Julien was the young player Elion valued most highly, far superior to Oscar, whom the team had set their sights on.
For this reason, he spared no effort to bring him to Chelsea.
Unfortunately, his wishes were not fulfilled.
Looking back now, he didn't know if it was right or wrong. But Julien, whom he thought was already finished and lost among the crowd, had actually scored a hat-trick?
His assistant brought him the news from The Bastia Daily.
He knew that Elion's greatest regret was Julien—otherwise he wouldn't have paid attention to this story.
Players like Julien, these verified "dud lottery tickets," would never return to their consideration.
The newspaper's account of the process was unclear, only making a big fuss about the results.
Elion automatically ignored the bragging about Bastia's youth team defeating Ajaccio U19, reading the parts about Julien several times over.
The smile on his face grew brighter and brighter.
Then he said to his assistant, "Book me a flight to Valenciennes for the 22nd, and remember to buy me a copy of The Bastia Daily—this exact issue. I want to keep it as a memento."
His assistant was somewhat surprised. The 22nd was right after Lyon's match ended in the afternoon, and he wanted to go to Valenciennes immediately?
Of course, he knew Elion was going to watch Bastia's match.
Because The Bastia Daily stated emphatically that Julien would return to the first team and was expected to play in the French Cup Round of 16 away match against Valenciennes.
But wasn't this giving Julien a bit too much importance?
"The French Cup match—this is a rare training opportunity. Give me your best performance. Playing against a Ligue 1 team early is like a preview of our promotion."
Césaire Stadium.
When there were no matches, it served as Bastia's training ground.
After training ended, Hadzibegić gathered the players and repeatedly emphasized the importance of this match.
"Don't slack off just because we're not fielding our full starting lineup. Every one of you will be watched by the fans."
The players naturally understood this too.
For lower-division players, matches against higher-level teams were always rare opportunities to show themselves.
If they could perform well against strong opponents, even if they couldn't make it to top-tier league teams, at least they'd have more confidence in future contract negotiations.
Thinking of this, some people secretly glanced at Julien De Rocca.
In the past few days, Bastia had held two or three practice matches, and Julien had gotten about twenty minutes of playing time.
He left a deep impression on many people.
Watching Julien play, the word "genius" involuntarily popped into their minds.
There was no helping it.
Julien's playing style was too different from theirs.
Bastia's overall style was fierce and aggressive, daring to fight and compete, but the flip side was that it was rough. So, they could only rely on physicality.
A technical player like Julien stood out particularly among them.
Even though Hadzibegić naturally harbored some prejudice against Julien, seeing his performance couldn't help but improve his impression of him somewhat.
Moreover, since Julien had joined the first team these past few days, he had been almost excessively quiet, doing nothing but training with his head down, with almost no extra presence.
Nothing like his previous rowdy behavior.
This made Hadzibegić, who originally didn't want to give Julien a chance in the French Cup, soften his stance.
As the match against Valenciennes drew closer, Hadzibegić finally convinced himself the day before announcing the squad. "He's just a kid. If he knows his mistakes and can change, he deserves a chance."
After finishing those words, Hadzibegić paused and continued.
"Now I'll announce the French Cup squad. I'll read it briefly—it will be posted on the bulletin board. Everyone whose name is called, prepare well!"
Immediately, many people looked up expectantly.
Everyone knew this match would feature a semi-starting lineup, which meant many substitute players had opportunities.
So, most substitutes inevitably had hopes.
This included Julien.
"Maolida, Rothen, Vincent, Choprlinovic, Maridavid... and Julien."
The eighteen-man squad was read out.
Some were happy, others disappointed.
Some substitute players were selected, while others still had no chance.
When Julien heard his name, he lowered his head with a smile, secretly clenching his fist to encourage himself.
This match—he had to deliver something significant.
Perhaps returning to the French scouts' attention would happen in this very match.
He wouldn't stay at Bastia forever. For him, this place was just a temporary stepping stone. So, he needed to make a name for himself.
Let many people know and say: 'oh, that guy called Julien De Rocca plays football very well.'
Many people were quite envious of Julien's selection. After returning to the first team for the first time since his imprisonment, he could already make the French Cup squad.
But no one felt it was undeserved.
At least in training, Julien had convinced these rough players.
"Congratulations, I hope you get to play," Vincent said, walking over to congratulate Julien after Hadzibegić dismissed them.
"Thank you."
Making the squad was just the first step; Julien actually didn't know if he'd get playing time.
The two chatted casually for a bit.
Then Julien said, "I'm going to train."
Vincent gave Julien a thumbs up.
The current Julien really made them see him in a completely new light, making people wonder: could one robbery and imprisonment experience really transform someone so completely?
Julien had been insisting on extra training during this period.
Besides finding his form again, the most important thing was watching his attribute improvements.
Over the past few days, he had roughly figured out the difficulty of improving his attributes.
The higher the attribute value and the closer to the upper limit, the harder it became to improve.
For example, dribbling and ball control were already at a first-class level, just a few points from the attribute ceiling, with no movement at all.
Of course, he felt this was also related to his training intensity and time.
He couldn't rush it; he had to take it slow.
Attributes like defending and tackling were slightly easier to improve, but not by much. After all, given his current physical foundation, improvement was quite difficult.
Over about a week, he had only improved 1 point in speed and 2 points in strength—speed was now 65, strength 57.
The improvement was slow.
But Julien was already very satisfied. Being able to see a path forward was the best motivation.
What people fear most is being lost in confusion, not knowing where the road ahead leads.
Once you see the path to success, many people can move forward boldly—like the college exams he had experienced in his previous life.
Time flew by.
On January 22nd, the entire Bastia team assembled to head to Valenciennes.
Before departure, Hadzibegić specifically talked to Julien. "Get ready. Tomorrow you'll play. Don't mess up your first-team debut."