"Boss! Long time no see!"
Suker greeted Maldini warmly.
Lately, Maldini hadn't been showing up much at training.
Perhaps he had truly decided to retire, as he had shifted most of his focus to other matters.
"Yeah, long time."
Maldini was in casual clothes, clearly not there to train.
"I've been watching your recent games — you've been playing really well."
He patted Suker's shoulder and smiled.
"If only you could stay in Milan forever."
Suker smiled but didn't respond.
Maldini already knew that Suker would leave — and probably within the next one or two seasons.
As much as he wanted him to stay, Maldini understood he couldn't be selfish.
If Milan still had enough competitive strength, he would try harder to convince Suker to remain.
But after learning more about the club's financial and operational troubles, he knew Milan couldn't hold onto a player like Suker.
As they walked toward the locker room, Maldini said:
"We've been working on some transfer deals lately."
He glanced at Suker with a grin.
"We might bring in two big names!"
Suker blinked.
"Let me guess — one of them is Ronaldinho?"
Maldini was shocked.
"How did you know?!"
Suker sighed inwardly.
Of course he knew.According to historical timelines, after Ronaldo joined Serie A to wind down his career, Ronaldinho and Beckham soon followed.
"Is Beckham the other one?"Suker asked.
Maldini looked at him like he was a mind reader.
Suker shrugged:
"He mentioned something about transferring when we met at the Ballon d'Or ceremony. As for Beckham… I saw some transfer lists on the boss's desk."
"That explains it,"Maldini nodded, then sighed."But we still haven't strengthened the defense."
Suker nodded in agreement — confused.
Milan's attack was already strong, so why keep signing offensive players?
What they needed was defensive reinforcements!
He paused, then turned to Maldini:
"Boss… don't tell me this transfer plan was your suggestion?"
Maldini scratched his cheek sheepishly:
"I did make a few recommendations."
Now it made sense.
Suker sighed.
Maldini was already planning ahead, preparing for the day Suker would leave.
"Boss, I promised you — I'll tell you before I go,"Suker said seriously.
Maldini nodded:
"It's not just that. I also hope that the younger players will learn from these veterans and improve themselves."
"You mean… train by playing alongside them?"Suker asked.
Maldini nodded:
"It's a great learning opportunity."
Suker felt a little depressed.
You probably don't know how Ronaldinho turned Pato into a nightclub addict…
Later in his career, Pato even surpassed Ronaldinho in partying.Ronaldinho once joked to the media that Pato went to clubs without inviting him.
Whether this was "training together" or just heading to clubs together — Suker had his doubts.
Beckham, on the other hand, was a role model worth learning from.
Not only was he a consummate professional, but also a Manchester United product, coached by Ferguson — a pedigree in itself.
As for Ronaldinho?
One rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel.A dressing room cancer, no less.
Still, it wasn't Suker's place to interfere — these were management decisions.
Besides, he was already preparing to leave.
He'd already transformed Pato quite a bit from his clueless rookie days.
Whether Pato could resist Ronaldinho's temptations — that was up to fate now.
Just as they approached the locker room door — BANG!
The door flew open.
Pato came running out excitedly.
"Where are you going?"Suker called out.
Pato stopped in his tracks, bursting with excitement.
"Barbara agreed to go on a date with me! I'm going to buy some flowers — today's my lucky day!"
Maldini looked him up and down.
Compared to when he first joined, Pato had changed — at least in terms of fashion sense.
Slim-fit black slacks, shiny leather boots, a high-neck black knit sweater, and a mink-colored trench coat.
"So this is your transformation project?"Maldini nodded approvingly.
"Not bad, right?"Suker grinned.
"I'm heading out first!"Pato said quickly.
"Go for it."Suker waved him off with a smile.
As Pato dashed off, Maldini sighed:
"The president doesn't like Pato much."
Suker understood.Berlusconi didn't approve of Barbara dating Pato, but couldn't directly forbid it either.
Suker shrugged:
"But Pato's changed — he's no longer the bumpkin—"
"Boss!!"
Pato came rushing back, face eager.
"Can I borrow your Rolex?"
Suker silently handed him the watch, then turned to Maldini:
"The president was right…"
The transformation project has failed!A bumpkin is still a bumpkin!
Inside Milan's locker room, players were packing up to head home.
Suker sat on the bench, staring ahead blankly.
The others thought he was daydreaming and left him alone.
But Suker was actually looking at his system panel:
[Name: Suker][Height: 183 cm][Weight: 76 kg][Speed: 95][Agility: 86][Strength: 87][Acceleration: 95]
His speed and acceleration — both at 95 — were monstrously high.
Whenever people talked about Suker's talent, they always mentioned his burst speed and top-end pace.
However, his agility had been declining.
At its peak, it reached 90.
But with increased muscle and strength training, it had been slowly dropping.
As a center forward, he needed to battle physically — but he also couldn't lose flexibility.
He didn't want to be a static target man.
His current agility was already the result of him funneling points into it.
He never imagined he'd one day be fighting to maintain agility — once his top stat.
Now?It was his bottleneck.
As for cards…
He currently had three diamond cards.
There was guaranteed to be one more in the Champions League final.
That would be a good summary of these two UCL campaigns.
At first, he thought three diamond cards would be enough.
But with Ronaldo and Messi accelerating, he needed more weapons, more diamond cards.
Neither of them had reached their peaks yet.
And Suker knew exactly how terrifying their peaks would be.
The Champions League only gave out one diamond card — in the final.
And Milan's chances of reaching the final again? Not high.
Meanwhile, Ronaldo and Messi were gaining fast.
So Suker had to look to international tournaments.
EUROs.World Cup.
These events, held once every four years, mattered more.
Logically, a EURO semi-final should also reward a diamond card.
If it only came in the final, that would be unreasonable.
So in 2008, Croatia had to reach the semi-finals.
Suker needed that diamond card.
He didn't just want to keep pace with Ronaldo and Messi.
He wanted to overtake them.
He needed to grind out more diamond cards.More attribute cards.
Only when he had a full set, would he reach his true peak.
Thinking of all this made him eagerly anticipate the EUROs.
But first — he had to handle the league season well.
He needed to grind attribute cards from the season rewards.
And go deeper into the Champions League, to get more cards.
Especially to fix his annoying agility stat.
BANG!!
Suddenly — a loud crash.
Suker immediately snapped to attention.
Everyone in the locker room looked around in shock.
They all turned toward the shower room.
Suker rushed over and opened the door —
He saw Gattuso lying on the ground, both hands clutching his ankle, shouting:
"Who the hell left their soap on the floor?!"