Volume One

Prologue: The Death of a Genius

There is finally news about Brian Clark again.

He’s still playing football, but not professionally—just... amateur football.

Yesterday, a netizen posted a photo on Weibo. In the photo, Brian Clark is wearing a jersey with a company’s name printed on the back. The jersey doesn’t even fit well; it’s a bit too big... It’s a group photo, and standing next to Brian Clark is a middle-aged man with a bit of a belly—he probably is an executive from the sponsoring company...

In front of the camera, Brian Clark is making a peace sign and smiling brightly. But for some reason, when I saw this photo, I felt a bit of sadness—a star once hyped by the Chinese media for years, a beacon of hope for countless Chinese fans as “the one who could change the future of Chinese football,” now standing on this shabby artificial turf field in such a manner, is the greatest waste of his talent, even a crime.

So naturally, beneath this Weibo post, the comments are filled with angry fans disappointed by the state of Chinese football. Some are relatively polite, while others are downright harsh and unpleasant.

I can understand how these people feel. After all, Brian Clark was once the genius they all pinned their hopes on.

I still remember when Brian Clark joined the AC Milan youth academy—what a spectacle it was in the media. It was the first time I saw our media come up with so many creative ways to praise someone...

Back then, I was just like the other fans—excited and thrilled, believing that the future of Chinese football was finally bright. We dreamed of seeing Brian Clark wearing the AC Milan jersey, standing on the pitch at San Siro. Even though I wasn’t an AC Milan fan, if that day ever came, I’d be willing to fall in love with AC Milan for Brian Clark.

To be honest, Brian Clark’s initial performance at the AC Milan youth academy was quite good, living up to the domestic media’s hype and our expectations as fans. The label “capable of changing the future of Chinese football” wasn’t just something the Chinese media made up—it was a genuine evaluation from the Italian media. At the time, he had just helped AC Milan U16 win the U16 league championship, and he himself was named the tournament’s best player.

He played with flair and imagination. Although he was tall, he possessed footwork far more delicate than his height would suggest. I haven’t watched many of his matches—after all, it’s not easy to find videos of Italian U16 games—but from the few highlight reels available, Brian Clark clearly had a sense for the game far above his peers. Watching him play was truly a pleasure, and his performance lived up to the Italian media’s praise.

Thanks to his outstanding performance in the U16s, Brian Clark was promoted to the U18s at age sixteen, making him a “skipped grade” player. The domestic media reported this with excitement, and many fans cheered for Brian Clark.

But looking back now, maybe this promotion wasn’t such a good thing—more like forcing the seedling to grow...

At sixteen, Brian Clark was tall, but his muscle strength hadn’t fully developed. Plus, his stellar first season in the U16s made opponents pay extra attention to him. In the physical battles against players one or two years older, he didn’t have much of an advantage.

And then the worst happened—in February 2008, during a youth match, Brian Clark suffered a serious foul, his left ankle twisted out of shape by a tackle.

He underwent surgery and then spent a full thirteen months recovering.

Before his injury, he was the starting center forward for AC Milan U18. But when he returned from injury in April 2009, there was no longer a place for him on the team.

In the 2009-2010 season, Brian Clark, now eighteen, should have moved up to the U19s. This time it wouldn’t have been a “skipped grade,” but he remained with the U18s. On this team, promoted from the U17s, eighteen-year-old Brian Clark was already one of the older players.

But even on this team, he struggled to make the starting lineup, and it was hard for him to even make the eighteen-man squad. On the rare occasion he did, he still didn’t get any playing time.

And his body was still plagued by injuries—during the first half of the 2009-2010 season, he missed two months of matches and training due to injury.

Brian Clark’s football career took a sharp, hairpin turn.

By the end of 2009, he had just half a year left on his contract with the club. Based on his pre-injury performance, he should have signed a professional contract with AC Milan long ago. But what I heard was that AC Milan terminated his contract six months early, reportedly due to Brian Clark’s frequent injuries.

That was the last I heard about Brian Clark. He left AC Milan, and no one knew where he went. Not even the all-powerful media could find him. It was as if he had vanished into the vast sea of people.