Soon, the award podium was set up.
The Portugal U16 players walked onto the stage one by one to receive their medals.
Kai was not the captain of the team, so he simply stood off to the side.
It almost looked like he was deliberately hiding his achievements and fame.
José Fonte had already been taken to the locker room for treatment. Fortunately, there were no major problems for now, but he was still in rough shape and needed time to recover.
Cristiano Ronaldo, however, looked absolutely miserable.
His left eye was bloodshot, the left side of his face was swollen, and two wads of paper were stuffed in his nose to stop the bleeding.
Someone started counting.
"One, two, three…"
"We are the champions!"
Click!
A classic photo was taken.
And it would probably go down in history as the ugliest award photo Ronaldo had ever taken.
Before presenting the medals, UEFA also announced the individual awards of the tournament.
Ricardo Quaresma, Kai, Cristiano Ronaldo, José Fonte, Raúl Meireles, Andrés Iniesta, Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina, and others were selected for the Team of the Tournament.
Among them:
Kai won Best Midfielder and Top Assist Provider with 4 goals and 8 assists.
Quaresma won the Golden Boot and Best Forward with 9 goals and 3 assists.
At the same time, Quaresma was also named Player of the Tournament.
Media Headlines the Next Day
"Portugal U16 conquers Europe! With the golden generation in its prime, has the diamond generation risen again?"
"Superstar shines! Quaresma's magical goals keep Portugal alive, while the Chinese rising star Kai scores twice to turn the tide!"
"Best Player Quaresma! Even before entering the first team, his value has already approached €10 million!"
"Youth version of the Champions League final! Kai scores twice in three minutes to complete the comeback!"
"Spain vs Portugal turns into a battlefield—red cards everywhere, yellow cards flying like stray dogs!"
"Iniesta's free kick causes chaos! Fonte and Ronaldo both sent to the hospital for examinations!"
"Gabi kicks Kai from behind and becomes Spain's sinner! His recklessness costs Spain the title!"
"Kai's tackle on Iniesta saves Portugal! His decisive action secures the final victory!"
"The Avengers gain a new member—Mikel Arteta refuses to comment on Kai after the match!"
"Kai's post-match interview: 'Hello everyone, I am Thanos!'"
Portugal was extremely satisfied with the success of their U16 national team.
The domestic media praised them endlessly.
But across the whole of Europe, the European Youth Championship only stayed in the headlines for one day at most.
If a big transfer rumor exploded, it might not even last that long.
Kai had no regrets about that.
After all, the summer of 1999 belonged to Serie A.
It was known as the "Little World Cup"—the final era of madness.
That summer alone, Italian clubs spent nearly €400 million in the transfer market, shocking the football world.
Major Transfers Across Serie A
"€23 million! AC Milan signs Champions League top scorer Andriy Shevchenko from Dynamo Kyiv!"
"AC Milan shows long-term vision, investing €8 million to sign midfielder Gennaro Gattuso!"
"€9 million for São Paulo star Serginho—AC Milan strengthens again!"
"Hope for the future? AC Milan signs 17-year-old defender Fabricio Coloccini from Boca Juniors for €7.5 million!"
AC Milan was suddenly full of young energy.
Meanwhile, Parma, already a powerful Serie A side after winning the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia, wanted to go even further.
They rejected offers for Hernán Crespo, Gianluigi Buffon, and Lilian Thuram.
Then they spent:
€28 million for Nicola Amoruso, last season's Serie A top scorer
€15.4 million for Ousmane Dabo from Inter Milan
€4 million for Argentine playmaker Ariel Ortega from Sampdoria
€9 million for striker Marco Di Vaio from Salernitana
Meanwhile, ACF Fiorentina was also making steady moves.
They kept their superstar Gabriel Batistuta.
Then they signed:
Enrico Chiesa for €14.5 million
Predrag Mijatović, the 1997 Ballon d'Or runner-up, for €12 million from Real Madrid
But the craziest club that summer was Inter Milan.
They spent nearly €100 million alone.
That showed both their ambition and financial power.
"90 Billion Lire! Christian Vieri becomes the world's most expensive striker after joining Inter Milan!"
"Dream attack line! Vieri joins Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio, Álvaro Recoba, and Iván Zamorano! Inter Milan aims for 100 goals next season!"
"Massimo Moratti shows his love for Inter—breaking the world transfer record for the second time in three years!"
"€24 million! Clarence Seedorf joins Inter Milan. Has Real Madrid already found his replacement?"
"€19 million! Inter signs Juventus goalkeeper Angelo Peruzzi, the best goalkeeper in Serie A last season!"
Lazio also went all out.
They signed:
Juan Sebastián Verón for €30 million
Diego Simeone from Inter Milan for €10 million
Meanwhile:
Vincenzo Montella joined AS Roma for €25 million, strengthening the Giallorossi
Roma also bought Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata for €22 million, making him the most expensive Asian player in history
Compared to these extravagant deals, Juventus looked almost… poor.
Not only did they fail to make big signings, they even sold the struggling French star Thierry Henry to Arsenal for €16 million.
Combined with the departure of their goalkeeper, even the arrival of Gianluca Zambrotta couldn't truly strengthen the squad.
Still, Zinedine Zidane seemed satisfied.
Looking purely at transfer spending, Serie A dominated the world.
Among the top 20 most expensive transfers that summer:
12 belonged to Serie A clubs
7 of the top 8 were also from Serie A
The only deal that could compete was Real Madrid's €35 million signing of French star Nicolas Anelka from Arsenal.
Otherwise, the Italian giants completely dominated the market.
With news like that flooding the headlines, Portugal's U16 European Championship victory slowly disappeared from the spotlight.
The mainstream football world continued moving forward as usual.
But outside that spotlight, another story was quietly beginning.
This year also marked a new turning point for Chinese youth football.
That summer, Jiang Yunzhu returned to China.
On one hand, she reported back to her newspaper and received a promotion and salary increase, becoming the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sports Weekly.
On the other hand, she had been entrusted by Sporting CP to help facilitate the transfer of several talented players from the Wahaha youth team.
Triguera had given her a list.
Every player on that list…
had originally been recommended by Kai.
Or at least, that was what it looked like.
The names included:
Yu Shihao
Hao Junmin
Shao Jiayi
Chen Tao
Feng Xiaoting
Unfortunately, Jiang Yunzhu ran into obstacles immediately.
One parent said:
"Our kids must study and go to university. How can they just go abroad to play football?"
Another said:
"It's too chaotic overseas. I can't let our Junmin go abroad alone."
Another family added:
"Chengdu University of Information Science and Technology has already promised to admit our son through the sports talent channel. Beijing Sport University is also considering him. Why would we send him to Portugal now?"
Another club representative said bluntly:
"Sorry. Chen Tao is a youth player of Sichuan Quanxing FC. We won't compromise on the transfer fee."
And another parent said:
"Editor Jiang, we understand Sporting Lisbon's sincerity, but we already have a development plan for Xiaoting. During this stage, we prefer him to train in China."
For various reasons, not a single transfer negotiation succeeded.
Feeling frustrated, Jiang Yunzhu was about to call Triguera to report the progress.
But when she checked the time, she remembered that Kai's medical examination results from the match were about to come out.
So she decided to call Kai first.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can visit my Patreon page:
Patreon.com/PhoeniXcel
I upload 2 chapters daily on Patreon!
There are 140+ advanced chapters available for you to read.
Your support would be greatly appreciated.
📢 Check out my new Naruto fanfic!
[One Piece: Pirate Chat Group]