As for this year’s award, the winner isn’t the highly favored Real Madrid star Enriquez or the Barça superstar Mancini from last year.
Instead, it’s the late-riser... the Portuguese champion who swept through Portugal and led the team alongside San Remo in the Champions League, Chris Averro!
And... Morici!
The first double winner in the history of the Golden Boy Award has been born!
Undoubtedly, the Golden Boy Award has mastered the secret to captivating attention.
They clearly understand that giving the award to Enriquez and Mancini doesn’t make much of an impact.
Because, in everyone’s eyes, these two were already considered the winners.
Only by giving the award to some dark horse, like last year’s Lu Yang, can they cause a massive effect.
There are two such individuals.
Morici and Averro.
The Golden Boy Award deliberated for a long time, finding it really difficult to decide.
Averro’s league stats are astonishingly similar to what Lu Yang had in Serie B, Averro’s stats look like a poor man’s Lu Yang.
And Morici won a series of championships and was the assist king, isn’t winning a Golden Boy Award more than adequate?
Yet, giving it to either one would not only displease the other player’s fans but also... pale in comparison to last year’s sensation.
Because neither Averro nor Morici quite match up to Lu Yang this time last year.
At that time, Lu Yang was a national hero, the embodiment of a miracle!
But the combination of Averro and Morici, though not quite on par with Lu Yang, at least brings a new buzz!
The truth is, this double win for the Golden Boy Award was a win-win!
It received recognition from countless media and fans.
"Averro absolutely deserves this Golden Boy Award!"
"If Averro doesn’t win the Golden Boy this year, then no one deserves it!"
"Mancini and Enriquez are unfortunate, last year was their best chance, but they lost to Lu Yang. This year, Mancini’s current form isn’t great, and Enriquez has been rotated due to the arrival of Izalelt."
"Averro slammed in fifteen goals in the league, possibly hitting forty this season! Crucially, he performed well in the Champions League too!"
"Morici swept through Serie B, UEFA Europa League, Italian Cup, European Super Cup, European Cup, and also has several assist king titles. Winning a Golden Boy Award is definitely not too much!"
"Did you notice? Averro is Lu Yang’s fanboy, and Morici is Lu Yang’s buddy. This Golden Boy Award has chosen the right patron!"
"Whether it’s competitive level, statistics, or public satisfaction, this Golden Boy Award is rock solid!"
"The correct answers have been written, why doesn’t the Golden Ball Award follow suit? This year put Lu Yang in the thirty-man shortlist, next year the top ten, and the following year the top three to ensure the Golden Ball Award flourishes."
Some fans urged the Golden Ball Award to learn from the Golden Boy Award.
But unfortunately, this is just a fan’s wishful thinking.
Because the Golden Ball Award... regardless of willingness, simply can’t emulate the Golden Boy Award.
The Golden Ball Award is already the most authoritative in the world, does it need to flourish further?
No, it doesn’t!
What it needs now is to rake in various sponsorships!
It’s understandable to sacrifice some fairness for this purpose.
No one can stay at the top forever; if you don’t make money during your peak years, you won’t be able to when you decline.
Those at the peak who still maintain their reputation and fairness are mostly just trying to extend their peak years.
On the other hand, there’s another difference.
The choice the Golden Boy Award faces is whether or not to give Lu Yang the Golden Boy Award.
Whereas the Golden Ball Award’s choice isn’t about giving Lu Yang the Golden Ball Award; everyone knows Lu Yang isn’t there yet.
It’s about what rank to give Lu Yang!
This is truly difficult to determine.
Even if it’s difficult, the crux is that this rank’s influence is bound to be small, not worth the effort.
If the choice were whether to give Lu Yang the Golden Ball Award’s first place, perhaps the Golden Ball could consider looking at the Golden Boy for inspiration.
So... truly, neither side can back down now.
Lu Yang pushes forward.
The Golden Ball can only push forward too.