Kanté returned to Boulogne.
Although Boulogne's relegation was confirmed this season and many players would leave, Kanté was definitely a nobody.
Julien wasn't worried about anyone stealing him away.
In fact, it was precisely because of Boulogne's relegation and several key players leaving that Kanté got his chance to step up formally.
It was also because of his performance in Boulogne's National League campaign next season that Kanté appeared on many scouts' radars.
So, Julien wasn't in a hurry.
Now he was more focused on the French Cup final—this wasn't just about a double crown, but also his path to self-improvement.
After the victory against Châteauroux, he had earned 30 victory points.
He knew this already included the championship bonus; otherwise, against a Ligue 2 team like Châteauroux, he would have gotten at most 3 points, same as previous teams like Tours.
For the French Cup final, facing Ligue 1's Lyon, plus the double crown bonus, Julien had some expectations.
Of course, the prerequisite was winning.
This was also the expectation of everyone at Bastia currently.
The giant mural of Julien on Bastia's Terra-Vecchia center building had indeed become a landmark of Bastia, just as Modoso had said.
Many fans from other parts of Corsica would come here for photos.
After all, the "NB" on this mural represented not just Bastia, but the entire island of Corsica.
The current De Rocca had this meaning too.
He didn't belong just to Bastia, but to all of Corsica!
Julien De Rocca represented Corsica, conquering mainland France, conquering continental Europe!
So even from the mouths of Ajaccio fans—Bastia's bitter rivals—came words like "De Rocca's not bad."
Although Ajaccio was currently playing in Ligue 1, their hard power really wasn't as convincing as Bastia's.
In club history, they had never won a French Cup.
Their entire history had just three trophies: one National League championship and two Ligue 2 championships.
Only one team from Corsica had ever won the French Cup.
That was Bastia.
Now, Bastia was launching an assault on Corsica's second French Cup championship!
This was no longer just Bastia's affair.
It was also the affair of Ajaccio, Bonifacio, and other Corsican cities.
Bastia people acknowledged the great Bonaparte—he was from Ajaccio—so why couldn't Ajaccio people acknowledge the talented De Rocca?
"You might become a symbol of friendship between Bastia and Ajaccio, ha-ha," Vincent said to Julien while reading newspaper reports over breakfast.
Julien glanced over and nodded. "I still hope there's some rivalry atmosphere, otherwise it would be less fun for the fans to watch."
"Hahaha!"
Rothen burst out laughing at Julien's response. "You understand rivalry culture."
Football rivalry culture, aside from those truly stemming from historical conflicts of interest and opposing stances, some rival teams were really just stories told by club management to make matches more "sellable."
Teammates discussed the upcoming French Cup, media reports, and fan reactions.
But Julien was looking at the last message on his Facebook chat page, feeling somewhat conflicted.
"Interested in touring Real Madrid's training facility in June?"
The contact was listed as Zinedine Zidane.
The meaning was self-evident—the summer transfer window hadn't started yet, but it also had begun.
Julien thought for a moment, then replied "Of course" followed by a grateful emoji.
During training, Julien pushed aside all other distractions and looked at his attributes.
[Height: 184cm
Weight: 68kg
Dribbling (+1): 84 (89);
Passing: 80 (85) Shooting: 79 (88);
Heading: 44 (63) Speed (+1): 72 (76);
Strength: 69 (70) Jumping: 60 (72);
Stamina (+1): 79 (82) Defense: 20 (40);
Tackling: 15 (33) Flexibility: 68 (70);
Ball Control: 90 (95)]
Most attributes had improved compared to before.
Looking at the rate of increase in dribbling, shooting, and passing, Julien hadn't specifically focused on these in training, yet they had still improved.
This made him realize that training alone wasn't enough for attribute growth—you needed plenty of match experience too.
Pure training could hardly push attributes to their limits.
You needed real combat!
Julien thought of some very talented young players from his previous life who dominated youth teams but would struggle with integration issues when reaching senior teams, then start warming the bench.
All their flair would disappear.
Not to mention the constant training camps.
Those young players largely lacked high-quality matches—pure training couldn't raise their hard power.
Julien wasn't sure about other countries, but now he had deep understanding of French football.
France's top 5 divisions were nationally unified: Ligue 1 (L1), Ligue 2 (L2), National League (N1), National League Group B (N2), and National League Group C (N3).
Below that were regional leagues, some regions having two levels (R1/R2), others having three (R1-R3).
Below regional leagues were provincial leagues of varying levels (D1-Dn).
De Rocca shook his head. The road was long and difficult.
Pushing aside these thoughts from his previous life, Julien continued throwing himself into training.
Preparing for the match against Lyon!
Lyon had actually played Bastia once this season—not an official match, but a friendly in January after the Christmas break, with Lyon visiting Bastia.
At that time, Julien hadn't returned to the first team and was still dealing with post-imprisonment issues.
Lyon had easily won 2-0 away. Bastia had almost no ability to fight back against Lyon. But the current Bastia was different.
Defensively aside, at least in attack, they had him as a variable.
The outcome could go either way.
Just as Bastia was preparing seriously, news from L'Équipe disrupted the team's peace of mind.
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