After both sides reached an agreement, the transfer procedures were pleted swiftly.

  Gervinho officially left Naples for Arsenal with a transfer fee of 15 million euros.

  Before his departure, the Ivorian made a special trip back to o meet Gao Shen. He expressed his gratitude for the careful guidance he'd received over the past year, and Gao Shen, iurn, enced him to tinue pushing forward at Arsenal.

  When it es to developing young pyers, there are many risks. Besides untrolble factors like injuries, adolesce, and personality, another decisive factor is hoyer is developed and positioned.

  For instance, Wenger is known for letting young pyers try out multiple positions.

  The advantage of this approach is that it allows the coach to figure out the best position for the pyer, maximizing their strengths.

  However, the downside is that pyers sometimes lose their way amidst stant experimentation.

  Gao Shen was very clear about his own strength as a coach. The reason he was able to train pyers quickly and effectively was that he knew beforehand what dire the pyers should develop iraihem accly and used them in lih their potential.

  This allowed the pyers to thrive in their roles and progress rapidly.

  Therefao Shen told Gervinho that even after joining Arsenal, he should tinue dowh that had been id out for him. Gao Shen believed firmly that Gervinho had the potential to bee one of the top wingers in Europe and a key pyer at Arsenal.

  Of course, Gao Shen had already id the foundation. If Gervinho didn't succeed at Arsenal, it wouldn't be his fault; it would simply mean that Wenger's reputation for developing young talent was overblown.

  Although Gervinho had only excelled in Serie B, the fact that Arsenal was willing to spend 15 million euros on him sent shockwaves through Italian football. Many teams that had been eyeing Napoli's pyers began to resider their valuations.

  Gervinho's market value was around 8 million euros, but Napoli mao sell him for 15 million. What about the others? If Gervinho went for that price, would it be acceptable to offer ahan 8 million for anyone else?

  However, the dowo this was that Napoli's prospects for the new season were immediately thrown into doubt. Many in the media believed that selling Gervinho would severely weaken Napoli's atta the uping season.

  The Turin Sports Daily even cluded that the sale of Gervinho proved that Napoli's real goal was not the championship but simply avoiding relegation.

  "This lines up with their status as a newly-promoted Serie B side!"

  Meanwhile, the fact that Napoli had brought in Antonio Valencia from Vilrreal for a transfer fee of just 1 million euros barely caused a stir.

  Sure, Vilrreal was a solid La Liga team, but who was Antonio Valencia?

  From Ecuador, taking up a valuable fn pyer slot, and he was supposed to fill the void left by Gervinho? Could he really take ervinho's role?

  More importantly, Napoli had also offloaded a number of veterans, including Cupi, Savini, Grava, Vitale, and Dal Bona, which had further lowered the average age of the first team pared to st season.

  Many questioned whether Gao Shen really inteo rely on a squad of mostly twenty-somethings to challenge for the Serie A title.

  Most observers, however, believed that Napoli's true goal was survival in Serie A, not winning it.

  Bookmakers even adjusted the odds for Napoli's performance. After Gervinho's sale, Napoli's projected finish dropped to tenth in Serie A.

  For a newly-promoted team, a mid-table finish in Serie A wasn't bad at all.

  ---

  After returning to Naples from Madrid, Gao She a low profile and stayed out of the limelight.

  The coag staff had also returned, and everyone was focused on preparing for the new season, refining tactics, and developing a solid strategy.

  Each league has its ow of unspoken rules regarding its schedule, and Serie A was no exception.

  For example, in La Liga, the El Csico is always scheduled first, usually in te November or December, around the tenth or eleventh round of the season, whele race is heating up. The return fixture es at a crucial time during the run-in for the title, ensuring maximum i aement.

  If the game is scheduled too early, the stakes aren't clear yet, and it loses attention. If it's too te, the title might already be decided, robbing it of suspense.

  The same principle applies to Serie A.

  The Min derby, cshes between the Min clubs and Juventus, or their matches against Roma, these fixtures are major events and are given special attention in the scheduling.

  The league thrives on its ups and downs.

  If too many big games are scheduled too closely together, it creates problems, so they're generally spaced out to maximize drama. They rarely serve as the season finale.

  As a newly-promoted side, Napoli attracted siderable attention, but they didn't and the same priority as Min, Roma, or Juventus. This led to a more challenging fixture list.

  Napoli's seventh, eighth, and ninth rounds featured away games against Inter Min and Roma, followed by a home match against Juventus. Three tough matches in a row, with two away from home.

  To make matters worse, betweeer and Roma matches, there was a two-week break for iional fixtures.

  The sed half of the season followed a simir pattern.

  It was a brutal schedule.

  If the three matches had been grouped together without the interruption of iional fixtures, it would've been easier. The coag staff could have used training to prepare the team for that stretd ehey were in peak form.

  Alternatively, the games could have been spaore, allowing the team to focus on eae individually.

  But as it stood, with three tough matches in a row and a two-week iional break between them, it was far from ideal. The long break disrupted the team's momentum.

  Don't believe it? Just take a look at the schedules for teams like A, Inter Min, or Juventus. Their big games are spaced out by at least two rounds.

  This scheduling, supposedly to enhahe league's eai value, was clearly desigo be the bigger teams.

  "This schedule is crucial!" Gao Shen frowned as he reviewed the uping fixtures for the new Serie A season.

  He wasn't the only ohe entire coag staff felt uneasy when they saw the yout of the fixtures.

  Particurly the October stretch, with two weeks off for iional matches, made the first half of the season look daunting.

  "Three crucial games, two away from home if we drop points, we'll be out of the title race before we're even halfway through," Gao Shen remarked.

  It seemed like the schedule had been desigo make things more difficult for Naples.

  Could this have something to do with Gao Shen's status as Italy's publiemy?

  During iional breaks, pyers would leave to represent their national teams, and there was no way to stop them. But Naples would have to be at full strength for those three critical matches.

  That's nine points at stake!

  "The winter break is lohis season, and the Coppa Italia schedule is more reasonable. We have a 21-day break, so we arrange for a round of intensive physical training," Bueura suggested.

  Last season, the short winter break was mainly due to the Coppa Italia.

  For teams that didn't pete in the Coppa Italia, their break was much longer.

  But this season, Serie A would resume on January 14, and Naples' oppo in that first match would be A. They o be fully prepared, with no room for error.

  Everyone khat the first game of the season, and the first game after the winter break, were always the hardest to py because teams were out of rhythm.

  "The schedule is set, whether it favors us or not. We o adapt and pn our strategy accly," Gao Shen said, pointing to the fixture list.

  In any championship pursuit, winning big matches is crucial.

  Some people believe that sistently beating the weaker teams is enough to win a title, and while that's partly true, it's not the whole story.

  Because while you're beating weaker teams, so is your petition.

  aples sistently beat the likes of Inter Min?

  In his previous life, Gao Shen had seen people wonder why Real Madrid under Ai and Zidane, despite winning four Champions League titles in five years, struggled to win La Liga.

  The answer was simple just look at their head-to-head record with Bara.

  If you extracted the results of those El atches, it was clear that they were the games that ultimately decided the title.

  That's just in terms of points. Strong matchups also have a huge impa a team's morale, fidence, and overall momentum.

  If you're serious about winning the league, you have to win the big games.

  Of course, i years, there's been an exception to this rule. A team that performed well in big games but couldn't wile because they struggled against weaker opposition.

  That team was Benitez's Liverpool.

  So, any team aiming to win the league o do more than just beat weaker sides, they also o perform in the big games.

  In simple terms, they o pick up points sistently.

  At all times, against any oppo, seg three points is the priority.

  Gao Shen had seen firsthand the strength of Serie A teams st season, and he was fident in Napoli's abilities. But the team o perform sistently and produce results.

  As for the big games, they would test the team's overall strength and squad depth.

  All of this would o be drilled into the team during summer training camp.

  Most importantly, the right side of the team o be strengthened.

  Iing Lichtsteiner into the squad was crucial.

  Gao Shen still vividly remembered the 3-0 loss from st season it ainful remihat couldn't be ignored.