"Knock, knock, knock."
"Come in."
Leon walked into Inzaghi's office.
'Hm?'
Leon found that the office held more than just Inzaghi: assistant coach Tassotti was there too, along with three familiar faces.
Baresi!
Maldini!
Ambrosini!
All three of AC Milan's former captains were present.
The room had effectively become a gathering of Milan legends.
Leon felt a quiet surge of excitement.
Although Baresi and Maldini far outranked Ambrosini in stature and influence, the idol Leon held closest to his heart was Ambrosini.
Now that he was standing in the same room as him, Leon could barely contain his excitement.
'Back in 2001, a lot of people said my career was finished!'
'But I was only 24. How could I give up?!'
The words Ambrosini had once spoken in an interview came back to Leon's mind.
At the prime age of 24, Ambrosini had suffered torn cruciate ligaments in both knees on separate occasions.
On top of that, he had also endured a severe tibia fracture.
Players who had suffered injuries as serious as those were rare.
Before those injuries, Ambrosini had been hailed as the heir to Albertini and the man destined to captain Milan after Maldini.
In the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, Ambrosini and Albertini formed AC Milan's settled midfield partnership and became the new hope of the club.
The 1999-2000 season in particular saw Ambrosini deliver performances so outstanding that he was immediately anointed as Milan's crown prince.
But that was precisely when the injuries struck, one after another.
By the time he had recovered, AC Milan's midfield had already come to belong to Pirlo and Gattuso.
Pirlo was weak defensively but ran the show in terms of organisation.
That meant Milan needed a pure defensive midfielder to protect him.
In that role, Gattuso's durability and consistency far exceeded Ambrosini's, and Ambrosini had no choice but to accept a place on the bench.
At that point in his career, Ambrosini's distribution could not match Pirlo's, and his defensive range could not match Gattuso's.
If he was not going to be a substitute, who would be?
But if you really thought about it, had Ambrosini never been injured, Pirlo might never have found his way into that Milan midfield at all.
Whether Pirlo's famous positional switch from the attacking midfield role further back would even have happened was an open question.
After all, if you already had a player like Rijkaard, even a slightly lesser version, why would you need two players to do the job of one?
Look at it from another angle: was Ambrosini not simply someone whose distribution was better than Gattuso's and whose defensive work was stronger than Pirlo's?
In the 2006-07 season, Ambrosini finally emerged from his cycle of recurring injuries in full fitness and, despite starting the campaign on the bench, quickly won back his place in the starting eleven.
And in the end, he received the captain's armband from Maldini himself.
All of that had been a source of inspiration for Leon.
When he had first started out in the Segunda División B, Leon could see no path to getting on the pitch at all.
Yet Leon never stopped training relentlessly and stayed ready the whole time.
Of course, without the system, Leon might still have been nothing more than a backup goalkeeper at Leoia.
And even if he had been given a chance to play, it would probably have been a disaster.
That was perhaps the most bitter irony of football back in the East.
"Hey, Leon!"
"You've been tremendous!"
Ambrosini was the first to walk over with a smile and pull Leon into an embrace.
Maldini and Baresi followed, each giving Leon a hug in turn.
That kind of reception was something only Leon could have received.
"Leon, there's something important we need to tell you today."
"From this moment on, you are Milan's captain."
"I hope you will take that responsibility seriously."
Inzaghi's expression turned serious.
Baresi, Maldini, and Ambrosini each gave a grave, deliberate nod.
In that moment, Leon genuinely felt the weight of what was being placed on him.
The club's owners and management might keep changing, but the spirit of Milan was something that passed from one generation to the next without interruption.
Leon had his frustrations with the current management, but his respect for the spirit Milan carried was absolute.
That spirit had been forged by generation after generation of players.
Looking around at a room full of Milan legends, Leon did not hesitate.
"I accept."
Leon gave a single nod.
"That's the spirit! That's exactly the attitude you need!"
Maldini was clearly impressed by Leon's response.
Had Leon shown any sign of hesitation or timidity, Maldini would genuinely have thought less of him.
"Hang on, weren't you 22 when you took the armband from me?"
Baresi suddenly thought of something and turned to Maldini with a grin.
"Yes, that's right."
"It looks like Milan's youngest ever captain is about to be born."
Maldini caught on to what Baresi meant, glancing at Leon's age, and broke into a smile.
"He's earned it."
Ambrosini said quietly from the side.
Leon returning from injury under the most demanding circumstances, then putting in performance after outstanding performance even while wearing a mask, had earned Ambrosini's complete admiration.
Walking out of the office, Leon felt slightly dazed.
Had he really just become the Milan captain?
It was genuinely difficult to take in.
AC Milan's approach to the captaincy had always followed a simple principle: whoever had been at the club the longest held the armband.
That applied to the on-pitch captain for each match as well.
For decades across Milan's history, that system had never caused a problem.
Because the soul of the squad would naturally be whoever had given the most years to the club.
But that was no longer the case.
With Ambrosini's unceremonious departure, AC Milan had lurched into a period of chaotic rebuilding.
Squad turnover was extremely high.
Things were relatively manageable for now, but in the near future the situation would become so extreme that the entire playing squad would be turned over during a single off-season.
A genuinely extraordinary state of affairs.
Under those conditions, the Milan captaincy had fallen into complete disarray.
It looked as though anyone could wear the armband.
And at the same time, it looked as though no one truly deserved it.
Now Leon had taken it up.
Everything was going to be different.
At the afternoon training session, the moment Leon stepped into the dressing room he was met with a warm round of applause from his teammates.
Mexes and Abbiati stood at the front, leading the welcome for Milan's new captain.
Leon was genuinely taken aback this time.
Mexes and Abbiati had been the captain and vice-captain this season, yet they appeared to have no objection whatsoever to Leon parachuting into the captaincy above them.
It was not hard to understand: in competitive sport, ability is ultimately the only argument that counts.
And with the backing Leon had behind him, even if a handful of players were unhappy, there was nothing to be done about it.
"I always looked to Ambrosini as my captain."
"After he left, even though I wore the armband, in my heart he was still the captain."
"Now I'm asking you to make me feel that you are Milan's captain."
Mexes walked over and placed a hand on Leon's shoulder, a wave of emotion running through him.
From the day Leon had arrived and Mexes had ignored him entirely, to now standing here and willingly handing over the captaincy: how many months had even passed?
Some people, it seemed, were simply destined to define an era.
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