What kind of football player is handsome?

Chapter 14 presents another goal: to be promoted to the first-tier team?!

[Template upgrade mission unlocked!]

[Mission Objective: Promote to the first team!]

[Task Reward: One basic template quality upgrade!]

Promotion to the first team?

Back then, Chen Daozai won 37 million with just 20 dollars.

I, Liu, will be promoted to the first team in three months, no problem!

After all, Morrison is able to train with the first team.

But then again, how does one get promoted to the first team?

Neither of the two younger brothers, Lingard or Pogba, has any experience in this area.

Liu Yi decided to ask Brian, the youth training coach, first.

The next day.

Carrington Training Base, Youth Coaches' Office.

"Oh, Liu, what brings you here so early today?"

Brian's expression was kind, full of appreciation and approval.

Liu Yi's dark curly hair looked better and better the more you looked at it.

"Um, Mr. McClair, I'd like to ask how one can be promoted to the first team."

Brian's smile froze.

He just lost one of his key lieutenants.

Although he disliked Morrison's misbehavior, he had to admit Morrison's outstanding ability. Morrison played a crucial role in winning the FA Youth Cup last year.

Liu Yi has now perfectly filled the attacking void left by Morrison's promotion to the first team.

Seeing that Qingchao's situation was very good, they absolutely could not let Liu Yi go.

"Well, actually, you've just been promoted to U18. Right now, you need to build a solid foundation, take it easy, and gradually adapt to the rhythm before talking about this."

The reasoning was far-fetched, and Liu Yi easily refuted this viewpoint.

"But Mr. Brian, I scored 10 goals in 4 youth league games. I don't think it's me adapting to the youth team's rhythm, but rather the youth team needing to adapt to my rhythm."

"Times have changed, Boss."

Brian scratched his head and decided to try a different strategy.

"The competition in the first team is very fierce now. Even if you are promoted, you may not get playing time. It is better to stay in the youth team, where you will have enough games to ensure your growth."

Brian couldn't kneel and kowtow like Magic Johnson begged Jordan to return—"Please, Liu, please, don't go."

They had no choice but to adopt the typical Chinese parental attitude of "I'm doing this for your own good."

However, Liu Yi turned the tables on him.

"Thank you, Mr. Brian, but I'll be 18 in November, and even if I wanted to stay in U18, I couldn't!"

Blind student, you've discovered the key point.

They've forgotten about the hard threshold of age.

It's so frustrating to argue with smart people about logic!

The old man was completely at a loss.

"Sir Alex Ferguson regularly observes the training of the youth team players. If you can maintain this excellent performance, he will definitely promote you to the first team."

Brian is quite confident about Liu Yi's promotion to the first team.

John Coffey and Will Keane are barely enough; as long as Lingard and Pogba aren't touched, the core of the team won't be harmed.

However, Brian secretly decided that he must establish a sufficient advantage in the Youth Super League before Liu Yi is promoted to the first team.

※※※

The evening of the first day of October.

Lingard invited Liu Yi and Pogba to visit his maternal grandfather.

Parents divorced when the child was young, and being raised by the mother with great difficulty seems to be a standard feature of superstars.

"My grandfather knew nothing about football, but he was very supportive of my football dream."

Flipping through the photo album, Lingard showed pictures of himself as a child.

He looks exactly the same as he does now.

"What a coincidence! I was also raised by my mom. I have two older brothers who look a lot like me. Can you tell which one is me?!"

Pogba opened his phone and pulled up a blurry photo.

The three "Pogba"s in the photo look exactly alike.

They are "Borg VI" and "Borg VII" respectively.

I took a quick look, and they really do look alike!

To what extent are they similar?

It's to the point that he could convincingly say, "Sister-in-law, it's me; I'm my brother."

"Liu, what about you?"

Liu Yi's memories gradually came together.

The original host's growth trajectory can also be considered a "superstar standard" - his parents were divorced, and his mother, who was a table tennis player, supported Liu Yi and their life was relatively comfortable. Later, she went abroad with Liu Yi to pursue his football dream. After staying in Manchester, she found a club there and became a table tennis coach. Although her quality of life was not as good as before, it was still good that she could continue to work in the industry she loved.

The three brothers stared at each other, wide-eyed.

Holy crap, so the three brothers combined can't even have a father?

Their relationship has become much closer.

"It's alright. There's an old Chinese saying: 'The eldest brother is like a father.' I'll call you brothers, and you two can call me dad. We three will address each other as our own!"

The conversation veers from family to games and female celebrities, but inevitably, it eventually returns to football.

"What are your plans for the future?"

Pogba brought up his future career plans, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

"Of course I want to be promoted to the first team! I'm almost 18, and I'm still a bit short of the first team standard, but I can stay in the reserve team and be loaned out to gain experience. There will always be openings in the first team, I can wait!"

As a Manchester United fan, Lingard naturally wants to wear the red jersey and conquer the world.

"Me too, but I'll consider salary more. After all... it wasn't easy for my mom to raise the three of us brothers. When I have money in the future, I'll try to help my two older brothers out."

Pogba has not expressed a strong desire to stay at Manchester United.

Every time this happens, the fat man's "devilish whispers" always echo in my ears.

"You should think more about yourself. A player's career is short-lived; don't let loyalty ruin your life!"

Lingard was eager to hear Liu Yi's thoughts.

"Liu, what about you?"

Liu Yi didn't answer, but thought for a moment and then asked Lingard a question in return: "Getting promoted to the first team is just the first hurdle to overcome. What happens after that? What if you can't get a starting position for the time being, and you don't want to be on the bench?"

Because the tasks issued by the system are almost all closely related to the competition, if you can't play the competition, you can't complete the tasks, and you can't get stronger badges to improve yourself, thus falling into a vicious cycle.

The most important thing is to ensure playing opportunities.

"You can apply for a loan move. Manchester United has quite a few sister clubs, spread across the Premier League, Championship, League One, and major European leagues. Those clubs are very willing to take on Manchester United players, after all... it's a way to broaden their brand awareness!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yi took a cookie made by Lingard's grandmother from his plate and nodded: "I haven't thought that much about it. Let's get promoted to the first team first. It would be best if we could make it into the rotation. If we can't... being loaned out to gain experience is also an option."

※※※

The goal was achieved much faster than expected.

In October, Manchester United's youth team only has two official youth league matches and one youth FA Cup match.

Liu Yi scored 5 goals and provided 1 assist in two Chinese Youth Super League matches.

In the FA Youth Cup match against Millwall U18, a team only at the English Second Division level, Liu Yi scored four goals in 45 minutes, turning the second half into "garbage time".

Rumors of Liu Yi's miracles began to circulate in the locker rooms of various youth teams—he would often be taking a stroll when he would suddenly start moving without warning, and then the ball would be lying in the net.

As rumors spread and the saying "three men can make a tiger" became increasingly exaggerated, it eventually reached the ears of opponents who had never played against Manchester United U18, becoming: "Don't let him touch the ball, if you let him touch the ball, he'll score!"

What? Even Voldemort's Avada Kedavra wasn't this powerful!

However, his record speaks for itself: in 8 matches across the Youth Super League and the Youth Football Association Cup, Liu Yi scored 22 goals.

Even in a youth team where geniuses are as numerous as fish in a river, this statistic is definitely among the top-tier prodigies.

Soon, news came from the first team.

Ferguson is about to begin the selection process – the second batch of players to train with the first team this season!