Starting With Real Madrid

The facilities at San Paolo Stadium are still too outdated.

Whether viewed from the inside or outside, it's the same.

The stadium was converted from a multipurpose sports ground. There's a track and field space between the pitch and the stands, and there are semicircular areas behind the goals at both ends. This means the distance between the pitch and the stands is too far, which seriously affects the home atmosphere.

Thanks to the double-decker stands, which can accommodate more than 50,000 people, and the famously passionate Naples fans, the atmosphere is still quite good. But it could be much better. If it were transformed into a dedicated football stadium, the home atmosphere would be even more intimidating.

There's practically nothing in terms of stadium facilities.

You can see this very clearly from the outside.

The two-tier stands are a reinforced concrete structure, bowl-shaped, with no additional covering completely exposed. A layer of steel structure supports the ceiling above the stands, making the stadium look quite rugged from the outside.

To put it nicely, this is called exposed wildness.

Gao Shen had long heard that the home facilities of Serie A teams were very outdated because they don't even own their stadiums.

Now that he has experienced it himself, it is indeed shabby to the point of having nothing to ask for.

With such an income level, Serie A is far behind teams in other leagues.

De Laurentiis also has no good solution for this.

The stadium is a municipal facility. It can't be moved, and it can't be modified. Despite clear fan demand in this area, there's nothing to be done. The city government even uses it from time to time to host various events and sports games.

In Italy, the government expressly prohibits teams from privately building football stadiums, which effectively cuts off a major revenue source.

Over 50,000 seats in one of Italy's most popular football markets can't generate much revenue. It's truly a great pity.

"Actually, it's not completely impossible," Gao Shen said with a smile.

De Laurentiis and Marino were a little surprised.

"Is there a way?" De Laurentiis couldn't believe it.

"It's actually very simple. Isn't private construction not allowed?"

Seeing De Laurentiis and Marino nodding, Gao Shen continued: "Then rent it, lease it for a long time 99 years, for example. Isn't that almost like owning it? You can remodel it however you want. Wouldn't that solve the problem?"

De Laurentiis shook his head. "It's unrealistic. The government won't lease the San Paolo Stadium for that long, and they use the stadium frequently for various events and sports games. They wouldn't agree to major renovations."

"Then find a different one. Find one that's completely run-down, dilapidated, and abandoned. That way, the rent would be cheap, and you could justifiably renovate it. There'd be a good reason, because without renovations, it wouldn't be usable."

De Laurentiis' eyes suddenly lit up.

This old guy was shrewd and not to be underestimated. Once Gao Shen pointed it out, he immediately grasped the key idea.

"That's brilliant. This way, we could justifiably build a new stadium. The cost might be over 100 million euros, but after that investment, the matchday revenue would significantly increase. It'd absolutely be worth it!"

De Laurentiis' excitement flared up.

It's a very good idea, similar to what Juventus has been doing in recent years.

De Laurentiis patted Gao Shen on the shoulder and could barely hold back from picking him up and giving him a kiss.

This young man was really talented, giving him such a good idea right away.

Ah, it's good to be young with flexible thinking and so many clever ideas!

But soon, De Laurentiis started to mutter to himself: "This kid is quite the schemer. Did he pull any tricks during the negotiations with me?"

After thinking for a while, he finally felt reassured that nothing seemed to be out of place.

That brought him some comfort.

---

Napoli's home stadium is in the Bay Area of the city, but its training base is located 35 kilometres northwest of the city, in a small town called Fort Volturno, which has a total population of just over 20,000.

The distance isn't far, but since the stadium and the training base are both near the highway, travel is convenient.

However, what surprised Gao Shen was that the Fort Volturno training centre was actually in a golf club near the sea.

Three long, narrow football fields are connected from north to south, followed by a training building and player dormitories.

Only Napoli's first team trains here. The club's youth training camp isn't very complete, and this is not under Gao Shen's management.

When Marino brought Gao Shen to the training base, Carlo, Buenaventura, Lucas, Lopis, and Borrell were already there. They had already examined the entire training base.

Rodolfo Borrell took only three days to call Gao Shen and agree to join his coaching staff.

Today, they all arrived in Naples at the same time, heading straight to the San Paolo Stadium to sign their contracts, while the five of them went directly to the Fort Volturno training base to inspect the various hardware and software facilities here.

In the low-rise training building, they held their first meeting of the Napoli coaching staff, with technical director Marino sitting in.

The main content of the meeting was for everyone to offer their opinions according to their own roles and suggest what equipment needed to be modified and what needed to be introduced. All decisions were made.

Marino would be responsible for overseeing this work.

At this time, the advantages of having a complete coaching staff were evident.

Napoli, as a team established only two years ago, naturally has incomplete training facilities, and the layout isn't scientific or reasonable. Additionally, previous head coaches Ventura and Reja were both older coaches, so their requirements in this area weren't high. Some newer technologies were also unfamiliar to them, leading to outdated software and hardware in Napoli.

However, the new coaching staff all came from top clubs.

To put it bluntly, wealthy clubs represent the most advanced productivity in today's football world.

For example, Buenaventura proposed a testing device that had been used at Real Madrid for two years. It is very useful for conducting physical assessments of players, but Napoli hadn't seen it at all. The key is that it's also cheap.

Borrell suggested using the open space next to the three training fields to convert it into a small field. He wanted players to engage in small-sided games there to maximize training on players' touches and their coordination.

In fact, all the proposed investments were relatively small, but the key was how they worked together.

Marino is from Udinese and is known for his youth training in Serie A, but he was truly amazed by the new coaching staff's approach.

Serie A had been basking in the glory of the "Little World Cup" for so long that it began to lag behind the times in every aspect.

AC Milan is relatively better, with their renowned Milan Lab. However, it is reported that even Milan's upper management has quite a few complaints about the lab, which requires heavy annual investment.

But after participating in the meeting between Gao Shen and his coaching staff, Marino realized how outdated Napoli really was.

He didn't care how much the whole renovation cost; even if it was over a million euros, he believed it was worth it.

Players are the primary assets of a football club!

---

"Pierpaolo, these renovations and equipment introductions must be done quickly."

After the meeting, Gao Shen escorted Marino out of the office and repeatedly emphasized this point.

"Don't worry; everything will be ready before the summer training camp starts," Marino assured.

De Laurentiis had promised to give him the position of general manager, and he was now working very hard, even harder.

"In addition, none of us have found a good house yet. I heard from you before that you live in the Bay Area?" Gao Shen asked.

"Yes, the security in the Bay Area is good, the scenery is nice, and there are plenty of houses. If you need one, I can ask someone to help you find a place."

"Thank you, sorry for the trouble." Gao Shen nodded in gratitude.

"I originally planned to bring in a few players from Real Madrid, like Callejon, Parejo, Juan Mata..."

After saying that, Gao Shen shook his head and smiled bitterly, "It's all my fault. Last season, I gave them a chance to perform. Now, many teams have their eyes on them, and Real Madrid is paying attention to them too. It won't be easy to poach them."

For instance, Callejon this winger has strong immediate impact, speed, deep knowledge, and understanding, and he works well with the team, but unfortunately, Real Madrid values him too highly. Callejon's price tag is 5 million euros.

If you want to loan him, it's not easy either. If he performs well, Real Madrid could just take him back, and you'll have to find someone else again.

"It's not surprising; these are all talented players and leaders from the Spanish youth academy," Marino wondered if Gao Shen was being too humble and understated.

You have to know that any of these players, released at will, would be hot commodities for major teams practically treasures.

It's just that Real Madrid doesn't seem to value them enough.

"Let's look around outside first, and if there's someone suitable, we'll buy them. If not, I'll go to Real Madrid to see if I can get a loan," Gao Shen said.

As long as Gao Shen asked, Real Madrid generally wouldn't refuse.

Besides, it would be like nurturing talent for Real Madrid, and they might even be happier about it.

Everyone knows that Real Madrid is on a downward slope and is now focused on developing young talent.

"Also, get in touch with Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia and ask about the price for midfielder Luka Modrić. Let's see if we can afford him," Gao Shen said, though a bit reluctantly.

Having a player like Modrić in the midfield would be incredibly valuable. He offers both offensive and defensive capabilities he can pass, control, and shoot. The key is that he can dribble past opponents and drive the ball forward through the middle, which is becoming increasingly crucial as defenses become more organized and disciplined.

Just like Kaka, Modrić's ability to carry the ball through the center is a game-changer and a vital tool for breaking down defensive formations.

Although Gao Shen's tactics emphasize wing play, having someone like Modrić in the center would significantly elevate the team's overall strength.

However, Gao Shen knew that Modrić was already a Croatian international and was playing in the World Cup. Dinamo Zagreb, a regular participant in the Champions League, likely wouldn't part with him easily. Moreover, the cost would be prohibitive spending over 10 million euros to bring Modrić to a Serie B team just didn't seem worth it.

So, Gao Shen was inclined to look elsewhere.

Fortunately, he already had a couple of alternative candidates in mind for the double pivot in midfield. This time, he was determined to go out and secure those players himself, no matter what it took.