Chapter 781: The Brand New FIFA Best Player Trophy
The winter transfer work for the 2016-17 season was in full swing. As early as the previous summer, Manchester City had signed an agreement with Palmeiras from the Brazilian Serie A.
In January of this year, the 19-year-old Brazilian youngster Jesus officially joined the Blue Moon, with a transfer fee as high as ��27 million.
Although he had not yet proven himself on the European stage, his outstanding potential still attracted the attention of many top clubs.
In today's era, waiting patiently for a player to prove himself before making a move is already too late. More clubs tend to "gamble on the lottery," using a not-so-expensive price to bet on the future.
Similarly, the cash-rich Paris Saint-Germain also spent �30 million to sign the 20-year-old Portuguese youngster Gon?alo Guedes from Benfica.
As an "excellent product" of the C��sar Youth Academy, Guedes made his debut for the first team at the age of 17. The Eagles had always planned to package and sell him at a good price from the start.
Then Paris continued to make moves, digging out the German forward Julian Draxler from Wolfsburg for a high price of �40 million.
He had intended to leave Wolfsburg last summer, but due to transfer wishes and cost issues, the deal fell through. He had also had a very unpleasant experience with the club, facing internal suspension penalties.
Now, resolving these troubles during the winter break could be considered mutually beneficial.
Just when everyone thought this transfer would take the winter window by storm, another blockbuster deal exploded in the football world.
Chelsea's former midfielder, the 25-year-old Brazilian star Oscar, transferred to the Chinese Super League's Shanghai SIPG for a staggering ��50 million.
Fans were amazed at his departure from mainstream European leagues at his peak, while marveling at the power of the Chinese Super League's financial resources.
However, behind this red-hot wave of money, there was still a group of "rebellious" people.
They were the young players cultivated by Wang Feng, born from European youth training systems, spread out to various secondary leagues to train, gradually growing and improving.
On January 10th, the annual FIFA Awards Ceremony was held in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Best XI still consisted mainly of Real Madrid's dynasty, with Barcelona gaining some credit for their outstanding performance in the second half of the year. Manchester City's David Silva and Wang Feng became the only non-La Liga players.
The lineup included goalkeeper Navas, defenders Ramos, Marcelo, Alves, and Pique.
In midfield were Modric, David Silva, and Iniesta, with forwards Wang Feng, Aguero, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
A new FIFA Fan Award was added this year, awarded to passionate fans of Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.
The Puskas Award was won by Malaysia's Subri, with a stunning long-range free kick that curved into the net.
The Fair Play Award was given to Colombia's Nacional Atl��tico, as they voluntarily gave up participating in the Copa Sudamericana final, allowing the championship to be awarded to the Brazilian club Chapecoense, who suffered a plane crash.
The Best Female Coach of the Year was won by German coach Neid, and the Best Female Player was American player Lloyd.
Ancelotti's failure to retain the Best Male Coach of the Year was somewhat regrettable. Santos, who led Portugal to their first European Championship victory, also missed out on the award.
Claudio Ranieri, who led Leicester City to the miracle of winning the Premier League title, emerged as the biggest winner, shocking the European football world.
Finally, the climax of the World Player of the Year award did not see any surprises. Wang Feng won the title with 34.54% of the votes, Cristiano Ronaldo ranked second with 26.42% of the votes, and Antoine Griezmann ranked third with only 7.53% of the votes.
After receiving the brand new trophy from FIFA President Infantino, Wang Feng made a playful gesture, looking at it for a moment before saying, "A brand new style, hmm, my trophy room just got richer!"
The audience burst into laughter, followed by warm applause for the Chinese superstar.
As the only player to have won the World Player of the Year award across three eras, he indeed had a wide variety of trophy styles in his collection.
After a little joke, Wang Feng returned to the topic, thanking Real Madrid and Manchester City for their help, thanking his family for their support, especially in times of separation. "I believe that parting is for a better reunion."
Like the Ballon d'Or, this was the 12th time the Chinese superstar had won the FIFA Best Player award, a great achievement that would be a highlight in football history.
FIFA, UEFA, and the AFC all congratulated Wang Feng on their official websites, while the football associations of Belgium, Italy, Spain, and England also published articles of admiration on their official platforms.
Any organization that could be associated with the Chinese superstar would eagerly speak out, doing their best to link themselves to his legendary career.
Fans and media looked back on the past dozen years of world football, with many outstanding talents emerging, but no one had ever threatened Wang Feng's dominance.
The issue of succession had been discussed over and over again, from the beginning with Ronaldinho, Kaka, to Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and now Neymar, Hazard.
Every time these stars emerged, people would speculate whether they could catch up with Wang Feng's pace.
Until now, more and more people had received a definite answer: no! There was no one in the past, no one now, and there would be no one in the future!
Wang Feng's abilities and achievements were unique, like the difference between stars and the sun.
Pele once said in an interview, "We are humans, Wang is a god. No one can compare to him. Even trying to catch up is a luxury."
"Legend, greatness, these words are no longer enough to describe him. You just need to watch his games and be amazed with your mouth wide open."
Maradona also said, "I have never truly admired any player from the bottom of my heart, Wang is the only one. It's a bit regrettable not to have had the chance to compete with him on the same field, but it's more fortunate."
"Otherwise, the evaluation in later generations might become: under the reign of football god Wang Feng, there appeared such an excellent player as Maradona, haha."
Beckenbauer also held the same view, "To be able to surpass an era, and even surpass the football world, there is only Wang Feng alone. No matter when the rankings are made, he will always be the undisputed number one."
In response to the voices that had emerged in recent times, suggesting excluding Wang Feng from the selection of the world's best, FIFA President Infantino responded officially.
"This viewpoint is a betrayal and insult to the football cause. Wang is the greatest football player in history."
"He always responds to everyone's expectations, but wanting more has gradually turned into blame, into something unreasonable and unfair."
"As long as Wang continues to perform better than other players, we should award him the major prizes, regardless of how many honors he has received in the past."
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