After beating Atalanta away from home, the AC Milan players returned to Milanello in a relaxed mood.
The final matchday was seven days away, and the squad had plenty of time to rest.
The team's form was excellent at this point!
The one thing the AC Milan players found slightly frustrating was that the initiative for the final matchday was not in AC Milan's own hands!
If Roma comfortably beat Palermo at home, then AC Milan would simply have to accept a third-place finish in Serie A!
That would mean there was no guarantee of AC Milan playing in the Champions League next season!
They would need to come through a qualifying play-off at the start of the new campaign!
While the opponents in the play-off would not usually be particularly strong, it would still have an impact on the club's summer recruitment and planning!
If AC Milan failed to reach the Champions League, what would become of Berlusconi's investment of 100 million euros?
That was the real reason Berlusconi was insisting the team had to finish second and go straight into the Champions League!
Only then would he feel his 100 million euros was money well spent!
Inzaghi gave the squad a day off.
Balancing work and rest was the right approach.
However, the very next morning Leon was at the entrance to the Milanello training complex as usual, ready to go in and run laps.
"Hmm? Why is it so lively?"
A sizeable number of players had gathered at the entrance to the Milanello training complex.
Judging by their ages, they appeared to be youth team players!
Had the youth team started doing extra training sessions as well?
Leon found it rather surprising!
It was not that Leon believed he was the only person in the world who put in the hard work!
It was simply that there genuinely were no particularly hardworking players in the AC Milan youth setup!
Donnarumma, bursting with natural talent, was not exactly someone who sought out extra training sessions!
Had the entire youth team suddenly turned over a new leaf?
That seemed unlikely!
"Look who it is!"
"The man who made it all happen!"
"Our captain!"
"The invincible Leon!"
A string of slightly teasing and playful voices rang out!
But not a flicker of displeasure crossed Leon's face, and instead a smile spread across it!
Because the voice belonged to Hachim Mastour!
Leon's only true friend at AC Milan!
"You're back?"
Leon stepped forward and pulled Hachim Mastour into a big embrace!
"I'm back!"
"Leon! Next season we fight side by side!"
Hachim Mastour was visibly excited to see Leon too!
It had been nearly half a year!
The Segunda División B season had concluded, and Hachim Mastour had naturally come back early from Leoia!
Although the loan did not officially end until 30 June, it was not a problem!
Leoia was an AC Milan feeder club after all, and neither side would squabble over such minor details.
"Absolutely! Next season we fight side by side!"
Leon felt a genuine surge of warmth inside!
In the system's bond module, Hachim Mastour's bond value had already reached 80!
High enough to unlock a Level 4 bond directly!
However, actually activating it next season would require Hachim Mastour to be promoted to the first team by Inzaghi!
On top of that, it would cost 5,000 system points!
Leon was weighing up whether to start stockpiling system points!
After all, if the Level 4 bond with Hachim Mastour could truly be activated next season, it would likely bring very significant benefits to the team!
"Hakim! How did you end up on Leon's side?!"
Donnarumma's voice suddenly cut through.
Hachim Mastour commanded real respect in the youth team, carrying himself with the air of a natural leader!
Before his loan move to Leoia, he had always been the undisputed top dog in the youth setup!
Players like Donnarumma had all followed Hachim Mastour's lead!
These teenagers, when it came to forming their little cliques, were far more intense about it than the first team!
Immature, naturally, but that was how it was!
That was also exactly why Hachim Mastour, after coming back, was able to bring a group of youth team players along to wait for Leon here.
But the scene that unfolded was completely different from what Donnarumma had imagined!
Donnarumma had assumed Hachim Mastour was bringing them here to confront Leon and have it out with him!
Leon was far too full of himself!
Donnarumma was not prepared to accept any of it!
Everyone else had been quietly working their way up through the youth ranks, so why did Leon get to operate on a completely different level?
It was completely unfair!
And as for Leon becoming the Milan captain, that made Donnarumma even less willing to accept it!
In Donnarumma's eyes, Leon's style of goalkeeping was far too reckless!
It was nothing like what a goalkeeper at a top club should look like!
A goalkeeper at a top club needed to be solid and composed above all else!
Not constantly making last-ditch desperate saves!
Donnarumma's view was not entirely wrong!
But he had overlooked one thing: AC Milan at this point in time no longer had the credentials to call themselves a top club!
Inzaghi's system also demanded exactly the kind of unpredictable, instinct-driven goalkeeper that Leon was!
Even though Leon had made a handful of elementary errors this season, they were trivially small compared to the contribution he had made to the team!
Now seeing Hachim Mastour treat Leon like a brother, Donnarumma felt as though he had been struck by a blinding light, and a chill settled in his chest!
"Traitor!"
Donnarumma delivered his verdict on Hachim Mastour without a moment's hesitation!
"Let's go!"
Unable to watch Hachim Mastour and Leon carrying on like that, Donnarumma turned and walked away, taking a good number of youth team players with him.
"Huh? What on earth!"
Hachim Mastour, who had only just returned and was still getting his bearings, was completely baffled!
This lot, his little crew, had staged a mutiny!
Only two remained.
Youth team forward Cutrone, and youth team defender Francesco!
Francesco was the same one who had been there to welcome Leon when he first arrived at AC Milan.
"You're about to move up to the first team anyway, why bother about what the youth team thinks!"
Leon saw the faintly irritated look on Hachim Mastour's face and said with a calm smile.
"True enough!"
Hachim Mastour came back to his senses.
His horizons had still been set too low!
Just look at Leon!
There was simply no comparison!
1 June, Children's Day, and also the day of the final round of Serie A fixtures!
San Siro was packed out once again!
The attendance figures at San Siro this season had improved dramatically!
All of this, without exaggeration, was down to Leon!
When the season ended, it would be difficult for Berlusconi to justify not giving Leon a pay rise!
Speaking of a pay rise, Leon still did not have a formal agent to this day!
But finding one was the last thing Leon needed to worry about now.
The two most prominent agents in football at this moment had both arrived in the city of Milan at the same time!
Raiola and Mendes!
Anyone with eyes could see Leon's potential, and naturally these two top agents could see the enormous business opportunity Leon represented!
They were both waiting for the final Serie A matchday to end before making their move and signing Leon!
The final Serie A matchday: AC Milan vs Torino! Roma vs Palermo!
The matches that would determine the final Serie A standings were about to begin!
Before this match, Leon had accumulated another 182 system points.
But Leon had decided not to invest in upgrading any attributes for now, preferring to hold onto them.
Torino had found their footing in Serie A over the past few seasons and had shown improvement, but they were still not a particularly strong side!
Leon's current level was more than enough to handle Torino!
In the final match of the season, AC Milan not only had to do their job, but also keep one eye on how Roma performed!
Whether they would go straight into the Champions League came down to this match!