Chapter 15: Can You Believe It?!

When Italian football entered the winter break, the winter transfer window also opened. Teams from all leagues began to move to strengthen their squads.

However, this didn't have much to do with Novara. The team's owners, the De Salvo family, had no plans to invest more in signings. They were quite satisfied with the current situation of the team: comfortably outside the relegation zone, but with little hope of promotion.

Perhaps if the team hadn't been deducted points, there would still be hope of fighting for promotion, but after losing 4 points, with the team's performance in the first half of the season, there was practically no hope.

Novara had no intention of strengthening with signings, but there were several teams interested in poaching players from Novara.

In this regard, Bruno was undoubtedly the most coveted candy in the transfer market. Several Serie B teams presented offers to Novara to try to take away this talented young star.

Not only Serie B teams, but also Serie A teams, contacted Novara. However, the club manager, Giaretta, after discussing with the owners and the team's coach, rejected all those offers.

Bruno was at the peak of his professional career at this moment, and the longer he stayed in Novara, the more valuable he would be. Given the current situation, selling Bruno could generate at most hundreds of thousands of euros in transfer fees, which, although twenty times more than what they paid for him five months ago, clearly wasn't his limit.

Given the potential Bruno was showing, his price would likely increase even more by the end of the season.

Of course, Novara also had no intention of keeping Bruno forever. They knew that as long as Bruno maintained his current level, it would be difficult to retain him when the summer transfer window opened.

There were also teams that tried to contact Bruno privately to tempt him, but he didn't pay attention to them. On one hand, that was unethical practice and he was a grateful person; Novara had given him the opportunity at his most difficult time, and he didn't want to ruin that relationship over transfer matters. On the other hand, he felt that Novara was the best for him at the moment and, although he would consider leaving, he would do so after the season ended.

Additionally, upon learning that Bruno still didn't have an agent, several agents tried to represent him, but Bruno also didn't pay attention to them.

Although Bruno was known in Italian football at this point, he still played for a Serie B team, which limited his influence. Renowned agents might start paying attention to him, but clearly they had no intentions of doing so at the moment. Those who contacted him were less known and powerful agents, and Bruno didn't want to entrust his future to those people.

If agents like Mendes or Raiola came looking for him, Bruno might seriously consider it.

On January 7th, Novarello reopened and Bruno returned to training immediately to start additional training sessions.

Three days later, other players returned from their vacations and Novara began their winter training camp.

In between, Tesser also organized two friendly matches for Novara against Serie C teams, to test the results of the winter training.

On the night of January 25th, Serie B officially resumed its season after the winter break, and a surprise occurred: league leader Sassuolo lost 1-2 to Crotone, which was on the edge of the relegation zone, their fourth defeat of the season.

On the afternoon of January 26th, the nine matches of matchday 23 of Serie B began simultaneously, including the match where Novara visited Empoli.

Perhaps due to the one-month break or the arrival of a new cold front bringing intense cold air to Italy, this Serie B matchday was plagued with surprises.

Teams that were at the top of the table suffered unexpected defeats: Modena, in sixth place, lost 1-2 at home against Ternana, which was in fourteenth place; Varese, in fourth place, lost 1-2 at home against Lanciano, in eighteenth place; and Grosseto, at the bottom of the table, won 3-1 at home against Huesca, in eleventh place.

A series of big surprises that made everyone feel a chill.

The match between Novara and Empoli was the focus of this Serie B matchday. Both teams had records of 9 wins, 7 draws, and 6 losses in the first 22 matchdays, and were quite evenly matched in terms of strength. Additionally, due to the 2-2 draw in the first encounter at Piola Stadium, there were no clear favorites in this match.

At Castellani Stadium, the match was highly contested. Novara, led by Bruno, and Empoli engaged in an intense midfield duel, with very tense gameplay.

Until the 68th minute, the score remained 0-0.

The deadlock was broken in the 69th minute, when Novara broke through Empoli's defense after a series of passes in the midfield, with a precise pass from Bruno allowing French forward Leipelt to score an empty goal after a successful offside trap.

Leipelt seized the opportunity and scored the first goal for Novara.

Empoli, unhappy with the defeat, intensified their efforts amidst the cheers of almost twenty thousand local fans. Novara, on the other hand, defended with determination against Empoli's attacks.

In the 90th minute, with Empoli launching a desperate attack, Bruno stole the ball in the opponent's field and ran forward quickly, making a quick pass to Lazzari on a counterattack, changing the score to 2-0 and sealing the match.

The top teams stumbling in this matchday allowed Novara, which had won six consecutive matches, to rise to sixth place in the standings.

According to the Serie B promotion rules, the top two teams ascend directly to Serie A next season, while the teams from third to sixth place must play two elimination rounds to determine the third team to ascend.

Either way, Novara was already in the promotion zone!

Does Novara have the possibility of promotion?

If someone had said that two months ago, they would definitely have been dismissed as daydreaming, but two months later, that dream was coming true.

Can you believe it ?!

Novara fans are going crazy!

Fans of other Serie B teams are also on the brink of madness!

Even fans of a Serie A team, after looking at the Serie B table, were almost crazy: our nemesis... that fearsome team could be back!

(Blue-black legionaries: You could directly mention our name!)

As February progressed, the winter transfer window closed.

Novara didn't buy or sell players during this window, which seemed quite calm.

But fans who closely followed the Serie B table knew that this team was anything but calm. They had achieved the greatest Serie B miracle of the season with only 6 matches, moving from 19th place to 6th place!

The terrifying thing was that this crazy upward trend showed no signs of stopping.

On February 2nd in the afternoon, Novara hosted Cesena at Piola Stadium.

Both teams had been relegated from Serie A last season, but their current situations were completely different. After going through a period of decline halfway through the season, Novara had resurged and was now in the promotion zone; while Cesena, which had been declining since the beginning of the season, currently occupied 19th place in the standings, on the brink of relegation.

In the first leg match, Novara had won 6-1 away, so the goal of the match was to secure the three points.

However, the game's development was not as easy as they had hoped. Despite Novara's intense initial attacks, they failed to take the lead, but instead conceded a goal on a counterattack.

In the 27th minute, Cesena counterattacked and, although the ball was cleared by a Novara defender, they got a corner kick.

It was precisely taking advantage of this corner kick opportunity that Tonucci, Cesena's defender, helped his team score the first goal, gaining an advantage in the match.

From then on, Novara had to face Cesena's tight defense.

They had dug their own grave and now they had to fill it. Facing Cesena's total defense, Novara, led by Bruno, initiated a difficult attack.

(End of chapter)