Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

The moment Julien completed his elegant cut inside, Chamberlain immediately chased after him.

Chamberlain's positive attitude earned Wenger's approval.

As a player Wenger had bought from Southampton for £13.8 million this season, he had received decent opportunities at Arsenal, though not abundant.

The ghosts of Cesc Fàbregas and Jack Wilshere haunted Wenger's personnel decisions these days. Both players had been thrust into the spotlight too early, their careers were potentially compromised by the burden of expectation and overuse.

Determined not to repeat those mistakes, Wenger had deliberately protected Chamberlain, perhaps even to an excessive degree.

During the season's middle months, when Chamberlain had been given consistent playing time, his performances had been exceptional. His dribbling ability had provided Arsenal with a dimension they had deeply missed since Samir Nasri's departure to Manchester City.

But from January onwards, Wenger's protective instincts had taken priority over development. Reduced playing time had inevitably led to a decline in form, rhythm disrupted by sporadic appearances.

Today's U21 match was providing evidence of this unfortunate reality—Henderson's assured presence in midfield was making Chamberlain appear almost pedestrian by comparison.

Chamberlain actively tracked back, chasing Julien from the side, trying to stop him.

Seeing Chamberlain and Lansbury covering from the center, Julien suddenly stopped again.

When Chamberlain reached him, Julien flicked the ball to the right with his left foot. Chamberlain immediately moved right to prevent Julien from going down the wing, as there were no defenders on his right side momentarily.

Danny Rose had been drawn away by France U21's left-back Corchia.

But the moment Chamberlain shifted his weight, Julien used his right foot to cut the ball back along the bottom edge.

Chamberlain instinctively stopped and tried to grab Julien with his hands.

In just two movements, Chamberlain could see that Julien's dribbling ability far exceeded his own.

Against players with strong dribbling skills, you had to foul early.

But when he stopped, Julien flicked the ball to the right again with his right foot.

And this time with more force, creating a step of space for Julien to sprint.

Chamberlain started to run again as he fought to keep pace.

In a short time, Julien's continuous movements had made Chamberlain's center of gravity shift back and forth—he was completely confused!

"This is a great opportunity!" The thought flashed through Julien's mind with as his quick feet carried him two steps to the right.

When Chamberlain barely kept up, Julien suddenly stopped and cut back, using his left foot to flick the ball to the left. His whole body rushed through on the left side.

Chamberlain tried to power back, but with his center of gravity in chaos, his supporting foot couldn't grip properly, and he slipped to the ground.

The collective intake of breath from the sideline was audible even above the sounds of the match.

Wenger's eyes widened in genuine astonishment—he had witnessed countless individual duels over his decades in football, but the combination of speed, technique, and tactical intelligence he had just observed was genuinely exceptional.

Julien had actually nutmegged a Premier League-level player through pure skill rather than luck or defensive error.

In Wenger's view, each of Julien's feints wasn't particularly difficult individually. The difficulty was in Julien's speed and effectiveness.

This reminded Wenger of that Spanish team that had achieved an unprecedented sextuple two years ago, and of that Ballon d'Or winner, Lionel Messi.

Julien's technique bore striking similarities to Messi's approach—the same rapid-fire feints, the same quick feet, the same ability to send defenders into mental and physical chaos. But there was one crucial difference that made Wenger's pulse quicken with excitement.

Messi stood barely five feet seven inches tall, his low center of gravity perfectly suited to his style of play. Julien, by contrast, was nearly six feet tall—almost twenty centimeters taller than the Barcelona maestro.

A winger of Julien's height who possessed such high-frequency footwork was nearly unprecedented. Once he developed the physical strength and ability to handle contact that would come with maturity, Wenger could scarcely imagine how defenders would cope with such a combination of size and skill.

But there was no time for further contemplation. With Chamberlain eliminated from the equation, a vast stretch of space had opened up around Julien, and he was already exploiting it.

Goalkeeper Butland focused entirely on Julien as he charged toward the penalty area.

Lansbury and Martin Kelly, one on the left and one in front, tried to block Julien's path.

Julien looked at Martin Kelly ahead, appearing to break through him, but flicked his ankle—a no-look pass!

The ball traveled between Lansbury's legs with the precision of a guided missile, finding its target with accuracy. Alexandre Lacazette, who had been in the penalty area like a caged predator, suddenly found himself in possession with time and space to operate.

Despite Lacazette's relatively modest height, his physical strength and technical skill made him a formidable opponent for any defender. Steven Caulker discovered this reality as Lacazette shielded the ball from him.

Lansbury, having been bypassed by Julien's pass, immediately turned his attention to this new threat, while Kelly hesitated between his original marking and the more instant danger.

In that moment of confusion, Lacazette demonstrated the kind of tactical intelligence that separated good players from great ones. Without even looking up, he played a through ball behind Kelly's position.

The figure in blue that appeared behind England's defensive line was Julien.

He sprinted at full speed past Kelly's defensive zone, reaching the ball a step ahead of Butland's rush, and fired a low shot that once again beat the goalkeeper.

Swish!

The ball hit the net!

Clap clap clap!

France U21 players and coaches on the sideline applauded Julien's performance. They were genuinely stunned, holding their breath during Julien's sequence, not even daring to breathe until the ball hit the net.

Players on the pitch also rushed to celebrate with Julien.

Although they had never played with Julien before, they were all talents themselves. Just from Julien's sequence of moves, they knew he was definitely not ordinary.

Antoine Griezmann and Alexandre Lacazette, as the closest participants in the move, reached Julien first.

"Beautiful, mate!" Griezmann's voice carried genuine admiration. "Your moves even fooled me—I didn't know how to support you properly."

"You came too late to the party," Lacazette said with a grin. "If you had joined the team last year, we could have posed a serious challenge for the European Championship."

Julien smiled and responded simply.

Soon, Raphaël Varane and other defensive players had joined the celebration.

"Julien, that was your show time," Varane embraced his roommate with pride. "Now I understand why Zinedine rates you so highly. I was standing far away, and if I didn't know it was you playing, I would have thought it was Ronaldinho himself."

Julien then hugged and high-fived with other teammates in celebration.

On England U21's side, seeing Julien toy with their entire flank single-handedly, the atmosphere was heavy.

Stuart Pearce had been frowning throughout Julien's individual display. But as the celebrations continued, his expression relaxed slightly.

"Belgium U21 doesn't have this kind of monster," he muttered to his assistant, referring to their upcoming opponent.

Seeing the score equalized, he substituted off Lansbury and brought on Shelvey.

In Pearce's mind, Liverpool players were still more reliable. In this U21 squad, Liverpool and Arsenal had the most players. There was no choice—these two clubs had relatively better domestic youth development.

Will Keane, Manchester United's promising forward, was also introduced, taking the place of the frustrated Zaha who had been unable to make any meaningful impact against France's organized defense.

On the platform, Wenger couldn't help but pump his fist in celebration of Julien's goal—he really couldn't contain himself.

Even Julien's backdrop consisted of Arsenal players—Chamberlain and Lansbury.

Both teams made changes.

But less than ten minutes after France U21 equalized, they scored again!

Julien alone attracted four defenders on the right wing, then passed the ball out. Griezmann assisted Lacazette's goal.

France U21 had taken the lead!

Wenger's attention remained fixed on Julien. This goal showed him that Julien didn't insist on breaking through opponents just because he had excellent dribbling skills.

Many players blessed with exceptional dribbling ability suffered from tunnel vision, an inability to see beyond their own individual battles. They became ball-hogs, easily dispossessed, sometimes even irrationally selfish in their decision-making.

The graveyard of football history was littered with talented players who had never learned when to pass rather than dribble.

But Julien had demonstrated the opposite characteristic. Despite possessing the ability to beat multiple defenders, he had chosen the option that best served his team's interests.

The pass to create space for teammates was the mark of a player who understood football as a collective sport rather than individual theater.

As the French players celebrated their second goal, Wenger's gaze lingered on Julien with the intensity of a prospector who had discovered gold.

With a smile, he turned to Patrice and said, "After all these years, he's still the player I want to sign."

Wenger's eyes blazed with intensity.

Henry, Bergkamp, Robin van Persie, Fàbregas, Arshavin, Wilshere. In every era of his tenure at Arsenal, he had sought players who could embody his philosophy of technique and combination play.

In his eyes, Julien was simply the perfect piece for beautiful football.

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