Julien's appearance was absolutely beyond everyone's expectations.
At the same time, the reporters roughly understood why Julien had made this exception to appear here.
Hadzibegic first let reporters ask questions normally, answering some questions about the match. And some questions reporters had originally prepared to ask Hadzibegic now didn't need to be asked of him.
So, a strange situation emerged—after just a few questions, no reporters were asking Hadzibegic anymore. All eyes were focused on Julien, who sat upright beside him.
Hadzibegic shrugged and smiled. "It seems no one cares what this old man thinks, so I'll turn the time over to Julien."
Clap clap clap!
The reporters below all applauded, each one eager to compete for the chance to ask questions.
However, Julien didn't give them the opportunity to ask.
"Hello everyone. I know what questions you want to ask, so there's no need to ask—I'm here today to answer this question.
You all know that over this period, certain rumors have been rampant, and they've already begun to affect my training and matches.
This forces me to appear here to honestly address everyone's concerns."
"Aha?"
The reporters below were slightly surprised, but as long as Julien could address this question, nothing else mattered.
Everyone continued listening.
Julien briefly discussed the current rumors with PSG, then said, "Paris Saint-Germain's invitation is a high recognition of me. The grand blueprint they've envisioned has extremely strong appeal to any player, which is why Paris has gathered the best players in all of Ligue 1.
However, I examined myself carefully and meticulously, like watching match replays.
I asked myself: Why have I received such attention? Why do fans' expectations fall on me?
Is it because of my talent?"
As Julien spoke, his gaze swept over the reporters, making eye contact with some of them. Some were nodding slightly.
Julien shook his head and continued, "No, it's not because of my talent, but because of the form I've shown in matches.
If I merely believed in talent, I wouldn't be standing here, nor would I face these matters. I believe those who know me understand my past—I won't elaborate here.
It's precisely this reflection that makes me certain: fans like me and expect from me not because of my talent, but because of my performance."
At this point, Julien paused.
This pause made the reporters' hearts skip a beat. They knew the next words would be the main point.
Sure enough, Julien slowly continued, "Therefore, my next destination will not be any stadium in France."
Whoosh!
This statement made everyone exclaim in surprise.
When Julien said this, his expression was calm. Beside him, Hadzibegic showed a gratified smile.
A reporter raised his hand, wanting to ask a question.
Clearly, Julien's decision would leave reporters with too many doubts.
But Julien hadn't finished speaking.
He waved at the reporters and continued, "I made this decision partly for competitive reasons, and partly because I don't want to face Bastia on the field—this is the team I deeply love.
Some say I should stay in Ligue 1. But I believe the true way to love French football is not to hide under her protective umbrella.
If I can't prove myself in a more intense league, how will I be qualified to represent the French national team in the World Cup in the future?
I'm leaving precisely to return in a stronger form.
Just like Zidane left Ligue 1 back then and ultimately lifted the World Cup for France!
Finally, because certain 'concerns' have exceeded the scope of football and affected my family and friends, I must state my position more clearly: those trying to apply pressure through my family members including my father, mother, and even club staff, please stop immediately.
From this moment on, this topic ends here. My battles are only on the field.
Thank you all. Life continues."
When Julien finished speaking, he didn't give reporters a chance to ask questions. He muted his microphone. Hadzibegic naturally took over, said a few brief words, and the press conference ended.
Walking backstage, Hadzibegic said to Julien, "Yesterday I told my wife that you refused a fortune that could last several lifetimes."
Julien shook his head slightly. "I just don't want to stay in Ligue 1 during the years when I most need to improve. If I were 38 now, I would definitely sign that contract."
This reason was enough.
Actually, for Julien, the deeper reason was that staying in Ligue 1 would make it really difficult to accumulate victory points.
Up to now, he only had 35 victory points. Winning this match against Evian only gave him 3 victory points.
He was already unable to accumulate many victory points at Bastia. If he really went to PSG, he might only be able to accumulate points through the few Champions League matches each season.
"Haha." Hadzibegic laughed. Tonight's victory plus Julien's choice made him very happy. "Regardless, I wish you well in the future. But now, we probably need to think carefully about how to play against Tottenham in a few days."
Speaking of this, Hadzibegic shook his head again. "I'm afraid people will continue discussing your statements for some time, but you focus on training. Chataigner and I will help shield you from the storm and won't let them affect you."
"Thank you."
Julien sincerely expressed his gratitude.
The reason he personally could refuse such a contract was because Julien was confident, he could earn more money. But for Bastia to refuse PSG alongside him was truly not easy.
PSG had offered 100 million euros!
One hundred million—if Bastia continued with their previous operating model, this could sustain them for twenty years!
After bidding farewell to Hadzibegic, Julien returned to the training base.
Then he saw many missed calls on his phone, as well as text messages.
He didn't return the calls, just briefly looked at the texts.
People he knew well all expressed their support for him.
Julien chose to reply to the more important people and temporarily ignored the others.
Then he turned off his phone, returned to his dorm to wash up and sleep.
Asking nothing about the wind and rain.
That night, fans across all of Bastia or rather, all of France saw the news pushed out by media on social platforms.
It instantly ignited the entire French football circle.
Fans' discussions became even more intense:
"A contract with total annual salary over 20 million euros, and he can refuse it. Regardless of whether Julien plays well or poorly in the future, I absolutely respect him! He's a tough guy!"
"Good for him, he's a young guy with ambition. Although I'm French, sometimes except for Marseille matches, I don't watch the others because they're really boring. I support Julien going to another league."
"Oh my God! As a pure Bastia fan, I'm so happy at this moment! I can responsibly tell you all—Julien is absolutely a very, very special player!
If you really followed him, you'd know that actually during last summer's transfer window, he had many opportunities to join big teams, but he didn't leave. He chose to stay at Bastia.
To this day, next to Bastia's Terra-Vecchia center building, there's still a line dedicated to Julien: 'The day you chose Bastia, Bastia embraced football.'
This is our attitude toward Julien. He already stayed for one season. This time, we won't have any dissatisfaction with his departure. But because he's choosing a place with higher ambitions rather than Ligue 1, I know Julien is the most special one!"
Mourinho: -_-
Besides French fans discussing it, foreign fans were also talking about it, such as in the Premier League:
"Kid, come back to Chelsea. With your ability, you can definitely be a starter at Chelsea now."
"I've said it before, a place like Ligue 1, anyone with ambition won't go there. Look at Hazard, Lloris—these players all left their teams to come to the Premier League. Now Julien will too.
I just don't know which Premier League team will be fortunate enough to sign him. He's definitely premium goods, and most importantly, he's young—only eighteen. I feel his current ability is definitely not his ceiling; there's still potential to develop."
Julien's sudden response this time didn't just affect fans, various clubs were also impacted.
PSG was naturally the biggest loser.
A string of social media posts, even finding many people to exert influence, and they completely became clowns.
Because anyone with eyes knew Julien said he wouldn't go to any French team but in fact, only PSG was in the picture anyway.
Whether in terms of Julien's current market value or performance, only PSG in all of Ligue 1 could afford him once he entered the market.
So, Julien refusing Ligue 1 equaled refusing PSG.
He just left a little room.
Even the "moral blackmail" regarding French football and Ligue 1 reported by some media was resolved by Julien with a very simple reason:
He becomes stronger, and French football becomes stronger.
This also gave the French Football Federation a way out.
On the other hand, some teams in other leagues gained more confidence in signing Julien.
Although in this statement, Julien didn't directly say which team he would go to, Julien had already expressed that what he pursued was competition, self-improvement, and even glory.
So, it must be an ambitious team with certain strength that Julien would consider.
According to information dug up by England's The Sun, Julien had already started learning English since last year.
This made England's club managers even more like sharks smelling blood.
Especially Manchester City. After going to work the next day, the first thing Soriano did was find Begiristain to discuss Julien's response to transfer rumors.
"Good! Isn't Bastia playing Tottenham in the Europa League in a couple of days? Go watch on-site, and at the same time, use this period to make personal contact with Julien and see what he thinks. His father always beats around the bush with us without any substantial progress."
"I believe no one can refuse us. We're not like Paris, we can give Julien a tailor-made future!"
Both were full of confidence.
When they worked at Barcelona, it was similar to now at Manchester City. Whenever they set their sights on a player and contacted them, hearing it was Barcelona who needed them, basically everyone would be moved.
Although some players ultimately weren't signed because Barcelona couldn't give them better salary conditions or guarantee their position, it was now similar at Manchester City.
Manchester City showed the ambition of an emerging team, and sufficient financial investment made purchasing players simpler for them.
At Bastia's training base, players arrived one after another, preparing for today's training.
The first thing they did upon seeing Julien was give him a thumbs up.
And they had to add a phrase: "Génial"
In French, it roughly means "awesome."
They all knew about Julien's response last night. Honestly, when asking in their own heart, they definitely couldn't be as calm as Julien.
Many even felt that going to Paris was the best choice.
Little work, lots of money, close to home.
Why go abroad to suffer?
So, for Julien making this decision, they really thought it was awesome.
De Bruyne had already guessed Julien's thoughts, so today he didn't mention this matter again. Instead, he asked, "Going back to London again—beat Tottenham?"
De Bruyne, Lukaku, and Julien were all Chelsea rejects.
Previously, English media had even called the Bastia vs. Tottenham match "Chelsea Reserves vs. Tottenham."
Chelsea's official media also personally entered the fray, posting: "Youth army, go! Three Point Lane is nothing to fear!"
Three Point Lane had always been Chelsea's mocking term for Tottenham.
Hearing De Bruyne's words, Julien smiled. "We must win!"
That day, the coaching staff gave the players a Tottenham report, containing the style characteristics of current Tottenham players, some targeted deployments, and some of Tottenham manager Villas-Boas's tactical style.
"Villas-Boas was deeply influenced by early Mourinho, committed to a high defensive line and pressing play. So, from match videos, you can see Tottenham's defensive line is positioned very far forward, close to the midfield line.
Their defensive line starts from the forwards. As long as front players lose possession in the back half, they immediately apply high-intensity pressure, trying to win back the ball and launch quick counterattacks.
So, they prefer to create offsides and use some very fast defenders..."
Hadzibegic not only showed the players the materials but also personally explained them.
"His favorite formation is 4-3-3, emphasizing wing utilization and quick transitions. You especially need to pay attention to Bale's position. After Villas-Boas converted Bale from a forward to an attacking midfielder, or rather a free role, he completely activated Bale's offensive potential.
He's the biggest threat to our defense line."
Actually, when seeing Villas-Boas's transformation of Bale, Hadzibegic was also thinking: Could he emulate Bale's approach in his subsequent use of Julien?
But he immediately rejected his own idea. After all, as a coach who came from a defensive background, he was best at defense. How could he coach attacking players?
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