whether I should hope that Napoli wins a championship or not, Hero." He paused and suddenly asked, "Can't Napoli always have you?"

"I'm only twenty-two years old, old man."

Hearing Chen Hero's typical answer, De Laurentiis was silent for a long time.

Just when Chen Hero thought he was definitely going to refuse, he nodded. "Okay, at least one championship, and I'll let you go, Hero. You can pursue your future, and Napoli needs to start a new journey. We don't owe each other anything."

Chen Hero breathed a sigh of relief—persuading a person with words, especially a boss with a strange temper like De Laurentiis, is much more difficult than completing a hat trick on the field. For him, bringing a championship trophy back to Napoli is actually very simple, just keep scoring goals and keep winning games, just keep winning like this, it's too simple!

"That's easy, but don't go back on your word when the time comes! Or should we make a pinky promise?"

"Do you think I'm a three-year-old?"

"Hahaha!"

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ps, I was so dizzy during the Spring Festival that I realized it was already January 30th… There are only two days left in this month!

If you have any extra monthly tickets, throw them over!

Collecting monthly tickets!