Chapter 53: Salary Increase (Ch 53)

Luo Yi was unsurprisingly selected as the best player of the game.
Countless media people expressed their unreserved admiration for Luo Yi in their post-match reports.
It can be said that although they all recognized Luo Yi’s importance to Cruzeiro on the defensive and even offensive ends very early on, they did not realize the extent of such importance.
It was almost the same group of people who were defeated by the weak team Bahia a few days ago, but turned around and defeated the giant Flamengo. The reason for such a change can be seen at a glance.
Of course, what is more obvious is Cruzeiro’s rapid progress in the Brazilian Serie A.
Six games, all won, and kept a clean sheet!
This record is really different from last year’s.
“After the failure last season and the state league, I know very well how hard-earned this result is,” Alberto said in the post-match interview.
He also praised his disciples again in the interview:
“The young players in the team integrated into the team very quickly and have now become the backbone of the team.”
“Whether it was Ronaldo, Luo Yi or Belletti, they all completed their tasks very well.”
“Of course I still want to highlight Luo Yi. With him, I am really confident about our midfield defense.”
“At the same time, his talent in attack is also gradually showing. I believe that he will really become a midfield master in the future!”
The head coach’s praise also made more people focus on Luo Yi, who performed very well today.
However, due to the lag of information in this era, such attention is mainly concentrated in the Brazilian football circle, and the impact is not that great.
Especially in China, people don’t pay much attention to domestic competitions in Brazil.
In 1993, even the live broadcast of top events such as the World Cup and the European Cup had not yet been fully rolled out in China. Club matches only broadcast the strongest Serie A, and there was no way to learn about the Brazilian Serie A.
If it were to happen now, it would have been on the hot search list several times!
For example, “Young Chinese players from Macau shine in the Brazilian league” and “Young Chinese players bombard Flamengo and win MVP” are definitely eye-catching and become “the hope of the whole village”…
Luo Yi actually doesn’t really care whether he receives more attention or not—although this kind of attention objectively exists.
Just like walking on the street with Ronaldo during their daily relaxation, they can be recognized by more people and often receive invitations for autographs and photos.
Although this will slightly affect their daily lives, generally speaking they still enjoy it and don’t hate it too much.
When you become successful, people will naturally like you and admire you. There is nothing to resist.
There is nothing wrong with this as long as you don’t become overly obsessed with it and forget your original intention or even become depraved.
Luo Yi and Ronaldo will obviously not become such “Shang Zhongyong”.
They still encourage and supervise each other, and still work hard in practice!
During this training cycle, Luo Yi focused on long-range shooting.
The reason is that after the baptism of these games, his long-range shooting experience bar has increased rapidly, and now it is about to break through the international level.
When it comes to this final step, of course you need to practice more!
Three days later, on May 26th.
In the morning, at the Cruzeiro Club’s training ground, the midfield group was practicing long shots.
After a powerful shot at the goal, Luo Yi saw the system prompt message:
[Congratulations, your long-range shooting attribute has been upgraded to the international level! And you have gained the characteristic: Batistuta-style violent shooting. ]
“Very good, very powerful.” Luo Yi was overjoyed.
Batistuta, a famous Argentine striker, known as the “God of War”, is also one of Luo Yi’s favorite players.
He can be said to be the representative of “violent aesthetics”. His signature long-range shots are powerful, angled, sudden, and carry an unstoppable momentum.
Now that Luo Yi possesses the characteristics of Batistuta, it will undoubtedly be more helpful for him to suddenly make a breakthrough in future games.
“Luo Yi, come here, the boss is waiting for you in the office.” Suddenly, assistant coach Miguel shouted to Luo Yi.
“Hmm? Okay. I’ll be right there.” Luo Yi immediately ran out of the venue and walked towards the office.
When he arrived at Alberto’s office, he found the door was open, which meant that the head coach had been waiting for Luo Yi.
“Come in, kid.” Alberto said with a smile as he invited Luo Yi to walk into the room. “Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you.”
Luo Yi was stunned: “Oh? Oh, thank you, Mr. Alberto.”
Oh yes, May 26th is my birthday, I almost forgot.
Since his birthday in this life is different from that in his previous life, Luo Yi is not very sensitive to this day.
Of course there is another reason, that is, Luo Yi has been too focused on competition and training recently and really can’t remember it.
Well, for many men, birthdays aren’t that important…
“But, Mr. Alberto didn’t ask me to come here just to wish me a happy birthday, right?” Luo Yi thought to himself.
Sure enough, Alberto immediately said: “Your birthday has come, which means you are 17 years old, which is also the minimum age for a player to sign a professional contract.”
Luo Yi seemed to understand Alberto’s intention.
The coach continued: “I know that you signed an agreement when you joined our club, which is a professional contract that can officially take effect today. But judging from your recent performance, that contract is a bit outdated.”
Luo Yi tilted his head and thought about it.
Since he didn’t care much about the salary, he couldn’t remember what the benefits were in the contract.
Was it $100 a week? Or was it $150? I can’t remember.
Never mind. It doesn’t matter.
What’s important is that the club is willing to raise your salary proactively, which proves your value to the team!
“So, this is a new contract we have drafted. You can take a look at it first. If you have any ideas, you can tell me and we can talk again.” Alberto looked into Luo Yi’s eyes and said seriously, then handed over a few printed papers.
Luo Yi took it and took a quick look at it.
In fact, he didn’t have the patience to read a lot of terms and conditions, and only saw the most important one: weekly salary of $2,000!
Luo Yi was shocked.
Although as a rich second-generation he had never worried about money, he was also well aware that this was a very high price.
It has increased ten to twenty times compared to before!
And what does $2,000 a week mean? That’s $8,000 a month.
At this point in time, the average annual salary of Chinese people is about three to four thousand, and the unit is RMB!
That works out to more than 300 RMB per month…
As for Brazilians, their income is better than that of Chinese at this time, but it is only a few dozen dollars a month.
If Luo Yi was born a poor boy, he would have risen to the top and entered the circle of rich people by now.
Of course, even if compared only with the football circle, this number is not low.
The salaries of most of the main players of Brazilian teams are in the range of 1,000-4,000 per week, and those who can earn 3,000-4,000 are basically international players, like Cafu and Luis Muller in Sao Paulo.
In a poorer club like Cruzeiro, a weekly salary of $2,000 would definitely be considered top-tier.
So this new contract shows the club’s determination to keep Luo Yi.
We can’t let our best players feel like they’re being treated unfairly!
“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong?” Seeing that Luo Yi didn’t speak for a long time, Alberto felt a little unsure.
The main reason is that Luo Yi’s performance has been really good recently, and many clubs have set their sights on him!
According to reliable sources, a scout from a strong French Ligue 1 team has been observing Luo Yi recently.
This also gave Alberto a great sense of crisis.
That’s why Alberto wanted to take the initiative and ask the club to raise wages.
Otherwise, the summer transfer window is coming soon. If Luo Yi runs away at this critical juncture, how will Cruzeiro play the next game!
And soon, Alberto’s heart calmed down.
Because he saw a smile on Luo Yi’s face, and then he stretched out his hand and said:
“That’s fine with me. Do you have a pen? I’ll sign right away.”
——————
PS: Brazil’s currency has been quite chaotic recently, and the exchange rate has been fluctuating greatly. Therefore, this article uses U.S. dollars and mainly uses weekly wages for settlement, which makes comparison easier.