Châtaigner never considered himself an autocratic person.
But Bastia's current head coach, Hajibegic, would definitely disagree. At least in this Bosnian coach's view, just signing De Rocca as a transfer was completely incomprehensible.
Obviously declining in ability, and still a problem youth who might even go to prison for robbery.
Who would want such a player?
Talent? How much was left now? The past was the past, and now is now!
So Hajibegic really couldn't understand.
As a former main defender of the strongest Yugoslavia team around the 1990s, a longtime teammate of Pancev, Stojkovic, and other top Yugoslav players, he represented Yugoslavia in multiple World Cups and was truly the anchor of Yugoslavia's defense.
He was the second-most capped Bosnian player for the Yugoslav national team and the fifth-most capped player overall for Yugoslavia.
Fans who followed football in the last century surely know that Hajibegic's most regrettable moment might be the penalty kick in the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
In the quarterfinals, Yugoslavia faced Argentina, and both teams battled to a penalty shootout.
Ultimately, Hajibegic's and teammate Brnovic's penalties were saved by Argentine goalkeeper Goycochea, and Argentina successfully advanced.
Moreover, Argentina's main goalkeeper Nery Pumpido was injured and left the field, so Goycochea stepped up in the crisis. Although Argentina ultimately didn't lift the trophy under Maradona's leadership and had to settle for second place.
But no one could have predicted that Hajibegic's penalty, blocked by Goycochea, would become Yugoslavia's last touch of the ball in a major tournament.
From then on, although the name Yugoslavia remained, Yugoslavia in substance was no more.
The six Yugoslav countries split apart.
Disheartened and no longer suitable due to age, Hajibegic retired in 1995 and began coaching Sochaux that same year, officially starting his coaching career.
He subsequently coached the Bosnian national team, Real Betis, Troyes, and other teams.
At the end of 2009, when Bastia was mired in darkness, Hajibegic didn't hesitate to leave Dijon and take over this third-tier team.
He successfully led Bastia to promotion.
This season, they still retained huge hopes of promotion to the first division.
The cooperation between Hajibegic and Châtaigner was decent, but their only point of disagreement was signing De Rocca.
When he saw De Rocca go to prison, Hajibegic felt his judgment was very correct.
He relegated De Rocca to the youth team to fend for himself.
But who would have thought that Châtaigner would want De Rocca to return to the first team!
He even wanted De Rocca to play in the French Cup!
"Impossible!" After Châtaigner hung up first, Hajibegic still expressed his attitude to the phone.
But Châtaigner could no longer hear him.
He was once again lost in a trance.
Boom! The fans at the venue felt the same way.
In the final minutes, when everyone thought the match would end there, De Rocca once again demonstrated his ability as a top talent.
He completely destroyed the opposition on the wing, cut inside, and scored.
3-0!
De Rocca's hat trick.
He ran to the stands, excited and wanting to celebrate, but couldn't think of any celebration move, so he just randomly pumped his fist.
But this was enough to delight the Bastia fans at the venue.
Not only were they happy about their victory over Ajaccio U19, but they were also happy that their team had such a genius as De Rocca.
Many Bastia fans didn't actually know De Rocca's background; they just thought he was a player the team had brought in from elsewhere.
They praised whoever brought in De Rocca, saying they truly had a keen eye for talent.
"Just don't know what price the team paid for De Rocca. Such a player, with this kind of talent, definitely wouldn't be cheap."
Châtaigner, sitting in the stands, occasionally heard these fragments and felt as sweet as honey in his heart.
He even wanted to laugh out loud and stand up to tell these people that he hadn't spent a single penny—De Rocca was a free transfer!
But he suppressed this impulse.
Some bragging, when you say it yourself, greatly diminishes the effect. Better to wait for those Corsican media outlets to dig it up themselves.
He believed that after this match, De Rocca would definitely attract media attention.
Especially since he had already decided to let De Rocca play in the French Cup.
Thinking about these things, Châtaigner couldn't suppress the smile on his face. That former French prodigy had been reborn from the ashes at Bastia.
He attributed all of this to De Rocca's month in prison.
Perhaps it was there that De Rocca rediscovered himself.
Just as Châtaigner was thinking about these random things, the fans on the field lit the cold flares they had prepared earlier.
For a moment, the entire Cesari Stadium was filled with smoke.
A small U19 match had the atmosphere of Ligue 1.
Setting off cold flares was a feature of Ligue 1.
Other leagues explicitly prohibited it, but this was France.
In the smoke, both teams' players ended this Corsican youth derby.
De Rocca, without question, became the most brilliant player of this match.
When leaving the field, Tavenot gave him a big hug. "Good lad, well done. Keep it up, work hard, and go reclaim the glory that people once expected from you but you never achieved."
In the post-match locker room, the Bastia youth team players all had smiles on their faces.
Defeating an Ajaccio team was more gratifying than beating other teams.
Some players even said, "With De Rocca, we can definitely win all our upcoming matches."
But when such words were spoken and heard by Tavenot, who had just entered, he immediately rejected them. "Hey, kid, don't think about relying on De Rocca. Polish your own abilities—De Rocca won't play in the upcoming matches."
Huh? When some players looked confused, others immediately thought of something and looked toward De Rocca.
Novittat continued. "De Rocca is returning to the first team. You all need to train hard!"
Hearing Novittat's words, envy flashed in everyone else's eyes.
They didn't know how long it would be before they reached the first team.
But thinking about De Rocca's previous experiences, their feelings became more complex. Perhaps this was what genius was like.
As long as they made just a little effort, they could easily touch thresholds that others could never reach in their entire lives.
De Rocca himself wasn't particularly happy about this news—he just felt relieved.
Being able to enter the first team meant having opportunities to improve himself faster.
Moreover, in Ligue 2, the stage was much bigger than the current youth team.
Recalling all the events of the past few years—from being called a prodigy and genius to falling into obscurity, his predecessor hadn't been able to withstand the pressure and chose to let negative emotions spread unchecked.
He sighed softly.
"Then let me take you to see the scenery from the top."