In the morning's standard training session, Alessandro no longer looked like a youth academy player.
With his Basic Passing now at Level 1 and Basic Shooting at Level 2, he was starting to keep up in the fundamentals.
Sure, it wasn't amazing yet. But it certainly wasn't poor either.
As for dribbling...
Well, Alessandro was a defensive midfielder. Lacking elite dribbling wasn't a dealbreaker for someone in his position. His job was to win the ball and distribute it cleanly—not to take on defenders like a winger.
Protecting the ball while driving forward was something that would come with time.
After the morning session, though, Alessandro still felt a bit... invisible.
The attention was firmly on someone else.
Paul Pogba.
Compared to Alessandro, Pogba had far more buzz around his name. He was already the core midfielder of the French youth national team, and Manchester United were desperate to lock him down with a new contract.
But his agent, Mino Raiola, was infamous for being difficult.
His demands were so high that negotiations had completely stalled.
Still, it didn't change the fact that Pogba was a rising star in United's midfield—and everyone knew he'd likely feature in upcoming Europa League matches.
So Pogba trained with full intensity.
Against this backdrop, Alessandro seemed like a quiet, obedient figure in the shadows—until the afternoon scrimmage.
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"Oh oh oh! Nani! Nani! What's going on?!"
The training ground echoed with laughter.
The team's flashy winger, Nani, had just been cleanly stripped of the ball.
By Alessandro.
The Portuguese star looked stunned. He had assumed Alessandro would be easy to bully, taking the ball to humiliate the newcomer.
Instead, he got humiliated.
Repeatedly.
Again and again, Alessandro cleanly intercepted him.
It wasn't a fluke—this was real.
Nani, once hailed as Cristiano Ronaldo's successor with dazzling feet and explosive dribbling, couldn't get past a freshly promoted youth player.
Every time he tried, the result was the same.
Laughter erupted on the pitch.
Even the senior players found it hilarious watching Nani try to save face, only to be embarrassed over and over.
To be fair, Nani's style was always flashy and individualistic. He loved taking on defenders and refused to pass if he didn't have to.
Usually, it worked.
Today, he ran into a brick wall.
"Alessandro! Alessandro! Let's go!"
Young full-back Rafael raised his arms and cheered.
Defenders loved having someone like Alessandro in midfield.
With him shielding the backline, the team wearing substitute bibs hadn't conceded a single goal to the main team.
In fact, they'd launched several successful counterattacks.
Everyone could see it.
Alessandro's presence was the reason.
For the first time, the first-team players began to truly recognize his value.
They knew now—this kid wasn't going back to the academy.
With Park Ji-sung aging and increasingly prone to injury, the team needed a new midfield enforcer.
That player... might just be Alessandro.
Recognition came quickly.
On the pitch, skill was the ultimate currency—and Alessandro just cashed in big.
"Again?" Rio Ferdinand called out with a chuckle as Alessandro snatched the ball from Nani one more time.
He didn't slide in.
No desperate lunges.
Just a clean read of the play, perfect positioning, and decisive execution.
He didn't need to tackle recklessly—his timing was surgical.
And when he won the ball, he could transition instantly into attack.
That kind of value was obvious to anyone watching.
---
After another successful stop, Alessandro high-fived Rooney.
Even Nani had to shake his head and smile wryly. He had run headfirst into a wall today.
After training wrapped up, captains Nemanja Vidić and Patrice Evra came over to pat Alessandro on the back.
Evra even invited him to dinner with the senior players later that week.
Alessandro happily accepted.
Building chemistry with the first team was crucial.
Even overseas, connections mattered.
By day's end, Sir Alex Ferguson gathered the team and announced the squad for the upcoming trip to the Netherlands.
As expected...
Alessandro made the list.
His name being read made his heart pound—but on the outside, he stayed calm.
It was only the squad list, after all.
The real goal was making the starting lineup.
That would be revealed the day before the match—and officially posted just an hour before kickoff.
That decision rested entirely in the manager's hands.
All Alessandro could do was train hard and earn it.
Still, one name missing from the list sparked a flicker of hope in his chest.
Park Ji-sung wasn't traveling with them.
Which meant...
There was only one natural defensive midfielder in the squad.
Him.
Would he start?
Or come off the bench?
Either way, it looked like Alessandro Dybala was about to get his big moment.
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