Julien nodded. He hadn't intended to deliberately hide these things.
Pierre was even thinking that perhaps Julien had already decided on a specific club, he was just waiting for that target to contact him.
Pierre didn't continue this topic.
Instead, Julien brought up something else. He said to Pierre, "I want to create a website."
"Hm?" Pierre was a bit puzzled. "What website?"
Julien smiled and mentioned writing the personal letter that afternoon, then said, "This inspiration came from that. I'm thinking, could I create such a platform, inviting some football players and maybe later basketball, rugby, handball players, etc. to publish personal articles on this website, describing their personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings?"
Julien boldly shared his vision. "I don't like communicating with the media. They're always selective in their reporting, exaggerating for traffic. I want players to be able to communicate directly with fans without media filtering."
Pierre frowned. As a blue-collar worker, he couldn't think that far. He was even wondering, "That's a good idea, but can it make money? Why would these stars come to our website to write?"
Julien shook his head, not explaining too much to Pierre.
Should he say that the coming era would be the information age, the age of personal or self-media?
He only said, "Didn't Réné study computer science? In a couple days we can ask how his work is going. If he's interested, we can try it. It doesn't need much money. We can start with Bastia players, then each person can bring some friends, national team teammates to write, gradually spreading."
Julien added, "For this kind of platform, we just need to manage operations well. The content will be completed by the players themselves."
Julien actually just wanted to create some business for his family.
Pierre seriously considered the feasibility.
Julien didn't say anything more. It wasn't good to be too transparent about some things.
After Julien replied to all the blessing messages on his phone, he washed up and went to bed.
The next day.
The Julien family woke up early. Sister Élodie was the first to rush to the Christmas tree. "Oh, let me see this year's Christmas presents!"
Pierre and his wife had prepared gifts for all six children. Even though Julien, brother Réné, and sister Clémence were adults and even had jobs, in their parents' eyes, they were still children who needed Christmas presents.
Of course, the children had also carefully prepared gifts for their parents.
Julien had prepared for their mother a perfume she always stared at through Paris perfume shop windows but never bought, along with a silk scarf. For their father, an expensive watch.
Everyone opened the gift boxes with their names on them.
"Wow! Classic Leica M series rangefinder lens!!" Léonce exclaimed. He loved photography but had always been deterred by the high prices. This time, his wish was fulfilled.
The others also showed expressions of delight.
This Christmas was different from all previous ones.
Pierre and his wife opened their boxes, saw the children's gifts inside, and smiled broadly.
Julien opened his gift box.
The first thing that caught his eye was a comic book.
Opening it, he saw delicate, careful strokes. He immediately recognized it as his sister Élodie's handiwork.
The story was simple, about the protagonist "Super Captain Julien" leading his team to overcome difficulties, like the monster symbolizing his previous low periods, defeating enemies one by one, and finally lifting the trophy.
At the end of the story, Élodie wrote in exaggerated font: "Mon frère est un super-héros!"
My brother is a superhero.
The morning was spent discussing gifts.
Meanwhile,
When Bastia Daily went on sale that morning, street vendors couldn't help but shout, "Exclusive!! Julien De Rocca's personal letter!!!"
Hearing Julien's name, passersby stopped.
"Julien's personal letter?"
"Yes! Exclusive!"
"Quick, give me a copy!"
"Me too!"
Fans eagerly flipped through the newspaper. At many selling points, lines even formed.
Some impatient fans simply read together with those who'd bought copies: "I want to tell you about my story..."
Fans were completely immersed in Julien's writing.
More emotional fans even felt their eyes moisten. "Reading the prison part, my heart stopped... Julien!"
"That dream—'separated by a fence, separated by an entire world'—that line hurt so much, I couldn't breathe. I can't imagine how he felt having that dream behind bars. It was almost like personally burying another version of himself."
"The part about his parents' tears made me think of my own parents... He's just a kid too."
"So that's what happened at Chelsea? God, he almost fought with his own captain?"
Many Bastia fans were learning for the first time in such clear detail about their captain, their legend, how he had once lost control.
Instead, they felt closer to Julien, because this kind of person was real.
Moreover, combined with Julien's performance after his return, fans could feel from this naked confession a strong sense of "return" this was truly letting go of baggage and starting over.
"To face yourself without mercy like this, how much courage does that take? Julien truly accepted that imperfect version of himself."
"I'm sure some people will bring up Julien hitting people, robbing, going to prison, thinking he's a fallen person. But after reading this entire letter, I only see a soul lost in talent who ultimately achieved self-redemption. God forgives every lost child who finds their way home."
Amid all the discussion, that Christmas, Bastia Daily sold out by morning.
Due to the holiday, there wouldn't be reprints in the short term. But Julien's personal letter had completely taken off in Bastia!
Online, many Bastia fans quoted and shared quotes, significantly increasing its popularity.
Julien's popularity in France was already high.
With this, many French fans kept asking, "Where can I buy Bastia Daily?"
Most of the time the answer was, "Even we in Bastia can't buy it anymore."
However, in just one day.
This situation was immediately resolved. Not only did Bastia Daily reprint, but major French media like L'Équipe and France Football all contacted Bastia Daily requesting permission to reprint the article.
This naturally received Julien's permission. Because he'd signed a special feature contract with Bastia Daily: fixed fee plus royalties.
On December 28th.
The De Rocca family saw L'Équipe publish Julien's personal letter in Paris.
His siblings were all amazed that Julien not only played football well but also had such strong writing skills.
"Julien, I think you should try writing novels. Maybe you could become the next Alexandre Dumas."
Pierre and his wife sighed softly, with a feeling of having weathered the storm.
Their mother even held Julien alone and cried for a while.
French fans also continuously discussed the story of this "Future of French wingers."
"That dream saved him. Football ultimately didn't abandon him. Actually, aren't countless ordinary people the same? We've all experienced setbacks, valleys, even going astray in life. Julien's story is an extreme but incredibly vivid symbol of redemption. If Julien can climb back from that place, what reason do we have to give up on ourselves?"
"I think the version of him in the dream, knowing he couldn't do it but still chasing the ball, that's you and me! This description of the most primitive, purest love for football makes this letter transcend a simple star's account. It should be a love letter to all football lovers!"
"Okay, I didn't expect De Rocca to play football so well and also have such strong writing ability. Truly a genius is a genius."
On social media, some French legends and active players all shared this personal letter.
Deschamps was the first to repost, writing: "Courage, absolute courage!
To dare to openly face your darkest moments and the most shameful weaknesses deep in your heart so publicly, this requires warrior-like courage from the depths of the soul. Every line in the letter, from the loss at Chelsea to the rebirth in Corsica, made me see Julien anew.
I saw how a man broke free from the mire, how he overcame the shadow of the inner 'giant baby,' and ultimately became Bastia's undisputed leader and banner. He will also become France's leader and banner!
True leaders need not only talent and technique, but also this powerful spiritual strength to conquer oneself.
The Euro semifinal defeat was only a comma, just as he said in his letter, 'never stop.' I very much look forward to continuing to march with him in the future, for France's honor!"
French fans could see at a glance from Deschamps' words that he was going to fully build around Julien as the core.
Of course, this was already obvious. Otherwise, how could an 18-year-old player possibly wear France's number 10 jersey?
Zidane didn't post separately, but when he returned to France and was caught by reporters asking how he viewed Julien's personal letter.
Zidane smiled and said, "I think Clairefontaine should use this letter as teaching material."
Just that one sentence.
But enough to set imaginations running.
Julien had essentially gone viral again. He'd already received numerous calls and messages during Christmas, and now another wave came.
All Bastia players returned to Bastia on December 31st, preparing to start preparing for the second half of the season.
And the first instant everyone saw Julien back at the training base, they all chatted with him about that personal letter.
Lukaku said, "That was so awesome! I want to write too, but unfortunately, I don't have experiences like yours, and I feel I couldn't write as well as you."
When De Bruyne met him for the first time after New Year's, he gave Julien a big hug. "I read the letter. I'll fight for the championship with you."
Besides that, everyone noticed there were two extra people at this gathering.
After Hadzibegic finished chatting with the players, he officially said, "Come on, let's welcome our new members! They'll fight alongside us in the new year!"
Clap clap clap!
After a round of applause, Virgil van Dijk and Emiliano Martínez walked to the front.
Emiliano was a bit shy, simply introducing his name and that he was from Argentina before saying nothing more.
Van Dijk was relatively more outgoing. "Hey, guys, I'm here to join you and fight for the championship!"
"Haha"
Everyone laughed.
Van Dijk's words also ignited the fire in their hearts: win the title!
The Europa League situation was unclear for now, but in Ligue 1 they really had hope. No one wanted to miss this championship.
Julien stood in the crowd, looking at the young Van Dijk and Emiliano Martinez.
His heart was blazing.
Although they were far from their peak now, geniuses never made sense.
For the second half of the season, Bastia's squad was at least sufficient for competing on two fronts!
On the 31st, the team didn't arrange any training, purely just having players return to the team to start adapting to the second half of the season.
Julien arranged to meet with Fabreattu to continue learning English.
"Your progress is very fast. In these few months of study, you can already have simple conversations with people, though you still have a strong accent. But that can't be helped, it needs time."
Julien was also satisfied with his progress. With French as his native language, learning English was indeed much faster.
And when he had a language environment, it would be even faster, so Julien wasn't worried about his learning progress.
Maybe by summer, he'd already be able to converse fluently in English.
When the time officially came to January 1, 2013.
The winter transfer window opened.
Bastia immediately announced two signings on their official website.
"Virgil van Dijk joins Bastia"
"Emiliano Martínez on loan from Arsenal to Bastia, loan period..."
The website also briefly introduced both players.
Bastia fans immediately went in and read the introductions.
They had some doubts about these two signings, after all, both were too young!
In the fans' view, shouldn't they be signing experienced veterans to stabilize the back line at this time?
But some said, "Considering the club's financial situation, we should be glad anyone's coming at all. What more do you want?"
"According to media reports, signing Van Dijk cost nearly three million euros, and loaning Emiliano only cost eight hundred thousand euros. This is already very economical."
"This Van Dijk actually has good physical attributes. I'm still quite optimistic about him."
Bastia's two transfer announcements only sparked discussion among Bastia fans.
In other fan circles, there wasn't a ripple. Mainly because other teams also had many signings during this winter window.
In France, the most sensational signing was probably Paris Saint-Germain splashing money to buy players again!
Because this time, the man they bought was:
David Beckham!
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