On his way back to Naples from Castel Volturno, Marino was deep in thought, repying Gao Shen's ambitious pns in his mind.

  He uood Gao Shen's relentless drive, and Gao Shen, in turn, uood exactly what motivated Marino. Gao Shen had casually reminded Marino of a painful memory: years ago, when Napoli won the league title, it was Marino who had assembled that winning squad, including bringing Maradona to the team. Yet, it was Luoggi, not Marino, who reaped the reition and ter asded to the position of Juventus' general manager, eventually being the godfather of Italian football.

  Marino had never quite reciled with that injustice.

  He deeply respected Moggi's capabilities, but he couldn't shake the feeling that if given the ce, he could have done as well, if not better aainly without the sdals that eventually tainted Moggi's career.

  So, when Mariuro Napoli with Gao Shen, he had a rekindled hope ohat had seemed impossible until now. He dreamed ing another league title to his hometown, to finally showcase his own talents and leave his own mark on Italian football.

  Gao Shen knew all this, which is why he was fident that Marino would back him in his pns.

  As Marino thought of Gao Shen's clever tactics, he couldn't help but smile. But then, as he sidered De Laurentiis, his expression grew more serious, adjusting his gsses thoughtfully, the refle on the lenses giving him a sharp, dising look.

  ---

  Back at the club headquarters, Marino headed straight for De Laurentiis' office.

  De Laurentiis was a man who thrived on involvement, even in the smallest details. Although Gao Shen had rgely shut him out of day-to-day operations at Castel Volturno, De Laurentiis still enjoyed mianaging the office affairs.

  The eion often found it hard to delegate and trust others with power.

  Marino knocked aered De Laurentiis' office.

  "What's going on? I heard there was a lot of noise over there," De Laurentiis asked.

  Marino's heart sank momentarily, but he wasn't surprised. Knowing De Laurentiis, it would be no shock if he had informants p Castel Volturno.

  It wasn't necessarily that De Laurentiis didn't trust Gao Shen. He simply had an overp need for trol and wao be informed about every siail in the club, no matter how small. Ideally, he would make all the decisions himself.

  So, despite his agreement with Gao Shen to give him autonomy, he still pced his own people within Castel Volturno. It was the only way he could sleep soundly at night.

  That was also part of the reason why Gao Shen had orchestrated the heated argument with Lucas and Bueura in the feren—not only to persuade Marino but also to make sure De Laurentiis got wind of it.

  Refleg on all this, Marino sighed deeply and shook his head. "It retty intense. If I hadn't stepped in, Fernando Lucas might have been fired on the spot."

  At those words, Marino noticed a slight smile pying on De Laurentiis's lips, and he realized he had to ge tactics.

  "But holy, I think the situation's a bit exaggerated."

  De Laurentiis raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

  "There are definitely problems, some serious ones even, but Lucas is Gao Shen's friend. The two wouldn't have cshed that severely. Still, the coag staff is definitely feeling the pressure, and Gao Shen has high expectations. So tempers are fring, and he's starting to vent."

  Marino delivered his expnation in a calm tone, careful to maintain a bance.

  Did he truly believe Gao Shen was losing his posure?

  Not really.

  "The main issue right now is that Gao Shen's demands are simply too high, and the coag staff is struggling to keep up. Plus, the team's ret form hasn't been ideal, which is adding to the stress."

  Marino sighed for effect.

  De Laurentiis smiled slightly, then said, "The team is doihey're sed in Serie A. Isn't that enough?"

  "He wants to push harder," Marino replied.

  "Push for what?"

  "The championship," Marino answered, without hesitation.

  De Laurentiis paused, taken aback. After a moment, he asked, "And how much will that cost?"

  "He mentioned bringing in a high-level fitness coad some equipment. It would be an initial iment of about one million euros, with possibly some additional funds er, but nothing too extreme."

  "That much?" De Laurentiis' brows k the mention of money.

  I years, Napoli had been running at a loss, and most of the funding had e directly from De Laurentiis' pocket. And when Gao Shen sold Gervinho to Arsenal, he had taken nearly three million euros in profit, a decision that had infuriated De Laurentiis to the point of cursing Marino for a week.

  "I think so too; it's quite a bit. But Gao Shen insists it's based oandards of a top-tier Serie A team. He's not happy with the team's ret form and is worried that we might struggle to secure a top-four finish."

  De Laurentiis' expression shifted.

  Top four? That meant Champions League qualification.

  And a spot in the Champions League meant massive reve least 20 million euros.

  Seeing De Laurentiis' reaarino chuckled inwardly.

  He khe club owner was always calg the risks aurns, and the promise of Champions League revenue was hard to ignore.

  When it es to budget discussions, Marino had learhe art of persuasion: highlight the potential losses if funding is denied and the potential gains if approved. And above all, make sure this iment would keep paying off beyond just this season.

  "Gao Shen also said that if this reform succeeds, even if he leaves someday, we'll still have one of the fittest a-ditioeams in Italy. We'd be on par with the famous Min Lab."

  Now, De Laurentiis' i was thhly piqued.

  Everyone khat, for now, Gao Shen and Napoli were aligned in their ambitions. But with the current uainty, no one could say how long Gao Shen would stay.

  If Gao She and took his coag staff with him, would all the iment they'd made go to waste?

  This was something De Laurentiis had to sider carefully.

  As a private owner, uhe membership-based structures of clubs like Real Madrid or Bara, De Laurentiis had to be cost-scious. He wasn't a billionaire like Abramovich who could splurge on whims. Thrift ractically etched on his forehead.

  But Gao Shen was now a long-term, sustainable project, oh sting bes.

  "What do you think?" De Laurentiis asked Marino, still weighing his options.

  "I think the club could find a way to allocate the necessary funds to support this, and we also assign some of our own staff to assist, perhaps uhe pretense of learning. Gao Shen's team is filled with highly skilled individuals," Marino suggested.

  Those words struck a chord with De Laurentiis.

  Most people think that football success relies solely on pyers, which is true to aent, but staff especially high-level coaches and analysts are crucial too. Pyers e and go, but taleaff create a sting foundation.

  If Napoli could cultivate its own high-level coag and analytics team, even if Gao Sheo leave, the club wouldn't lose all the progress they'd made.

  After thinking it over, De Laurentiis made a decision. Though it pained him to spend more, he gritted his teeth and said, "Pierpaolo, you'll be in charge of this. Make sure to keep the budget under trol."

  "Uood," Marino nodded.

  ---

  When Gao Shen got the call from Marino, he was having dinner with his coag staff at a restaurant. Hearing that the budget had been approved, Gao Shen ughed and invited Marino to join them for the meal.

  Marino politely deed but reminded Gao Shen to submit a detailed proposal as soon as possible.

  After hanging up, Gao Shen raised his gss to the coag staff with a grin. "Let's celebrate the pn's been approved!"

  Everyone ughed and stood up to toast him.

  In his previous life, Gao Shen had worked in panies where getting project funding was often the most frustrating task. And the bigger the pany, the harder it was to get that green light.

  Especially with a boss like De Laurentiis, who couldn't always distinguish between necessary and unnecessary expenses. He only cared about tangible returns.

  Was he wrong to think this way? Not really, since he was the oting up the money.

  Marino's willio help was also fueled by his own belief in the project's potential. If successful, this could greatly be Napoli, enhang their ces in the league and solidifying Marino's influehin the club.

  When dealing with a boss like De Laurentiis, you had to paint an irresistible picture of bes. Only then would he approve the budget with a smile. Otherwise, no amount of fttery or sweet talk would work.

  Of course, there was always another approach: Gao Shen could have insisted on the funding ht. But taking that route risked damaging his retionship with De Laurentiis, possibly beyond repair.

  And a fractured retionship is difficult to mend.

  "Everyone, enjoy your Christmas break because we'll be busy after that," Gao Shen said.

  Then, turning to Lucas, he added, "I'll get you another analyst. The club will hahe hiring, but you'll be responsible for the interview and final sele. This analyst will report directly to you."

  Lucas raised his gss with a grin. "Don't worry, I'll make sure the job gets done."

  In a high-level coag team, the analysis department was being increasingly critical, and their workload was growing by the day.

  Not only did they have to review every training sessioiculously, but they also had to du-depth studies on each uping oppo. It was a tough job, to say the least.

  "As for the fitness coach, I already have a suitable didate in mind. I'll go meet him personally," Gao Shen said, gng at Bueura. "Lorenzo, after Christmas, you'll e with me."

  Bueura nodded in agreement.

  The new fitness coach would be w closely with Bueura, so it made sense for him to be involved in the recruitment.

  Back when Gao Shen was just a fan, even years into the future, he remembered how domestic media sometimes fused the roles of physical trainers and fitness coaches. But iy, they had distinct roles with clear divisions of responsibility.

  In Gao Shen's new setup, Bueura would remain the head of physical ditioning, a role for which he was irrepceable.

  The new hire, however, would be a specialized fitness coaeoh a reputation as a devil trainer, a figure well-known in the industry for pushing athletes to their physical limits.

  A true "devil trainer" who could help turn Napoli's pyers into an unbreakable for the field.