November 16th, the 8th round of the Premier League kicked off, with Arsenal facing Sunderland at home.
Including the previous round against Tottenham, they had a total of four Premier League matches to play this month, along with a Champions League group stage match and an EFL Cup 1/8 knockout round.
"Remain undefeated."
This was the monthly goal Mr. Wenger told the players in the locker room before the game.
After overcoming the Tottenham hurdle, they only had one key battle left in October, against Chelsea at the end of the month. The remaining four matches were against less challenging opponents.
Emirates Stadium, 5 p.m. local time, the match officially began.
Maël didn't get a starting opportunity, but Mr. Wenger told him he would be substituted in after halftime.
Today, Mr. Wenger returned to the 4-3-3 formation, rotating one core player from each of the three lines, preparing to give the substitutes some opportunities.
Maël sat with Ramsey, chatting and watching the game.
Sunderland played quite proactively, creating some good threats with several counterattacks. This team was not weak at the time, consistently placing in the mid-table positions in recent seasons.
"Bang!"
Fortunately, in the 21st minute, Van Persie received a cross from Gervinho and scored a goal for Arsenal with a volley.
One to zero!
However, the lead didn't last long. Ten minutes later, Sunderland's midfielder Sebastian formed a One-on-One opportunity during a counterattack, dribbling past goalkeeper Szczęsny to score.
One to one!
After this goal, in the 44th minute, Van Persie dribbled into the penalty area and was brought down by defender Wayne Brown.
"Beep!" The referee awarded a penalty. Van Persie himself stood at the penalty spot and shot into the upper right corner, completing a brace.
After a few rounds of slump, he regained his form in this game, bringing his Premier League goal tally to eight! Two to one!
This was also the score at the end of the first half. Maël didn't go back during halftime but stayed on the field with Ramsey and Koscielny to warm up.
Attacking fullback André Santos quickly ran out, also preparing to play in the second half.
"Mr. Wenger is showing confidence," Koscielny explained, doing outer leg swings. "Last year, facing a mid-table team with a 2-1 lead, he would never have strengthened the attack."
"Not even at the beginning of the season, but now he dares to. He's afraid the score isn't secure, afraid the opponent will score a bizarre goal before the end of the match, turning 3 points into 1 point, wanting to finish them off in one go."
"I have to say," Maël smiled, "this is good news for attacking players."
Koscielny raised an eyebrow, not saying much. Their relationship in the team wasn't particularly close; they only chatted occasionally.
"Beep!" The second half then began. Maël, positioned on the left wing, found himself marked by two Sunderland players.
This marking wasn't the kind Walker had done to him at the start of the previous match, but a pure man-marking, not even caring about the ball.
He was initially a bit agitated; no one likes having two flies buzzing around them, especially flies they can't swat away.
But slowly, realizing there was no other way, he started using his brain to shake them off.
Various fake runs and sudden stops, leading them towards the center and then running back into open space, were all used extensively.
--"If you find yourself constantly marked by defenders, it means you are slowly heading towards becoming a superstar. Get used to it, accept it, and overcome it."
He had forgotten which top superstar had said this, but it was clearly very true.
He had been moving towards the top, never stopping.
In the 74th minute, André Santos's substitution paid off. After Maël drew the defenders towards the center, André Santos ran up from behind and received a through ball.
"Bang!"
The subsequent cross accurately found Van Persie's head, who headed the ball into the goal.
Three to one!
General Van Persie scored a Hat-trick!
"Be careful, I'm catching up from behind," Van Persie exclaimed while celebrating with Maël after the goal. This was his ninth goal.
Maël shook his head without speaking, waving his hand to indicate it wasn't enough.
Fourteen minutes later, Arteta's diagonal long pass went towards the space behind Maël's opponent.
"Deng deng deng!"
Maël started at high speed, catching up to the ball in the last step despite being five or six body lengths behind the opposing defender. He controlled the ball, simultaneously pushing it towards the edge of the penalty area.
"Bang!" The opponent's two defenders then collided with him, but failed to shake him in the slightest, and he smoothly arrived in front of the ball.
He hadn't yet adapted to the special treatment from the opponent in this match, but relying on his super personal ability, he could still create such opportunities in the face of marking!
This kind of ability must only be possessed by a few players, and that's why he has such dazzling stats.
"Boom!!!"
He then used his right foot to unleash a Cannon Shot, the football whistling past the face of a Sunderland player trying to block it, and smashing into the far corner of the net.
Long Shot into the net!
"Oh!"
Maël clenched his fists and came to the sideline, waving a few times before spreading his hands and stretching his arms behind him, making a gliding motion like a roc spreading its wings.
He was always trying new celebration moves, looking for the one that suited him best.
"11 goals." When Van Persie came over, his joy was mixed with regret, he lamented, "Looks like I'll have to chase for a while again."
"Try for back-to-back Hat-tricks." Maël joked as he high-fived him, "As long as you score another Hat-trick, you might catch up."
Four to one!
This was also the final score! Arsenal ultimately secured their 6th win of the season, and their points exceeded 20! "These types of teams won't pose a big threat to us, we'll try to make signings in the winter window to strengthen the defense."
Mr. Wenger left a meaningful sentence at the post-match press conference, he seemed truly ready to compete for the title.
November 20th, only 4 days after the last match, another Premier League game arrived.
They went to Stoke City's away game, against this tough team known as the 'Sky City'.
This was a team with a style closer to an EFL Championship team, but much stronger than an EFL Championship team, with a very simple and direct style of play, strong confrontation, and first-class aerial defense capabilities.
In this match, Van Persie, who had a Hat-trick in the previous round, was rotated for rest, and Chamakh stood in the center forward position.
Maël started, he had always been very good at playing against this type of team, not only because of his experience in the EFL Championship, but also because of his physical fitness.
Sky City is strong?
Could they be stronger than him? "Deng deng deng!"
In the 25th minute of the match, Maël broke through along the left side, breaking through Delap all the way, knocking over Mark Wilson, and sending in a ground Cross.
Unfortunately, Chamakh's legs went soft at the crucial moment, and he kicked the ball into the stands.
Thinking that he rarely played usually, Maël wasn't too discouraged, and ran back towards his own half.
In the 39th minute of the match, Ramsey found an opportunity to send a through ball, Gervinho rushed in from the right side, and aimed left and shot right, blasting the ball into the near corner.
One to zero!
"Nice!" Maël clenched his fist secretly, facing this kind of mid-to-lower-ranked team, as long as they took the lead first, it wouldn't be too difficult to play.
After the match restarted, he felt that the pressure was indeed much less.
Stoke City, who were behind, no longer parked the bus to defend, and no longer just used simple long passes to find their tall guy Crouch, but tried to organize effective attacks.
Their formation moved forward, and short passes became much more frequent.
This gave Arsenal more opportunities, and for a time Arteta and Alexandre Song were secretly eager to try, standing in the middle waiting for the opportunity to intercept and launch a counterattack.
"Pa!"
In the 66th minute of the second half, Alexandre Song intercepted the ball from the opponent's midfielder Delap, dribbled forward and passed the ball to Gervinho.
Gervinho Cut Inside towards the center, and after taking a few steps, he realized the opportunity wasn't good, and happened to see Maël asking for the ball from a distance.
Without any hesitation, he passed a ground ball to Maël, a horizontal transfer!
When the opponent's defensive players have already taken their positions, you must believe in those in the team who can solve the problem, it's not okay to just do it yourself.
Gervinho passed the ball and then moved forward into the flank, his favorite position.
He saw Maël stop the ball at his feet, seemingly unsure of what to do with it, wasting the best time for a pass or shot.
"Ah," he said, somewhat disappointed, as he ran back, unlike Maël, he had defensive duties.
Once this ball didn't create a threat, he would have to chase back and defend.
But at that moment, he suddenly saw Maël's supporting foot planted firmly, his right leg raised and swaying, circling the ball.
The Stoke City defenders lowered their center of gravity, staring at his feet, unsure of what he was going to do, and not daring to act rashly.
"Boom!!"
Suddenly, Maël's left foot took a small step to the side, adjusting to a better position, and then the outside of his right foot lashed out at the ball.
At the moment of the shot, his right ankle flicked violently, his whole body pressing forward, unleashing a powerful force from the spot.
The ball bypassed the Stoke City defender in front of him and swerved towards the left side of the goal.
Stoke City goalkeeper Begović initially didn't pay attention, thinking Maël was just messing around and he would soon be taking a goal kick.
By the time he saw the ball spinning violently, turning towards the near post, the best opportunity to save it was gone.
"Clang!"
"Swish!"
The ball grazed the post and flew into the net, exceeding everyone's expectations.
Did that go in?
What the hell?! "WowYeah!!" Every Arsenal away fan had a look of surprise on their face, they hadn't expected the ball to go in at all, they just instinctively stood up to celebrate after seeing the goal.
"How did he hit that?"
"Outside of the foot?!"
"It must be!"
"An ordinary person can't do that."
"Yeah, not much power, but did you see that arc? The goalkeeper definitely didn't expect it!"
"Goals in consecutive games!!"
Everyone dared to swear that they had never had any expectations for this ball, and they were still in a daze even after it went in.
"Boooom!"
But that didn't stop Maël from excitedly shouting out loud on the field, running to the sideline and sliding across the grass of the Britannia Stadium.
First goal with the outside of the foot!
12th Premier League goal! Steadily moving forward!
"Oh, brother!" Gervinho, wearing goggles today, revealed his two rows of white teeth, smiling honestly and naively.
He also raised his hands slightly, expressing his surprise: "I really don't know how I assisted, I was ready to go back and defend."
He was really lucky today, first breaking into the penalty area to score a goal, and then providing an assist.
"Get ready to take the Man of the Match award."
Maël hugged him and comforted this semi-main player, "Go run some more."
"Hehe, okay." Gervinho still nodded with a silly smile, feeling much better after running back to his position.
Seventeen minutes later, Maël successfully dodged and completed an off-ball run under the close marking of the opposing players, shaking off the Stoke City defenders.
"Ah!" Stoke City defender Mark Wilson turned around and wanted to grab his arm, but Maël was taking the Adama Traoré route, how could he not know to put some oil on his body before the game? He had bought all kinds of lubricants before, but didn't apply them because he didn't think he needed them.
But slowly he often encountered weak teams in the Premier League, and the opponent's various entanglements really annoyed him.
During halftime today, he specially took out the lubricant and applied it to his arms and neck.
"Chih!" As a smooth touch came, Mark Wilson instantly lost his grip, and almost fell to the ground because of too much force.
He looked at Maël in disbelief, not expecting the other party to play such a trick.
He hadn't had such a clear tactile sensation before, and he always thought it was just too much sweat.
Now he sees, it's oil! "Bang!"
Maël then, from a slightly deeper position on the wing, bombed the far post of the goal at a 45-degree angle.
Stoke City's aerial defense is very good, but football isn't a sport where the ball drops vertically from the sky to be contested. As long as the cross is accurate, with a large arc and a downward trajectory, it's possible to hit the target.
After the football left Maël's feet, it drew a beautiful banana shape in the air, with just the right height and speed.
Stoke City's two center-backs are both strong and tall, but looking at the incoming ball, they really couldn't do anything. After a simple judgment of the landing point, they knew they couldn't head it away.
When they looked back, they found the football falling at the far post, heading towards Gervinho's zone.
"Bang!!"
Gervinho headed the ball into the net, and the football passed through the goalkeeper's fingers without any suspense.
Stoke City's two center-backs spread their hands helplessly, standing in place. Was this the helplessness of light cavalry encountering archery masters?
What could they say about this ball? That Gervinho wore sports glasses and used them to generate more force when heading the ball?
"Yeah!"
The away fans erupted in cheers. Gervinho ran towards Maël, and after a few steps of building momentum, they jumped up and celebrated with a chest bump.
Three to zero! Securing the victory!
"Click, click!" Media personnel on the sidelines photographed their chest bump, using it as the cover image for the post-match report.
"This is my first Man of the Match award in my Premier League career. Thank you everyone, and thank you Maël for the goal and assist he gave me. He drew more defenders, creating space for me." – Gervinho said at the post-match press conference.
"Arsenal surpasses Manchester United in goal difference, officially taking the top spot in the league! The battle for the top is fierce, with three teams closely biting each other, and no one has fallen behind!" – London Evening Standard
"1st: Arsenal 23 points, 2nd: Manchester United 23 points, 3rd: Manchester City 23 points, 4th: Chelsea 20 points." – Premier League standings, October 22nd. The day before the third round of the Champions League group stage, Maël took some time to visit a small to medium-sized newspaper called Football Record.
He had previously promised a young red-haired female reporter that he would accept her exclusive interview.
Even though she had left Sky Sports and joined a small to medium-sized newspaper, he had promised and would keep his word.
Moreover, with his current popularity in the entire British football scene, as long as the exclusive interview was published, no matter who published it, it would quickly become the headline news the next day.
He could use this opportunity to let people know more about him, reap a wave of popularity and gain more fans, and also sort out his current thoughts.
People sometimes don't necessarily understand themselves. Maël had known this for a long time. Sometimes, he also needed to slow down and ask himself some questions.
"Emilia."
The red-haired reporter showed her memorable steel-braced teeth and extended her small hand towards Maël. "In Latin, this name means 'hardworking person'."
"Are you hardworking?" Maël looked at her with a smile, slightly disbelieving, otherwise why would she leave Sky Sports.
"I don't know."
Emilia shook her head and laughed, "But I should be very lucky to have received a promise from a star, and that star has fulfilled that promise.
"Moreover, that star has never accepted an exclusive interview with other media outlets, so it's a debut. Haven't you received exclusive interview invitations before?"
"I have." Maël followed her into a high-rise administration building and replied, "But I pushed them all back. When you asked me that day, I might have been in a better mood, so I agreed directly.
"And you cleverly used the method of setting a goal to attract me. I'm also looking forward to the day I score 10 goals."
"Mhm." Emilia had a very outgoing personality, raising her eyebrows and saying, "Then why did you only contact you when you scored 12 goals?"
"I'm usually too busy and too tired." Maël explained, following Emilia into a room.
Inside the room was a green screen, a high stool in the middle, and various lights and cameras all around. Many people were already preparing.
"Maël."
"Hello."
"It's an honor for you to come here."
When they saw Maël enter, they quickly got up from their seats, came to Maël's side, extended their hands, and lowered their heads, their attitude very respectful.
Maël shook hands with them one by one, and Emilia followed him, introducing him: "This is the owner of the newspaper, this is the editor-in-chief, this is the integrated media editor..."
Later, Maël discovered that everyone in the company had come, a total of more than ten people, like a team-building exercise.
Don't mention it, being interviewed by a small newspaper also has its advantages; you can experience the feeling of being the center of attention.
"Wait."
He suddenly paused, turning his head to ask, "Does your newspaper have a valuation?"
Since he was going to have his first exclusive interview here and double the newspaper's value in the short term, why not try to acquire it beforehand? It wasn't that Maël had any impulse to play around or make a quick buck; he knew his focus for the next few years would definitely be football.
But for an athlete aiming for the top, slowly setting up some streaming media and a football-focused newspaper to gain some influence in public opinion, what's wrong with that? He could take this opportunity to give the newspaper some fame, and then, through the convenience of his own identity, slowly develop the newspaper—not as an inside agent.
Then, when he needed the newspaper to speak for him, he could use it at any time.
Not to mention, it could very likely earn him a lot of money.
"Huh?"
The newspaper owner, Peter, was stunned for a moment, his eyes lighting up. He paused the filming and invited Maël to a room to talk privately.
"This is my father's newspaper; he founded it in 1964 and handed it over to me in 1999."
Peter proactively poured Maël a cup of tea, introducing, "Unfortunately, I haven't done a great job. With the rise of streaming media, we gradually lost our space to survive, and we haven't been able to transform successfully.
"Fortunately, when Emilia came over from Sky Sports, she brought the opportunity for your exclusive interview. This is an opportunity we value greatly. Thank you in advance.
"Do you know how newspapers operate? The traditional methods are rare now; most newspapers have already transformed."
Maël shook his head, looking earnestly at Peter, listening to his introduction.
"Advertising and paid column subscriptions... these are our two main ways of making money. Of course, there are also endorsements, but that's too far off for us."
Peter took a sip of tea, getting to the point, "The bulk of it is advertising. We can earn about £400,000 a year from that, and the remaining £150,000 comes from subscriptions."
"Just breaking even?" Maël guessed, noticing Peter's company had over a dozen employees.
"Almost." Peter shook his head with a wry smile, thinking for a long time before saying, "If we calculate based on the turnover standard, I think the newspaper's valuation is around £2 million. We still have some foundation.
"Mr. Maël, do you have any investment ideas? I must be frank; the newspaper has been looking for investors.
"If our investor were a top football player... oh, I wouldn't dare to dream of that."
"Haha..." Maël smiled slightly; he wasn't used to being called 'Mr.' and felt a little awkward. "If you accept investment or acquisition, how much equity are you willing to give up?"
"Uh..." Peter was a little embarrassed. He cautiously asked, "If that's the valuation, how much is Mr. Maël willing to invest?"
"We can discuss the valuation later." Maël certainly wouldn't agree directly based on what he said. He thought for a moment and said, "I'm willing to invest 70-80%, depending on whether you're willing."
Too little wouldn't be worth it and would offer no control; if he invested everything, turning Peter into an employee, no one would worry about doing the work.
For him, 70-80% was the most reasonable range and worth trying.
"That much?"
Even though Peter was somewhat prepared, he was still startled when Maël said that number.
To casually say that number meant he could definitely take out more than a million pounds. How much money did he have in his pocket?
But he was only 18! Peter internally wailed in pain. As a businessman, that was the first thing he thought of.
Maël looked at his expression, not too surprised; he had seen many similar expressions before.
"I'll consider it for a while." Peter swallowed, taking his teacup and leaving the room, apparently to discuss it with the core members. "Mr. Maël, please wait a moment."
"Sure."
Maël sat in his seat, smiling, "Looks like the interview will have to be postponed."
He was confident that as long as the other party considered it, it meant he was definitely tempted; the remaining issue was the price.
"If the acquisition is successful, Football Record and ins might be a good match."
His mind sparked with inspiration, and he already had a rough development plan. "If we add me, forming a strategic triangle, all three parties will benefit, and I'll have a share of all the benefits."
Acquire this newspaper, make it popular from ins, first occupy this blank market, and develop with the development of ins.
Then, use his fame and ins's traffic to support it. When it has a certain influence, use it to give back to ins and himself.
Closed loop!
Whether it was advertising revenue or column revenue, it would be a very important source of extra income for him in the future.
Peter quickly returned, his face unreadable. "We discu-"
"Mr. Peter."
Maël didn't give him a chance for preamble or small talk, pointing at his watch and saying, "The match is tomorrow, and I have to leave this afternoon. I don't have much time.
"So, yes or no? Give me a straight answer. We can discuss the other details later."
Peter placed the teacup on the table and sat down, no longer being coy. "We are willing to relinquish 78% of the shares. If you are willing to acquire them, you will become the largest shareholder and the actual controller of this newspaper.
"But we will not accept a valuation lower than £1.8 million. I hope Mr. Maël can accept that."
"I like people who are straightforward." Maël stood up, smiling as he shook hands with him, of course without promising anything. "We'll talk about the rest later. I'll come over when the schedule is a bit lighter this month."
In his view, those 78% of the shares were as good as in his hands! In the future, he'd find a professional company to value them, discuss the price with them again, and finally prepare the money to sign the contract.
Walking out of the office door, Maël hadn't expected that he would accidentally acquire a newspaper while coming for an interview.
He saw Emilia looking at him with a surprised expression, seemingly aware of what had just happened.
What's this? My superstar boss?
Maël smiled faintly, waving goodbye to the people at the newspaper, as if he had already completed the acquisition. "Bye-bye, the interview will have to wait until next time. I have something else to take care of first."
He drove his beloved Ferrari back home, rested for two or three hours, packed his things, and prepared to leave for the away game.
Tomorrow's match is away against Ligue 1 champion Marseille, so he can't be careless.
He needs to show himself well in front of Deschamps, the future coach of the French National Football Team.
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