0012 Rapid Onboarding (Please Support with Bookmarks and Votes)

Since meeting Mantovani, Ludeyang and Monica had no time alone together.

The Sampdoria chairman was clearly very invested in his transfer.

They had known Sampdoria was a strong team before, and Ludeyang further learned about it in the past few days.

Mantovani was a chairman with an excellent reputation.

He was always generous with players, treating them like family, but never spied on them like Moratti did.

He mainly retained players through his personal charisma.

Previously, when Milan tried to buy Vialli, it was this approach that kept him from leaving.

Because Vialli didn’t go to Milan, others also chose to stay.

This was probably good for Milan, or else there wouldn’t have been the addition of Van Basten.

Mantovani was not short-sighted; he often chose to develop young players with experience but without fame—those who had long played in lower leagues but hadn’t found the right tactics.

Lippi, just retired, had coached Sampdoria’s youth team for three years, laying a solid foundation.

Currently, the team’s head coach was Boskov, a distinguished former Real Madrid player from Yugoslavia, who led Madrid to a La Liga double but lost the Champions League final to Liverpool.

He was a coach similar to Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger.

The young players he nurtured included stars like Mancini, Vialli, and Chiesa, before their rise to fame.

With such an outstanding owner and coach, not to mention a luxurious squad, Sampdoria was impressive.

Monica secretly opened her eyes, watching Ludeyang sit with his hands behind his head, lost in thought, and finally sighed in relief.

If this continued, she feared she might die of dehydration.

She wondered if that stuff provided anything beyond protein to replenish water.

Knock, knock, knock—

Hearing the familiar knock, Monica quickly got up to change.

When they both finished dressing, Paul Mantovani was indeed standing at the door—this old man had been coming to the hotel every day for the past two days to see them.

“Deyang, if you want to dispose of the Reggio Calabria property, I can help,” Mantovani said.

“No, thank you, Mr. Mantovani. I’ll handle it myself. If you could help us find a place to stay, that would be great. We can’t keep living in hotels,” Ludeyang replied.

Their financial situation was decent, but hotels in tourist cities were not cheap.

“That’s easy. If you were a single player, you could even stay with the team. Roberto and the others used to do that... Roberto is a bit temperamental, so I hope you can tolerate him, but he means well,” Mantovani said with a smile.

The person he referred to was Mancini.

Though Mancini was gentle and easygoing as a coach, he had a very odd and irritable temperament when young, which made his national team career somewhat turbulent.

On the other hand, his good friend Vialli had a better personality.

It was said that the two met at the Italian youth training center in Coverciano at seventeen. Mancini, who was set to transfer to Sampdoria, thought Vialli played well and suggested he join Sampdoria too.

Eventually, they truly became teammates.

The three of them walked downstairs together, and Mantovani said, “I’ve already found a lawyer. If possible, we’ll sign the contract today. The salary won’t be high, but considering you have a partner, I can offer you eighty million lira per year from the club to start.”

“Such generosity, Mr. Mantovani,” Ludeyang said.

Eighty million lira was roughly equivalent to 400,000 yuan or about 45,000 pounds.

This amount was about one-tenth of what Falcao earned when he joined Roma in 1980.

Currently, some Italian players earned two to three thousand pounds a week, over one hundred thousand dollars in US currency.

But considering Ludeyang had just moved from Serie C to Serie A, this salary was decent.

Maldini’s second contract two years prior was also eighty million lira.

Last year, Italy’s per capita GDP ranked sixteenth, behind the UK, at $15,744.

As a nation with manufacturing, textiles, and jewelry as its pillars, Italy’s per capita disposable income was actually lower, resembling resource-intensive regions.

This salary would allow Ludeyang and Monica to live comfortably in Genoa—not as extravagantly as top stars later on, but above the average Italian middle class.

Paul Mantovani was indeed sincere.

He took them to the law office, where his lawyer had already drafted the contract.

It was only a three-year deal.

Nowadays, players generally had no transfer intentions, so contracts didn’t need to be excessively long, especially since there was always the chance a player might not break through, as had happened with some members of the “Three Musketeers” who were once loaned out after gaining fame.

Monica carefully examined the contract.

Having dropped out of law school, she was quite professional in such matters.

“Is there a signing bonus?” Monica exclaimed.

“Yes, that’s a gift for you two,” Mantovani shrugged. “In case Deyang doesn’t do well, I’m worried it might cause international disputes.”

The old man had a good sense of humor.

Ludeyang glanced at the contract and said, “Could we reduce the signing bonus a bit and use it as my transfer fee? My contract with Reggina ends this month, but their situation is difficult. I’d like to leave some money behind.”

“Of course, no problem!” Mantovani looked at Ludeyang with great admiration.

He had just discovered another virtue in this young man.

Having affection for one’s parent club was not a bad thing; compared to selfish players, such loyalty was more endearing.

“I have no objections, then,” Ludeyang said.

Monica handed him the pen, and Ludeyang signed his name.

“Welcome to Sampdoria. You probably can’t have the number ten jersey—that’s Roberto’s number. How about choosing another?” Mantovani suggested.

If Ludeyang insisted on number ten, he would try to persuade Mancini.

This mild-mannered chairman was tough on players but genuine; he was confident he could convince Mancini.

However, that would make Ludeyang’s start very difficult.

Mancini was not known for a good temper.

“No problem, I’ll pick an available number,” Ludeyang replied.

For an attacking midfielder, number ten was indeed ideal.

But if you played well, even wearing number one could make you a legend.

“That’s great! You probably find me an old codger, huh? Tomorrow I’ll take you to see some houses. As for the coach, no rush—Vujadin is not currently in Italy,” Mantovani said.

After parting with the old chairman, Monica couldn’t help but say, “He seems like a very good person.”

“Yes, that’s why Sampdoria is what it is today,” Ludeyang said.

During the era of the Seven Sisters in Serie A, every club chairman had their own unique style.