Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

The conditions Châtaigner proposed seemed perfectly fine to Julien.

Being able to offer a young player twenty thousand monthly salary showed maximum sincerity—you had to know that currently Bastia's highest-paid player, Rotten, only earned one hundred twenty thousand monthly.

Other players basically earned monthly salaries in the tens of thousands range.

What Julien was being offered matched a main rotation player's salary—definitely high income. According to French statistics from 2010, the average monthly net income for working class was only about two thousand.

Of course, the signing fee that established players have, Julien currently didn't have and wasn't qualified to demand.

As for the release clause, there was nothing to complain about—Châtaigner was practically a French gentleman, worthy of being a fellow countryman.

Pierre was excited. He certainly knew what this contract meant.

However, he couldn't make decisions on this matter. Although he was currently Julien's agent, he basically had no say.

All decisions were made by Julien; he just needed to sign and be informed.

France has relevant regulations that minors need guardians to sign contracts, fearing fraud by clubs and agents.

Even the money in minor players' bank accounts has strict protection—it's not allowed to be directly transferred to guardians' bank accounts.

Because there have been cases in football where players had all their income taken by guardians, since in Europe, guardians are often not parents.

Relatives aren't that reliable.

Julien made no modifications to the contract content, only adding one clause: when transferring, the club should prioritize the player's wishes and, when feasible, prioritize transfer to the player's preferred club.

Seeing the content Julien proposed, Châtaigner slapped his forehead, "Hey, that's my oversight—how about we change it like this."

Châtaigner immediately wrote a clause: "When the transfer fee is not lower than the release clause, the club must follow the player's transfer wishes, but the player should not disclose the release clause amount to outsiders."

Châtaigner circled the word "must" with his pen for emphasis.

Then he pointed to the part about not disclosing the release clause amount and said to Julien with slight apology, "The club also needs to consider income situations."

"Of course."

Julien had no objections. This last part was basically a gentleman's agreement.

It was equivalent to Châtaigner saying he'd done what he could do, and now it depended on what Julien would do.

The subsequent signing process would have to wait for Pierre to find a professional lawyer and sign together under witness.

For now, it had nothing to do with Julien.

The next day.

Bastia Daily used an exaggerated headline to report yesterday afternoon's match—"Ligue 2's Strongest Talent! Bastia's Blue Soul! Julien!"

On the cover was the moment Julien celebrated with arms spread wide in the smoke.

Wearing a blue jersey.

Behind him were blurred teammates, plus the silhouette of Bastia's club crest.

"...Julien, who came on in the sixtieth minute, scored twice with individual ability, helping the team reverse the league leaders Clermont despite receiving three red cards, narrowing the points gap to one..."

This passage made Bastia fans who couldn't make it to the scene get their blood pumping just from reading it.

In their minds, they couldn't help but conjure up those scenes from watching yesterday's broadcast.

At the Sunset Coffee Pub.

Fans praised Julien's magic and discussed his talent.

At the same time, some people had quite a few complaints about Hadzibegic's conservative statements.

"Relegation?! No, we want promotion!!"

"Right! Promotion! Ligue 2 champions!"

Some fans saw through it clearly, "Haha, we can say this, but the team definitely won't say it. That would be somewhat arrogant. Just watch—Clermont may seem aggressive now, but when they run out of steam, Der Zakarian will have his hands full."

Then someone immediately pulled out their phone, pointing to the news on it and saying, "Hey, forget about later—just after losing yesterday's match, Clermont fans have already torn Der Zakarian apart. They say he's been leading the team for two years without any progress, especially this match where they lost at home despite having a man advantage. Haha, they're all calling for him to step down!"

"He definitely won't step down—they're still at the top of the table. But having this losing experience, both fans and the club will probably lose confidence in him. If Clermont really can't hold it together later, he can basically kiss his coaching position goodbye."

"This match was so satisfying to watch! Julien really is a super sub! He completely reversed such a terrible situation. I apologize for previously questioning his young abilities!"

"Haha, we all need to apologize!"

Amid the commotion, glasses of spirits went down.

Someone suggested, "Next league match is away at Monaco. I want to go see it live. Are you guys going?"

"Absolutely!"

"Before, the team had no hope, but now the team is on a winning streak with high morale—we must support them on site!"

"Let's go! Everyone who's free should go! I need to buy a jersey first, with Julien's number on it."

Julien didn't know what was happening in Bastia.

All his energy every day was focused on training. Having seen his upper limits, he inevitably wanted to raise those attributes to their maximum.

But it was difficult.

The last victory gave the system 20 winning points—not much. It seemed Ligue 2 matches really couldn't compare to Ligue 1 teams.

Moreover, Julien discovered that attributes weren't static.

They were dynamic data.

Currently his defensive and interception attributes had decreased.

This was related to him focusing on training offensive abilities during this period, neglecting defensive training, and the tactical arrangements on the field not requiring him to defend.

If you don't advance, you retreat.

This also made Julien pay special attention to his daily life: regular sleep schedule, regular diet, consistent training, etc.

He couldn't indulge himself just because he was young now with strong recovery ability and couldn't see any hidden problems.

Because life is built up from individual habits.

When a person is steeped in bad habits for too long, it gradually develops into something irreversible.

Good habits are cultivated through daily accumulation.

After the match against Clermont, there were only six days before they had to continue away against Monaco.

Julien didn't slack off at all.

During this time, aside from contract signing matters, nothing hindered his training.

During this period.

Châtaigner ran into Julien during lunch one time and shared an "interesting story" with him.

"A few days ago, when the winter window hadn't officially closed yet, Clermont actually made us an offer—they wanted to bring you to Clermont. Haha, I don't know what they were thinking."

"They even offered only one million euros. My God, was your performance in that match worth only one million?"

"If I had agreed to that offer, the club should have sent me to a mental hospital to check if there was something wrong with my brain."

On January 31st when the winter window officially closed.

Bastia officially announced on their website—"By mutual agreement, the club will renew the contract with forward Julien De Rocca until June 2014."

As soon as this news came out.

Bastia fans were instantly excited. Keeping Julien at the club was equivalent to a super signing.

"Winter window's strongest signing, secured!"