Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 432: A Bet

At the Continassa, the training leading up to the match in the coming days was supposed to be ongoing, but currently no balls were being kicked around and no one was running through any cones, rather all the players were currently gathered at one corner of the field.

The whole senior squad of the team barring the few who were injured and indisposed were currently standing around in front of the manager who was currently introducing the latest addition to the squad to the squad members.

“I’m sure you all follow the news and you know about this latest addition of our team… for the next six months at least,”

“I don’t have to say his name I’m sure and I’m also sure that he’ll show why he would be a valuable addition to the team in then coming days,” Pirlo said and the crowd of players took the initiative to applaud Jason.

“Welcome to Uventus,” he said, turning to Jason and saying with a smile.

“Okay, that’s it for now. Off with all of you, we have an important match coming up, one that we have to win, so train like you plan to win,” Pirlo turned back to the crowd of players and began shooing them off.

“Ah, right, Christiano, come over here for a bit,” Pirlo called out to the star man of the Uventus squad just as the crowd began dispersing and this little action immediately set off a wave of excited jeers among the crowd.

Some of the players even began looking at Jason with a little pity.

“See, I told you that kid might try something crazy,” Mckennie whispered to Cuadrado, glancing back at Jason as they walked away.

“I’ll pray for the exhausted soul of that brother,” Cuadrado snickered in a saintly voice.

“I’ll join the prayer, that kid will need it,” Dybala’s voice came from the side and they all burst out laughing as they walked away.

At Pirlo’s side, Christiano walked over to the manager, glancing at Jason who nodded at him in greeting.

Flashing an eased smile at Jason, he spoke to Pirlo,

“What do you need me for coach?” he asked Pirlo and Jason could literally hear the confidence oozing from his voice despite his tone seemingly respectful to the ears.

“Well, er, this kid chose you to be his training partner, so according to the rules, you’ll have to take him in and show him the ropes, he’ll also be joining you in all your training sessions from now on,” Pirlo told Christiano about the arrangement.

“I hope to learn a lot from you,” Jason added in Portuguese, speaking directly to Ronaldo who nodded in acknowledgement.

“Oh, ok, sure,” Christiano didn’t seem to be put off by the arrangement though he had never had to do it before.

“You’re a winger, yes?” Ronaldo asked Jason suddenly, turning to him.

“Uh, yeah,” Jason asked, a bit stunned at being questioned directly by his football idol. Everything seemed to be happening too fast.

“So how do you play?” Ronaldo asked another question that did more than stun Jason as it meant that Ronaldo had not watched Jason enough to take a note of how he played.

“I-… uh, I play as the situation demands it,” Jason answered, smiling wryly as the realization set in that until this point, he had been nothing more than a name on a paper to Ronaldo who couldn’t care less to analyze him, especially considering the fact that they would have ended up facing off against each other in the Champions League Round of 16 if Jason had remained at Oporto.

“Coach, can we do a quick scrimmage so that we can see how the kid plays. That way I know where to guide him,” Ronaldo said to Pirlo who didn’t hesitate to nod his head.

He also wanted to see more of Jason from up close as all he had gotten to see of Jason until now were highlight reels and a few more clips sent over by the scouts.

“You wouldn’t mind that right?” Pirlo asked Jason, and Jason gave an affirmative answer as he liked that he had quickly been given a chance to show off his skills.

Hopefully, he could do enough to impress his teammates which would allow him to settle into the team much faster than he expected.

“Alright then, let’s get to it,” Pirlo nodded, rubbing his hands in a bit of anticipation before he went ahead to pull out a whistle and blew loudly, signaling for the players to gather round once again.

The players had no choice but to come back and they were quickly informed of the next training session’s plans and preparations soon began to be made.

While the training staff began to take all the training equipment off the field in preparatio for the scrimmage, Pirlo busied himself with setting the team line-up for the scrimmage and before long, he came up with a tactical set-up for the two teams that would be taking the field.

The first team would comprise of Szescny as their goal keeper, Chiellini and Bonucci as center backs, and Alex Sandro and Danilo in the left back and right back positions respectively.

On the right side of midfield was Kulusevski and on the left was Mckennie while Arthur and Rabiot guarded the center of the park as the two center midfielders.

Morata and Chiesa would be the forwards for the first team in the training match.

For the second team, Buffon would be standing between the sticks while they would have De Ligt, Demiral, Rugani, and Cuadrado holding the backline.

In the center of the park was Bentarcur and Ramsey while Bernadeschi was on the wide right with Jason taking the wide left.

Up front would be Ronaldo and Correira.

Uventus was very similar to Oporto in that they used the same 4-4-2 holding formation most of the time which meant that Jason wouldn’t have to spend too much time to adjusting to the formation.

All he’d have to get used to was the different pace and different movements and capabilities of his new teammates.

Pirlo made sure that Jason understood that it was a mere training exercise and that Jason could display his skills without any pressure, but Jason could not take the manager’s words to heart.

With the field already prepared for the match, the players soon took to the field and Jason was standing nearby Ronaldo as they waited for kick-off.

Considering that Ronaldo would be the danger man that he would be trying to get the ball to, Jason felt like he had to at least explain his style of play a bit to the danger man of the team.

“Since I’m playing from the left, it’ll be easier for me to cut in since my right is my stronger foot, so…” Jason began explaining, but,

“Oh don’t worry, I’ve seen you play so I know all that,” Ronaldo cut in, his words surprising Jason as he could have sworn that was not what Ronaldo said earlier.

“But earlier?” Jason started.

“I was just joking and wanted to play with you on the same team first, regular training was getting a bit boring today. Also, I have something I want to try in a match,” Ronaldo laughed cheekily, leaving Jason open-mouthed at the situation.