Violet

  It was soon May 8, and Arthur was training the basics every day and playing well in amateur games. However, he was unable to find a team to try out for him in London, and he really couldn't do it without an agent's introduction.

  Over dinner, Steve asked, "Looks like you won't be able to play soccer in London, want to try another city?"

  "I am so wounded by fame that I am so emaciated, I will quit ... forget it from this day forward, it seems useless for me to quit anything." Arthur is still in the mood to joke.

  Steve sighed, "No one believes you can play up front these days, a team in League C might give you a trial, but the starting point is too low. Unless this team gets back-to-back promotions, you can't get ahead and won't get much exposure."

  "What do you think I should do?"

  "I think there are two ways, one is that you go back to being a goalkeeper. With Arsenal's youth experience, there's a chance you could get a contract in League Two if you can work on your goalkeeping skills and prove yourself. The second is to stick to playing as a striker, start in the lower leagues and put up good numbers for an early move."

  Arthur has been thinking lately about how to start his career smoothly, with the lower leagues being optional. "I'm going for the second option and am going to play abroad."

  "Huh? I thought it was tough enough for you to leave London to play soccer, and you want to go abroad?" Steve was taken aback. "This isn't a trip abroad as a kid, it's going out to play soccer, just you."

  "Yeah, but me going out to play is a shortcut to stardom, staying in England is not good for signings and depends on people." Arthur's British account is worthless if he can't sign for a high-level league team.

  He planned to use his foresight to go out and make a break for it, otherwise he would be ashamed to be a traveler. He chose the easy difficulty game, this can not become a star in two or three years, hell difficulty must be what? To become a star, you have to be suborned by the coach, and you'll be wounded all over the place?

  "What do you think?"

  "I play abroad, they don't know me, and there's no problem in terms of tryouts. I'll pick a team in a lower division to start my career and I'm sure to get a lot of playing time on the strength of my age and fitness. Once I put up some nice numbers and help my team get promoted to the top flight, I'll be famous."

  Steve froze for a moment and laughed, "Are you going to France?"

  "No, I'm going to Italy, do you know where I can learn Italian?"

  "What, you might as well go to France, even though the French league is not as famous as the Italian one."

  "Why? You don't see the future of Italian soccer?"

  Steve shook his head. "No, I think you're even giving up your only advantage, there are too many handsome Italian guys. You'll get a lot of points for playing in France with that face, and the owner might be able to give you a big contract if he's an Alain Delon fan."

  Arthur laughed, "I'd better learn Italian and go for a trial after the World Cup, will you help me?"

  "Help, can you do it if I don't?"

  "Haha, I'll do it this time."

  Arthur wouldn't consider playing in Italy if there were better options. He was well aware that Italian soccer was entering a period of decline and getting worse in the future.

  In the last century, Serie A brought together the Dutch Three Musketeers, the German Troika, Maradona, Platini and other world superstars. 1990 held the World Cup is to make Italian soccer in the international and domestic reached an unprecedented heyday, Serie A, "Seven Sisters," the name of the Premier League big6 than later much bigger, the Serie A is also known as the "Little World Cup". The Serie A is also known as the "Little World Cup".

  The opposite is true when things go wrong, and when things go wrong, they go wrong. When the Serie A is still immersed in the "world's first league" and complacent, the English Premier League, La Liga and other leagues quietly develop a more reasonable commercialization path.

  The decline of Serie A is due to the problems with the league's management and system, which has been focusing on the tactical development of the teams but neglecting the development of the economic level. The Premier League's consolidation and sale of broadcasting rights, and La Liga's and Bundesliga's development of a membership-based economy are all challenging Italian soccer.

  On the other hand, the Italian economy is in a severe recession and clubs do not receive enough financial support. Teams could not afford to hire big-name coaches, could not bring in or retain top stars, and had no desire to train their reserves. Later on, Serie A teams suffered a collective slump in European matches, and the scene of once full houses no longer appeared, with attendance at many matches hitting record lows.

  The most important thing for competitive sports to gain the favor of capital is to come up with good results, and only with good results can you have money, and with more money can you make the results go up to the next level. Under the vicious circle, the gradual decline of Serie A is inevitable.

  Now, the decline of Serie A has just begun, and the Serie A giants have remained competitive in Europe for the last 10 years, and the league level is high. Arthur's plan is to make a name for himself in Serie A and then move on to other leagues.

  He's even figured out which team to join and it's going to work out, he doesn't even need an alternative team. Because there is an Italian team that can get promoted continuously - Fiorentina!

  Fiorentina, one of the Seven Sisters of Serie A, was in serious financial trouble in 2001, unable to pay its payroll and in debt to the tune of $50 million.

  Instead of considering the club's financial situation, president Cecchi Gori continued to acquire players, resulting in the relegation of the 2001-02 season after finishing in the bottom half of the Serie A. The team was officially declared bankrupt in 2002 after failing to post a $40 million guarantee for participation in Serie B. Fiorentina officially declared bankruptcy on August 1, 2002, after failing to post a $40 million deposit for participation in Serie B. The club's financial situation was not satisfactory, as the club was unable to pay the $40 million deposit.

  Arthur is a traveler and knows that Fiorentina must be bankrupt, the Serie A has just ended and they have already been relegated.

  With the new owner, the team was forced to play in the second division under the name "acf Fiorentina Violetta". In the summer, all the players' contracts were canceled and the team was almost empty. Miraculously, the veteran midfielder of the Italian national team, Angelo Di Livio, chose to stay in the team.

  In 2003, Fiorentina were promoted directly to Serie B after just one season. That's a jump, in normal circumstances they would have been playing in the third division, C1.

  The Italian FA expanded the Italian Serie B to 24 teams for the 2003-04 season, which coincided with another Serie B team having financial problems, so Fiorentina replaced it in Serie B, moving up two levels in a row.

  That same year, the club also bought back the initial naming rights, getting rid of the Violet label.

  Serie B will get five and a half promotion places for the 2003-04 season, with the top five being automatically promoted to the first division, while the sixth place will decide their respective fates through a play-off with the bottom four in Serie A. The top five will be promoted to the first division. The lucky ones will be able to play in the first division and the unlucky ones will be able to receive 5 million euros in compensation.

  So something even more amazing happened. Fiorentina ended up getting 6th place in the league and played a playoff against Perugia, who finished 15th in the first division, and won in a blowout to get back to Serie A.

  No team in football has been promoted faster than Fiorentina and Arthur has a lot to gain from playing C2 in his first year.

  For one thing, he has so little experience in the game that he needs a "newbie village" to practice. If he joins a senior league team right from the start, he will not be guaranteed playing time.

  What happens when the system gives him an assignment that requires him to play a full game? Even if he can play, the fundamentals aren't solid and it's hard to impress the coaches and play a full game with just his body.

  He's playing in C2, which is a lot less competitive. If things go well, he'll have practiced his fundamentals for a year and will be able to lay the foundation for a future Serie A campaign.

  Thirdly, he met a good master in Fiorentina. He remembers very well that Fiorentina has a senior center forward named Christian Rigano, nicknamed "The Brute", who was an important contributor to the team's promotion.

  He can learn Rigano's skill as a center forward and still have a good reference. He has to be stronger than Rigano to get a foothold in Serie A in the future, because Rigano will be too defended to score a few goals when he gets there.

  Arthur will definitely get a trial, Fiorentina have no one in the summer and will have to draft a bunch of new guys in addition to the captain.

  Young, quality players like him are the future of the team. Other quality young players aren't crossers, don't know that Fiorentina will be back in Serie A soon and generally don't join.

  Brits playing in Italy is a great gimmick in itself.

  Previously, the veterans of Serie A joined the Premier League team can mess kill, into the 21st century Serie A's overall strength is still above the Premier League. Serie A doesn't have a few English foreigners in total to look at.

  Once Arthur helps Fiorentina get back into Serie A or start, making the national team is basically a done deal.