Chapter 1: The Crown Prince of Manchester United, the Prodigy from China
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“Produced by Manchester United’s Youth Academy! Tonight, the 18-year-old prodigy from Huaguo may make his Premier League debut: skill, potential, and challenge.”
“Long-awaited—after years, the top five leagues will once again feature a Huaguo player!”
“The Red Devils’ Crown Prince: a supernova midfielder combining the talents of Pirlo and Xavi.”
“The pride of Huaguo football.”
“Ten goals and twenty-four assists in a single youth season; two assists and one goal in the Youth Champions League final—the Theatre of Dreams is about to unveil the beginning of a legend.”
One headline after another ignited the internet in Huaguo.
Major media outlets rushed to report, hoping that tonight’s Premier League debut of the Huaguo youngster would ease the pain left by ‘National Team’s 1–5 loss to Thailand’ for the fans.
As night fell and city lights glimmered, people dragged their weary bodies home, excitedly turned on their televisions, and waited with anticipation for the 2014/15 Premier League opener: Manchester United vs Swansea.
Two hours remained until kickoff.
Occasionally, the TV screen displayed highlight reels of Li Luo’s matches, stirring the hearts of countless Huaguo fans.
In every street and alley, heated discussions broke out.
“Instep cut, 360-degree turn, evading a flying tackle?”
“Outside-of-foot cut, half turn, escaping pressure?”
“The V-shaped pull-back.”
“Reverse breakthrough with a drag-back.”
“Step-over and nutmeg!”
“Every time he breaks free from pressure, Li Luo always finds the perfect passing route or direction for a breakthrough.”
“His moves are unadorned and incredibly simple, yet when he executes them… why does it look like he’s dancing? Genius!”
“Incredible, like a dancer from heaven!”
“Wow! It’s legendary!”
“This is great! Huaguo football has hope!”
...
Old Trafford Stadium.
Manchester United dressing room.
The deafening Red Devils anthem faintly reverberated through the walls. The air was thick with the scent of disinfectant and muscle tape.
Li Luo was panicking...
About ten hours ago, he had crossed over into the body of a Manchester United prodigy who shared his name and age.
He awoke to find himself at the scene of a car accident—miraculously, without a scratch.
He had tried simply touching a football with his foot; his mood shifted from joy to disappointment, then to fear.
‘I can’t play football at all.’
In his previous life, he had never played, barely watched matches, only seen the anime “Captain Tsubasa” and some players’ highlight reels.
In this life, Li Luo discovered he hadn’t inherited the skills of the original.
Strictly speaking, he hadn’t inherited the original’s sense for the game, match reading, spatial awareness, anticipation, tactical understanding... and so forth.
“Deep Blue, add points!”
Adding points didn’t help.
A few hours earlier, he had indeed unlocked the golden finger system.
Unfortunately, the stats panel didn’t include the original’s football skills.
[Name: Li Luo]
[Age: 18]
[Height: 173cm (still growing)]
[Physical Contact: 79; Stamina: 90]
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[Jump: 80; Lower Body Strength: 81]
[Speed: 86; Ball Control: 8; Passing: 9; Shooting: 6; Curve: 7]
[Defense: 9; Tackling: 9; Goalkeeping: 2]
[Heading: 8]
“...”
Physique and athleticism were top-notch: Li Luo couldn’t help but touch his eight-pack abs, his beautifully contoured, powerful legs, and his full, rounded peroneal muscles.
He now possessed a body akin to a work of art, muscles exquisitely sculpted.
But the stats related to football skill... were all single digits.
[Newbie reward granted: 50 freely distributable attribute points]
“...”
“How should I allocate them? Where to add?”
At this moment, Li Luo felt like a newbie just entering a game, afraid to use resources or assign points haphazardly.
He took a deep breath.
He decided to scroll through the news on his phone, hoping to adjust his mindset and mentally prepare himself.
He needed to stay calm, thunder in his chest but a placid face.
But the more he read, the more anxious he became.
He thought to himself:
‘Ah! The whole country is anticipating my outstanding performance?’
‘This is bad, the consequences could be dire.’
“I’ll disappoint the Party and the people’s expectations.”
Li Luo was patriotic and found it hard to accept the prospect of embarrassing himself as a Huaguo player in front of the world.
He looked up at the clock on the wall: an hour and forty minutes to kickoff... What should he do? He was desperate.
...
Sir Matt Busby Way.
Manchester United fans adorned themselves with Red Devil accessories and waved team flags.
Looking out, it was like a flowing river of red.
A certain Huaguo TV station, determined to broadcast the prodigy’s debut live, had sent a crew all the way to Old Trafford.
“Good evening, viewers!”
“An hour and a half until kickoff. Let’s interview some Manchester United fans and hear their expectations for Li Luo.”
The host glanced around, approaching a group of foreign fans.
After a brief exchange, he handed over the microphone.
The interviewees were visibly excited, eager to share their views:
“We’re not local fans—we came from Milan.”
“Li can’t make too many basic mistakes in his debut; every young player gets nervous for their first Premier League match, but he must manage his mindset, or he’ll face criticism and doubt from Red Devil fans. Manchester United has supporters worldwide, all kinds of people. Unlike small clubs, they don’t coddle youth academy talents. You can reference Pogba and Lingard’s experiences.”
“Right, it’s possible he’ll be loaned out briefly to a less intense league, like Pogba. The Premier League is so physical—young players easily get injured. Look at Arsenal’s youngsters… broken legs.”
“Li will keep getting taller and stronger. We’re worried his balance will weaken and he’ll touch the ball less frequently.”
“We’re looking forward to the Crown Prince’s dazzling debut!”
The host glanced at the live comments: all sorts of remarks like “Snow-white thighs,” “His butt is bigger than my head,” “Hot body,” “What are those British guards’ saddles made of?” “It’s kicking off! Beer bottle Molotovs,” “Give the cameraman a drumstick”...
He quickly thanked them in English, then signaled the cameraman to adjust the shot.
...
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Manchester United dressing room.
The senior Red Devils gently patted Li Luo’s shoulder.
“Don’t be nervous—just play like you do in training, let yourself go.”
“Haha, why are your palms sweaty? Show the spirit of a crown prince!”
“Don’t rush off after the match—I’ll take you out for some fun.”
Clap clap!
Assistant coach—Giggs—clapped his hands, signaling everyone to quiet down.
He then repeated the coaches’ pre-match instructions.
The tactical board’s magnets were shifted back and forth.
Teammates nodded in understanding.
Li Luo was completely lost—he could understand English and Spanish, but not the technical terms.
...
A moment later.
Giggs held a small tactical board and called Li Luo aside to give him personal instructions.
“Li, tonight is a bit different.”
“Van... the boss has spent the past two weeks carefully analyzing preseason footage from all mid-to-top European clubs and concluded that there’ll be changes in midfield roles this season.”
“The 4-4-2 formation is gradually losing its mainstream status—Atletico is an exception.”
“You don’t need to wait for the fullback to overlap before cutting inside like you did in the youth team.”
“The 4-2-3-1 formation will slowly become mainstream again for a while. Tonight, we’ll give you absolute freedom. Your task is no longer to coordinate with the overlapping fullbacks but to expand your coverage, continually establish link-up points, and build passing routes during transitions.”
“In attacking phases, you must take on part of the finishing responsibility up front.”
Giggs spoke with a sense of regret: Tactical changes in the top leagues were happening so fast that young players trained in youth teams couldn’t keep up; they had no time or opportunity to adapt their tactical fit. These days, becoming famous with a single goal is too difficult.
Of course, those few clubs with unique styles and tactical traditions are exceptions—they only need to tweak their systems, regardless of how the times change.
“It’s fine. Your talent is very much like mine when I was young—you’ll adapt quickly, I’m sure.”
Li Luo was still baffled.
For a moment, he couldn’t digest Giggs’ technical jargon.
‘What is he babbling about?’
‘Finishing?’
Scoring goals!
Without hesitation.
Li Luo straightened his back and jabbed the air with his finger.
[Free attribute points allocated.]
[Heading: 8 → 58!]
In an instant, the back of his head tingled.
It felt as though his body regained part of its reflexes.
‘Wait, that’s not right.’
‘If finishing… why didn’t I put the points into shooting?’
Li Luo, the football novice, regretted it.
At 173 centimeters tall, he had put all his points into heading?
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