68: All Eyes on the Prodigy! The Transfer Battle Begins

In today's Premier League—who wouldn't want to sign such a super talent?

That night, after returning to South London, Crystal Palace settled in.

After finishing his personalized training session, Kai returned to his room to complete his system tasks.

Following the victory against Tottenham, he had received a Tottenham Star Chest and one Divine Card!

In that match, after using the Divine Speed Card, his Speed stat, which had been just shy of a new threshold, maxed out completely!

Now, Kai's Speed reached 80—a level comparable to starting players in Europe's top five leagues.

And speed was absolutely essential in the fast-paced Premier League!

[Ding! Congratulations, host, for opening the Tottenham Star Chest!]

[You have obtained: Luka Modrić's "Outside Foot Pass" Module (Passive Skill)!]

Outside Foot Pass?

Kai checked the module's description.

It significantly boosted the stability and curve of outside foot passes.

From his memories of the previous life, he recalled—

Luka Modrić was one of the most exceptional midfielders of the 21st century.

Winning the Ballon d'Or as a midfielder—without being a "goal-scoring king" type—was extremely rare.

But Modrić did it.

His signature move? Exactly this—outside foot passes and shots.

Kai then looked at the Divine Card he had received from the match:

"Guaranteed Header Goal" Card!

Kai's eyes lit up—it was a brand new, magical Divine Card!

He quickly read through its effect:

"Within 30 yards of the goal, you get one 100% guaranteed header goal!"

Within 30 yards?!

That wasn't just the penalty box—that was almost the entire final third!

But headers?

He had barely trained headers.

After all, he was the most technically gifted player on the team—he was usually the one taking corners, not the one fighting for them.

Even during open play, he rarely found himself in the box for a header.

So how would he use this card?

For now, Kai wasn't sure.

But a Divine Card was always valuable.

In football, matches can change in a heartbeat—there would be a moment to use it.

Over the past few days—

With Kai leading a Championship side to defeat two Premier League giants back-to-back, news headlines and transfer rumors swept across South London like a storm!

"Spanish Club Offers €50 Million for Crystal Palace's Prodigy!"

That morning, a shocking headline sent London into a frenzy!

Newspapers sold out instantly.

A Spanish club?

Fans speculated wildly.

It couldn't be just any club—Atlético Madrid was unlikely.

That left only Real Madrid or Barcelona!

But when Holloway rushed to his office, he found no official offer from La Liga.

He quickly realized—

This was a smokescreen, a mind game from Spain to test how far Premier League giants were willing to raise the price!

Chelsea's Abramovich was the first to respond.

£60 million bid for Kai!

London went into full meltdown!

With three months left until the winter transfer window, the battle for the century's biggest prodigy had officially begun!

Chelsea fired the first shot!

Manchester United refused to be outdone.

After receiving a huge amount from Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid, United had cash in hand.

They made their move!

£70 million, plus a £10 million signing bonus!

Also: any luxury mansion or supercar in Manchester—Kai could take his pick!

The English football world went nuclear!

Crystal Palace's upper management was terrified!

They had never seen so much money in their lives!

It was enough to buy ten Crystal Palaces, maybe more!

Some directors wanted to sound out Kai's personal intentions—to see if he had a preferred destination.

But that idea was quickly shut down.

Kai was now the cornerstone of the club.

And Crystal Palace was in the middle of a championship campaign.

Asking such questions now would demotivate their star and harm the team's momentum.

The board had to rein in their excitement.

Kai had already brought them massive benefits.

Now, they had to act mature—

And quietly wait for their genius to make his own decision.

According to the latest Transfermarkt update—

Crystal Palace's young captain had soared in value over the past month.

Now, his worth had surpassed €60 million!

The whole of European football was shaken!

A not-even-17-year-old with a €60 million valuation—this was almost unheard of in football history!

Superstar status!

Only Real Madrid or Barcelona midfielders like Kaká, Iniesta, or Xavi had ever been in that price range.

The media went absolutely wild.

At just 16, Kai was now one of the most expensive midfielders in the world!

In Spain—panic set in.

Barcelona's top brass were in crisis mode.

Their decision to offload Kai for just €500,000 was now widely known across Europe.

Several Premier League clubs—trying to win Kai's favor—publicly criticized Barcelona's shortsightedness.

Real Madrid fans rubbed salt in the wound, while Mourinho even mocked Barca in press conferences:

"This was charity work—Barça helped a Championship side escape poverty."

The Barça board was furious.

Guardiola, speaking to the media multiple times, said:

"At 16, he's already worth as much as Iniesta or Xavi. Kai was the rarest gem in La Masia's history. If there's even the slightest chance, I'll convince the club to bring him back to Camp Nou."

Barça scrambled to reconnect with South London, hoping to negotiate a buyback.

But Crystal Palace wouldn't even pick up the phone.

Even though they now had money, they refused to repay the €500,000 transfer fee in full—choosing instead to stick to the original installment plan.

In fact, Barça still hadn't received the full amount!

Watching Kai's value skyrocket by more than 100x, while they held only a trickle of payment...

Barcelona's board was on the verge of a breakdown.

Amid the chaos—

Kai remained unaffected.

After the FA Cup Fifth Round win over Tottenham—

The next knockout round was still a month away.

For now, Crystal Palace had only one goal:

Dominate the league!

They had to close the gap between themselves and Queens Park Rangers.

Currently, Palace sat fourth, nine points behind QPR.

It was a race against time.

Players gave everything on the pitch, while fans prayed off it.

This title was no easy task—they needed QPR to slip up.

At the start of the season, QPR had pulled ahead quickly, giving them plenty of room for error in the second half of the campaign.

But then—

What the fans had prayed for happened!

In Round 29 of the league, QPR lost!

A shocking defeat to mid-table Watford!

Crystal Palace fans were overjoyed!

In the same round, Palace thrashed Bristol City away—3–0!

Kai delivered one goal and two assists.

Vaughan and substitute Zaha each scored a goal.

The result? The gap between Palace and QPR shrunk to just six points!

Fans were ecstatic.

Six points?!

Catching up to QPR didn't seem impossible anymore!

But over the next month—

Neither team lost a match.

The gap remained six points.

However—

Crystal Palace's ranking rose to third.

Then, the FA Cup Quarterfinals arrived.

And as the draw came out—

Crystal Palace fans felt the pressure all over again...

~~----------------------

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