ball magic

Ashley Cole, 18, is a native of London who grew up in the Arsenal youth academy.

He has been growing up step by step, no different from other young Arsenal youths, being screened level by level, rising level by level, until one day, he will debut at Highbury Stadium and complete his career. First-team debut.

But everything changed in the summer when he was 18 years old.

The first Triple Crown team in football history wants to buy him!

He thought the agent was crazy at the time, but the agent and his father told him that Inter Milan did want to buy him, Ashley Cole!Buy him, a young man who hasn't played in the Arsenal first team yet!

Go to Italy to play football?

Even if the coach is Bobby Robson and he is going to a giant like Inter Milan, the young Ashley still hesitates in his heart.

Because he has not seen any precedent for English players to succeed in foreign leagues.

Like the Germans and Italians, they don't like to play abroad. Isn't it good to play in the Premier League?Less things, more money, close to home.

But the agent told him that Inter Milan gave too much...

Of course it's for Arsenal.

After all, a young player like him can't seem to be compared with a player like West, and the Nigerian international is worth several million. This deal is bloody for Arsenal!

Then he got a call from Bobby Robson, and within a few minutes of talking to the older gentleman, Cole told his mum he was going to Italy.

At that moment, the young Ashley was full of courage, but after he hugged his family and sat on the plane with his agent and father, he was discouraged!

That's Italy!It's Inter Milan!

He hasn't even learned a word of Italian, is he going to flirt with a stewardess now, and at least learn how to say hello?

In tension, they arrived at Milan Airport and were sent to the Pinetina training base by Inter Milan staff.

When passing by the small town of Pinettina, the staff pointed to a super-large house with a super-high exterior wall, which looked weird no matter how you looked at it, and said, "Did you see it? That's Rafa's home. He arrives early every day." base."

That tone is really proud.

Of course Ashley knew why the staff had such a tone, it was Raphael!

If Rafael's father hadn't done so many bloody things, they might even become teammates anyway, sooner or later he would be selected for the England national team!He has confidence in himself!

But now he can only be Raphael's teammate at the club.

He went through the physical examination according to the procedures. The young man with whom he had the physical examination was named Samuel, an Argentinian who obviously knew some Italian. He got along with the staff calmly, which made him a little bit envious.

After the medical examination, they attended the press conference together and got their new jerseys, he chose the number 35, while Samuel chose the number 33.

He doesn't like the number because it's big enough to give fans an immediate sense of who they are at the club, not as much-anticipated reinforcements but as recruits.

Moratti is a good guy and encouraged him after the post-match conference.

It was also around this time that Ashley Cole, who felt she was all alone in Italy, got the shocking news

He was recommended by Rafael!

Raphael!

Before he could figure out why Raphael liked him, they went to the locker room.

As we all know, Inter Milan is very "international". Most of the big players in the team are from South America, and now all the players returning to the team are European players.

Introduced to all the teammates by the assistant coach from Portugal, and he was like a nervous chick waiting anxiously for the boss to shake their hands.

For example, Figo.

As a result, the first person to walk towards him and Samuel was a handsome young man with long hair, but his age seemed to be almost the same as them!

He looked at the other party blankly, and found that the other party stretched out his hand to him, and said to him in English: "Hey, my name is Juan, Bobby promised your father to take good care of you, so you can be like Walter, Stay at our house for the time being."

Ashley Cole nodded in confusion.

Some teams in the Premier League are also like this. In order for players to integrate better, they are allowed to live with other teammates for a period of time. The main purpose is to solve language problems and better understand the internal culture of the team.

Although... that's usually the way to look after the younger players.

That Juan seemed to say it again in Spanish, and Samuel next to him looked very happy and chattered a lot.

Juan was very nice and helped them choose a cabinet.

Inter Milan is rich and powerful, and it hasn't been long since the base was renovated.

The locker room in the base is also quite luxurious. Ashley looked at his empty locker, and couldn't help but look at the lockers of those big guys.

7th, 9th, 10th, and 32nd.

No. 7 belongs to Figo. He looks very nice, and he even chatted with him in English. He should be one of the few players in the team who can speak English.

No. 9 obviously belongs to Ronaldo. It is not as messy as he thought, but it looks particularly empty because there is no jersey.

Number 10 obviously belongs to Raphael.

This is a name that means a lot to him, and it also makes him feel very complicated.

Raphael's cabinet looked exceptionally clean.

It's not because it's also empty, it's neatly packed with a lot of things

A small square black suitcase about 20cm long, if there is anything attractive about it, maybe the ysl logo makes it look a bit valuable.

1个银色的带着吸管的奇怪杯子、1个超大保温杯、2个格外显眼的相框、2件被挂起来的运动外套，2套叠放在一起的训练服，地面上甚至还整齐摆放着2双雪白雪白的球鞋！

So many "2"s gave Ashley Cole an urge to complain, although he didn't know how to complain...

And these things made him feel that Raphael seemed to appear in this locker room at any time, instead of still being on vacation.

What surprised him was that after No. 9 and No. 10, instead of No. 11's wardrobe, it belonged to Juan, who was No. 20 in the team, which was obviously a strange arrangement.

He finally looked at number 32, which was a big number, but sitting in front of it was Vieri, an absolute boss who was chatting and laughing with Figo.

In Vieri's cabinet, there are some personal items in a mess, such as razors, aftershave lotion, perfume, sunglasses...

As expected of a prodigal son, Ashley yearns for it and feels that this is a man's cabinet.

After claiming his locker and greeting everyone, he said goodbye to his father and manager.

The farewell was sad, but Dad still patted him on the shoulder, reminding him in a low voice to behave like a man here, not to be underestimated, or he would be easily bullied.

Of course he understands this.

After that, he and Samuel, who also bid farewell to his family, were taken to the restaurant to eat. After eating, they could only sit in the locker room, waiting for Juan to finish his training session in the afternoon before claiming them.

Samuel looked at him, he looked back, the two of them stared for a while, then the daring guy went to Juan's cabinet, and then came back after touching something.

He stood up and took a look, almost laughing, it turned out to be a poker card!

It really is an essential item in the locker room.

They may have played poker for an hour or two, and some people returned to the locker room one after another, and soon Juan came over with a squinting eye.The age of squinting eyes does not look very old, and it should be a young player of the club.

Juan asked them to wait, took a quick shower without blowing their hair, and was about to take them home.

He was very moved until he saw Juan's high-end bicycle.

That's right, not four wheels, but two wheels!

They are three big men, two of them are still carrying suitcases, how do they go?

Then they saw that squinting eye driving over, and Juan asked them to put their luggage on it, and they did so, but he saw that squinting eye drove away in a convertible with a fluffy bag, leaving them and Juan behind. In place!

He became a little confused again, and saw Juan said with a smile: "Let's walk back, it's very close, and I didn't even blow my hair."

Samuel seemed to be receptive, and was still chatting with Juan, and the two chatted enthusiastically.

He knew that he was not isolated, but the language barrier still made him feel lonely.

They may have walked for a few minutes, and Juan threw the car to Samuel, hooked his shoulders, and pointed in a direction, "See? That house, we want to live there. Remember to follow a rule , just absolutely can’t bring back girlfriends and the like, Rafa won’t like strangers appearing at home.”

Ashley looked at the house whose walls were more than half higher than the nearby houses, then looked at Juan, "We live in Rafael's house?"

"That's right, you don't speak Italian at all, so you have to live with us for a while. As long as you work hard to learn Italian, the club will arrange a house for you soon."

When Juan said this, he pointed to Samuel, "Like Walter, he may only live here for two months."

Ashley looked at Samuel, and found that the Argentine friend who had just met looked at him with eyes full of jealousy!

So he is staying at Raphael's house for 2 months, maybe even longer?

It was July 1999, 7, and Ashley Cole was living a dreamlike day.

He joined Inter Milan.

He lived in Rafael's house where the front yard was a shooting range, and the back yard was a court and swimming pool. There were 2 bodyguards and 2 chefs, and he was allocated a room with a very nice view.

And his luggage has already been placed in the guest room.

After dinner and lying on the big bed with brand new bedding, Ashley couldn't help but send a bunch of text messages to his agent.

He wanted to know what position Juan played, how good his relationship with Rafael was, and he even wanted to know how to get along with Juan!

The next morning, he received an email from his agent.

Because the email wasn't long, he quickly saw the "nickname" column, and was almost shattered!

This lot of nicknames... um...

Let him call him Juan.

This email also gave him a new understanding of Juan, and shattered the little pride in his heart.

He has not been selected for England U21, Juan has already won the World Youth Championship, and even selected for the Spanish national team. He is also a sugar beet who has been trained in Inter Milan. More importantly, as long as he is in the club, Raphael is inseparable from him. !

And Samuel, who transferred with him, actually won the World Youth Championship with Rafael in 97, and this summer, he won the America's Cup with Rafael as the main player...

When Juan knocked on the door and called him to get up and eat, Ashley Cole, who put the three views back together, gave Juan a particularly bright smile after opening the door.

Juan's thigh, he hugged it!

In this way, he became Juan's follower, to be precise, a painful follower.

Because Juan goes to bed on time at 9 o'clock every day and wakes up at 6 o'clock to welcome the new day, this kind of schedule is simply the nightmare of any London boy

Although he doesn't wake them up until 7 o'clock.

He will go out at the same time, come to the base at the same time, and wipe Raphael's and his own lockers in the same order, which also makes Ashley confirm that he is not mistaken, Raphael's locker It is cleaner than others!

And Juan's physical fitness seems to have no limit, and his endurance is better than that of his mixed race. After being tortured by a physical trainer for a day, he still continues to train more, and he still does this every day.

Then he discovered a little secret of Juan. Juan would call people at a fixed time and chat for a long time.

At first he thought it was Juan who was calling his girlfriend in Spain, but after teasing him, he realized that he would call his family on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

"There are usually no games in these three days, and the mood will not be affected by the game, and the topic will not be limited to the game." Juan explained it in this way, which made him feel very reasonable, and even wanted to follow suit.

"What about yesterday?" he asked.

Because yesterday was Tuesday.

"Of course I called Rafa, he is coming back, I want to pick him up!"

Juan's voice is so brisk, which makes people feel the anticipation.

"Then shall we go?" Ashley asked, he actually wanted to pick up the plane, because he thanked Raphael for bringing him everything.

"No need." Juan said rarely, "He has other plans..."

Today is September 8th.

Because people in the locker room have been discussing when Rafael and Ronaldo will return to the team, Ashley knows that Rafa intends to return to the team one day earlier.

The fact that "Raphael is coming back" is magical in itself, like Juan, who uncharacteristically drives to the base the next morning.

Ashley thought he was going to pick up someone at the airport, but when the door opened, he realized why he did this. The door was full of reporters, so many reporters!

"The news really leaked...the people at the airport are just unreliable." Juan complained, as if he had a lot of experience in this.

And when they came to the training base, everything became even more exaggerated!

He looked at the news helicopter in the sky, and the live broadcast car parked in the distance, and thought he was playing the Olympics, or the European Cup or something...

"They want to interview Rafa and Ronnie. If the reporters catch you, they will definitely ask you questions about the Golden Globes. You'd better prepare in advance." Juan reminded him.

Ashley nodded vigorously, then couldn't hold back and asked curiously: "Did they interview you?"

Juan said without turning his head: "When we won the World Youth Championship in the summer, I couldn't run away, so I answered generously. I think Ronnie is very good, and Rafa is even better. He is the one in my heart." optimal."

This made Ashley Cole couldn't help laughing, he liked such a magnanimous Juan, "I also think Raphael is better, every Englishman thinks so."

As a result, Samuel glared at him viciously, probably because the sentence was too simple, and this guy with super bad English understood it!

And the Argentine central defender didn't want Rafael to have anything to do with England at all.

Juan's car was obviously popular with the media, who blocked it tightly and could not enter the base smoothly even with the help of security.It wasn't until Juan pulled down the car window to let them see that Rafael was not in the car, and answered a few questions for them, that he entered the base smoothly.

"...It's always so hard when you come to the base with Rafa?"

"No," Juan pointed to the opposite direction of the parking lot, "Massimo made him a landing pad. Raphael got his pilot's license before he got his driver's license."

There Ashley saw a super cool black helicopter with five propellers!

Before he could react, Juan had already grinned and said, "Obviously, Rafa has arrived."

It made Ashley realize that the guy was having a good time!

When they came to the locker room, Ashley could tell the difference at a glance.

In the center of the entire oval locker room, on the No. 10 wardrobe, a black backpack was thrown, and a set of training clothes and sneakers were missing.

He saw that Juan changed his clothes almost as quickly as possible and rushed towards the training ground. When he and Samuel chased after them, he saw Juan holding a curly-haired blond baby in his arms. , one big and one small are kissing each other intimately.

Not far from them, Raphael, with his hands in his pockets, was chatting with old Robson. After seeing them, he nodded slightly to them, as if paying tribute.

Ashley stared at him deeply.

Look, this is Raphael.

Obviously only half a year older than him, but at this moment he showed an amazing aura that seemed to be sitting on the entire Pinettina.

The author has something to say: Juan has many nicknames, so the "nickname" column will be a very long column.