Chapter 70: New Contract

"Hero stops the ball with his chest... He easily squeezes away the rushing Rasimich... Long shot--!! GOOOOOOOL!!"

"Anyukov made a very high cross... The ball went straight to the back post... Hero! He jumped high at the back post! Alexey Berezutsky and Ignashevich also jumped up at the same time... They failed! A beautiful header! The ball went in! The ball went in!!!"

The TV was still playing game highlights, but everyone in the room had already shifted their attention away from that.

Advocaat pointed to the TV screen and said to Constantine Sasania, who was sitting across from him at the conference table. "I think the club should give him a sufficiently generous contract. The season is almost over. No one wants to let go of a center forward who was able to score two goals in the match against CSKA, right?"

Sasania frowned. "But his agent is asking for too much..."

Advocaat didn't care about this; he only cared about whether the club could keep and buy the players he wanted.

"In fact, even if his agent didn't say this, other players' agents would ask you for a raise. Think about it, Konstantin. The team is sponsored by Gazprom, the largest company in Russia. It is extremely rich. What reason do you have not to give the players a raise?"

For Advocaat, Zenit was a wealthy local tycoon, and there was no loss for him to let them bleed. He also didn't believe that Zenit couldn't come up with such a small amount of money.

"And if you let Hero go because of this, we probably won't be able to buy a center forward like him even if we spend 10 million euros in the transfer market."

Advocaat wasn't exaggerating at all. There were fewer and fewer pure centers like Chen Yingxiong now. How important was such a strong center to a team? With him, the team could have a fulcrum and a bridgehead when attacking in the frontcourt. With him, the team's offensive means were more diverse. With him, the team also had a way to break through when facing a stubborn defense. In short, an excellent and strong center was very important to the team.

Since this center forward had appeared in Zenit St. Petersburg, Advocaat certainly didn't want to let him go.

He also knew that Chen Yingxiong's first contract was too shabby. It would be difficult to keep Chen Yingxiong with such treatment. He firmly believed that after half a season, Chen Yingxiong's name would be known throughout Russia. If those Russian wolves knew about Chen Yingxiong's current contract, it would be a disaster.

"But his agent wants the highest salary in the team..." Sasanija was still unwilling to give the highest salary to an 18-year-old boy. What would the other players think?

"We can negotiate the price." Advocaat shrugged. Anyway, he hoped that the club would use whatever means to keep Chen Yingxiong.

The club did not invite him to join for the third or fourth place in the league, but to win the championship. Chen Yingxiong was an important chess piece.

An old man who had been sitting at the top of the conference table and had been silent all of a sudden spoke up. "Mr. Advocaat, how important is that Chinese man to the team?"

Everyone in the meeting room looked at the Dutch head coach.

The person who spoke was the club's chairman Sergei Fursenko, and what he said actually signalled his stance - as long as the head coach thinks it's okay, we will keep him.

Advocaat naturally knew what the club chairman meant. He nodded without hesitation. "He is an important figure in Zenit's rise!"

Porter was stunned for a moment. He now thought that Chen Yingxiong was a player with strength and potential, but he had never expected that he would be evaluated so highly.

There was a burst of surprised discussion in the conference room.

None of them expected that Advocaat would give such a high evaluation to an 18-year-old boy who had only been in the first team for more than two months.

Fsenko nodded. "Very good, then give him a contract."

When Chen Yingxiong was practicing hard in the copy, he heard a cell phone ringing.

Then he saw Yesenin answer the phone.

At the same time, the moment he opened his mouth, his voice changed. This voice made Chen Yingxiong stunned for a moment, and then he realized that it was the vampire agent Dracula who had not appeared for a long time.

"Hello, Mr. Sassania." Dracula's voice was completely inconsistent with Yesenin's image and temperament. His voice was full of an aggressive momentum, which was quite consistent with his image as a vampire agent.

When Chen Yingxiong heard the name of the club's general manager, he pricked up his ears.

But to his disappointment, Dracula walked far away to the training ground while answering the phone, so he couldn't hear anything.

Just as he was still confused, he heard assistant coach Porter's roar. "Hero! What are you doing! We are still training, don't be in a daze!"

I have to say that this dungeon system was too realistic. Many times, Chen Yingxiong overlooked that his teammates and coaches were actually virtual.

After training for a while, Yesenin stood on the sidelines again, obviously he had finished his call.

Only after the training was over did he tell Chen Yingxiong what had happened.

"The club is going to talk to me about your new contract."

Chen Yingxiong grinned.

He liked to hear the news of a salary increase. 

In this world, how many people didn't like money? Chen Yingxiong liked it, he liked it very much, a lot, even!

He now had very little money left after paying for necessary expenses and sending money back home to help pay off debts. Prices in Russia were quite high.

Otherwise, why would he spend all day in the dungeon system? In addition to wanting to level up as quickly as possible, he couldn't even afford to go out and play because he was short of money - he couldn't let the team leader and the deputy team leader pay for him every time, right?

Chen Yingxiong wasn't such a stingy person.

"The decisive factor was the two goals you scored against CSKA Moscow. In addition to headers, you also showed your long-range shooting ability. I think you succeeded in impressing Advocaat, otherwise the club would not agree to reopen new contract negotiations with us. In fact, it's nothing. You are now well-known throughout Russia. I think even if Zenit doesn't want you, there will be many teams vying for you. In short, you don't have to worry about the money."

Chen Yingxiong smiled even more brightly.

"Also, I want to ask you, how many years do you plan to sign this time? Three years? Four years? Or five years?"

"It's crazy to sign for so long. The Russian league is a second-rate league anyway. I still want to go to the top league in Europe!" Chen Yingxiong said, clenching his fist. "Don't sign too long."

Yesenin nodded. "I understand, let's sign for two years."

The next day, Yesenin transformed himself into Dracula and went to the club to negotiate a contract.

Zenit agreed to Dracula's salary and bonus demands, but proposed a minimum contract of four years.

"Are you kidding? The contract expires in 2010. This is absolutely not possible!" Chen Yingxiong refused.

Dracula proposed to sign for two years, but the club disagreed.

"Two years? How is that possible? Is it necessary to sign a two-year contract? Hero is eighteen years old this year, not thirty-eight. How is it possible to sign a two-year contract?" Sasanija from the club was disbelieving of the conditions proposed by Dracula - he had never seen such a shameless agent who could actually say the words "two-year contract" for an 18-year-old.

The two sides were in a stalemate again.

What should I do about this?

Chen Yingxiong and Yesenin's response was simple, direct… and effective.

On November 8, Zenit challenged Torpedo Moscow away. Zenit won the game with a score of 4/2 Chen Yingxiong scored another goal in the game.

November 18th, the 28th round of the league. With three rounds left, Zenit ranked fourth, and Spartak Nalchik ranked fifth, which was very close. This was a must-win game. Because the points from fourth to ninth in the league were very close. If Zenit was not careful, it might fail at the last minute and lose the chance to enter Europe next season.

In this situation, Chen Yingxiong once again scored a goal to help the team win 2/0 Their opponent was Dynamo Moscow, a traditional giant in Russian football. Of course, Dynamo had now fallen to the 15th place in the league. It could be regarded as a fallen giant.

With two rounds left in the league, Chen Yingxiong scored his ninth goal of the season. Considering that he only started playing in the first team in late September, this scoring rate was really amazing.

The theme of every weekend in the St. Petersburg media was "Hero scored a goal!" "Gero scored again!" "Hero scored with a header!" "The hero shot the ball into the opponent's goal with a powerful long shot!"… and so on.

Chen Yingxiong's idea was very simple - if you don't sign with me, I will score goals, and keep scoring goals. Either you sign with me, or… I will go to another team! With so many goals, are you still worried about not being able to find a more lucrative contract?

The media in St. Petersburg had long been dominated by Chen Yingxiong. Almost every week, there were large reports about Chen Yingxiong, describing how he scored a goal in the game, how he scored, and his celebration after scoring. His arrogant and unruly character had become the best hype gimmick in the eyes of the media. The fans in St. Petersburg also liked this guy who could score goals crazily and show no mercy to the enemy. Russia was a country with serious racial discrimination, but in St. Petersburg, no one discriminated against this yellow-skinned Chinese.

When the Moscow media began to pay attention to Chen Yingxiong, the Saint Petersburg Zenit Club finally couldn't bear it anymore.

Because a Moscow media revealed that CSKA Moscow was very interested in Chen Yingxiong!

Now, in a sense of urgency, Zenit quickly met all the conditions proposed by Dracula.

Two-year contract! 40,000 euros per week! 4,000 euros appearance bonus! 4,000 euros goal bonus! 10,000 euros winning bonus!

In addition, Dracula also asked the club to give him a house in a high-end residential area in St. Petersburg, as well as a Land Rover DISCOVERY 3. When Chen Yingxiong saw these additional things, he was stunned.

"I can't drive…" he said.

"Learn." Yesenin's answer was concise and to the point.

When Chen Yingxiong signed his name on the contract, Sasanija smiled and held his hand, but his smile was unnatural.

"Congratulations, hero. Now you are Zenit's highest-paid player!"

Chen Yingxiong replied arrogantly. "Manager, I will make sure you get a good return of investment to show the shareholders!"

Sasanija forced a smile. "Ha, ha, ha…"

Advocaat patted Chen Yingxiong on the shoulder and then extended his hand to him. "Welcome Zenit St. Petersburg, Hero! This time, you're the focus!"

Chen Yingxiong shook the head coach's hand.

The 2006 season was almost over. He had joined in the middle of it, and went from being an unknown to becoming a little famous. In the 2007 season, he wanted to create his own era. He wanted everyone to remember his name, and never forget it!

You are only allowed to not like it, but you are not allowed to not know it!