Dr. Paco Cerullo is a well-known figure in Spanish and European sports science. He majored in kinesiology at the National Institute of Sports in Madrid.
Before working at Barcelona, he served as a fitness coach across various sports, including athletics, volleyball, handball, and tennis, and had multiple experiences coaching Olympic athletes.
From 1982 to 1996, he served as the fitness coach of the Barcelona handball team. Between 1988 and 1992, he became the head fitness coach for all ten of La Masia's youth teams, responsible for designing training programs. In 1993, he became Johan Cruyff's personal fitness coach and remained part of the Barcelona first team staff from then on.
In Gao Shen's previous life, Cerullo became the director of training planning at La Masia in the second half of 2011. Following reforms initiated by Rosell and Bartomeu, he and his colleague Juan Villa jointly established the methodology department, with Villa as its initial director.
In 2014, Cerullo was officially promoted to director of the methodology department, forming a powerful duo with Villa. But in 2018, Villa left the club due to ideological conflicts with Barcelona's upper management.
Later, after Xavi became Barcelona's head coach, he repeatedly requested the return of the man hailed as the godfather of Barcelona youth training.
When Gao Shen and Borrell met with Cerullo and Juan Villa in Barcelona, they had deep discussions. Gao Shen fully explained Leeds United's current positioning and management model, and made several promises that Barcelona couldn't offer at the time.
For example, Gao Shen promised that if they came to Leeds United and established a methodology department, there would be no cap on their budget in the first year.
Although Leeds United were still in the Championship, their youth training budget already reached £5 million.
Not just in the Championship, but even in the Premier League, very few clubs outside of the top tier could match that kind of investment.
Gao Shen further promised that if the team was promoted to the Premier League, the youth training budget would never fall below that figure and could rise to as high as £10 million per year. This would fully support the research and development work of Cerullo and Juan Villa.
Generous funding, flexible budgeting, a high salary, a central role, and Gao Shen's high standing in European football made the offer too attractive to refuse.
Once they arrived at Leeds United, the two immediately began building the methodology department. They recruited experts and academics, studied the English football landscape, and began collaborating with the FA on youth development research.
Coincidentally, David Bernstein was also promoting youth training reforms within the FA, aligning well with Leeds United's efforts.
Within the club, Dr. Cerullo and Juan Villa began designing a style manual for Leeds United's youth development, aiming for stylistic consistency across all age levels. They also introduced the use of pitch line markings to help guide young players in their positioning during games.
Simultaneously, they worked with the club's scouting department to identify and recruit young players worldwide who fit Leeds United's playing style.
They were also tasked with designing fitness and training programs for all of the club's youth levels, and even joined Sarri's first-team staff to provide tailored support for young first-team players.
Cerullo and Juan Villa's plan was still in its early stages. Within one year, the methodology department would be fully operational and begin refining its player development model, representing a major cross-disciplinary initiative.
In fact, this kind of structural thinking was something Gao Shen and his coaching staff had been doing for years.
Gao Shen's coaching team had once been hailed as the most complete and professional in European football. Many innovations in the sport first appeared in his staff setup.
For example, the cooperative integration of psychologists, nutritionists, fitness coaches, and strength and conditioning specialists.
Buenaventura even served dual roles as a strength coach and physiotherapist.
Now, Cerullo and Juan Villa aimed to integrate all these elements into a cohesive system. After all, top experts like Pintus and Buenaventura were rare, and even rarer within youth teams, as most worked with elite first teams.
Through the systems and models being built, every coach in Leeds United's structure could receive proper guidance and improve their ability to develop young players.
The club's big data department would also fully support the methodology department.
This was a significant insight.
Gao Shen told Cerullo and Juan Villa with absolute confidence that statistical models and performance data would become crucial elements in the player development process. They would even play a key role in shaping tactics and training programs.
That was one of the major reasons why Cerullo and Juan Villa chose to join Leeds United.
…
"In my country, there's a saying: science and technology are the primary productive forces."
When Carlo, Brian Kidd, and others were surprised by Gao Shen's increased investment in youth training, especially his heavy backing of departments like methodology and data analytics, he explained his reasoning clearly.
"We've always prioritized research and innovation. And I can say this with confidence: professional football is at a pivotal turning point. The rapid development of the internet, big data, and sports science will bring a brand new revolution to this sport."
"All of this requires research. Especially for a club like Leeds United, which will rely heavily on youth training and player development in the coming years. Building our own technical barriers through youth training will be the foundation for Leeds United to gain a long-term foothold in European football."
Simply put, Gao Shen wanted Leeds United to become the Ajax of the new century.
Back then, Ajax conducted in-depth research on youth development. They developed rich knowledge and recruited experts across multiple disciplines.
When Adidas launched its push into football's digital age, the first club it partnered with wasn't a giant like Real Madrid, but Ajax. Adidas even funded an advanced performance center for the club.
But Ajax later fell behind. The Bosman ruling, the limitations of the Eredivisie, flawed talent recruitment structures, and mismanagement—such as investing in a South African club in the early 2000s—led to heavy financial losses.
Gao Shen envisioned Leeds United becoming the Ajax of a new era.
What he was doing now was laying the groundwork.
Modern professional football isn't what it used to be. The times have changed.
And it's not just about youth development.
Take broadcasting rights, for instance.
People often talk about the Premier League's broadcasting revenue model, usually focusing on domestic rights.
Everyone knows how domestic revenue is split: part equally, part based on league position, part on appearances in televised games. But that's only for UK broadcasts.
So how is international broadcasting revenue distributed?
Equally.
That may surprise many.
How can it be fair for smaller teams to earn the same as global giants? Surely United or Arsenal get more overseas coverage?
The answer lies in history: international rights used to be an afterthought, generating minimal income.
Who could have predicted how quickly European football would globalize?
Now, international broadcasting income is rivaling, and even surpassing, domestic rights. That's why many Premier League clubs are calling for reform, demanding that overseas income follow the same performance-based distribution model.
Then there's the rise of digital and online media rights.
This segment will become increasingly dominant, possibly overtaking both domestic and international TV rights in the near future.
It proves one thing: aside from transmigrators like Gao Shen, no one in the football industry truly anticipated how the game would evolve. Everyone was feeling their way forward in the dark.
Just like how Barcelona president Rosell was still slashing budgets and laying off staff.
He had no idea that the very methodology department he tried to cut would one day become the core of Barcelona's dominance and host annual seminars that drew thousands of football professionals from across the globe.
The times had changed.
Professional football today is like the mobile phone industry during the overlap of Nokia, Apple, and Android.
Back then, no one believed Nokia would collapse so quickly.
And just as no one expected Nokia's downfall, few foresaw that in just a few years, European football would undergo radical changes, with capital, technology, data, and science completely reshaping talent development.
Gao Shen's goal now was to ensure that Leeds United would ride that wave in time.
…
Gao Shen's ambition shocked Carlo and the others. They couldn't predict the future, and Gao Shen hadn't revealed his hand, so to them, it all looked risky.
But only Gao Shen knew this was the trend.
If successful, Leeds United would gain a permanent place among the top clubs.
It might seem like a huge financial commitment now, but for Gao Shen and the club, it was within acceptable bounds.
Because Gao Shen already had a core group of outstanding young players.
Once this group matured, building a new training facility—or even a new stadium—wouldn't be out of reach.
The key was for Leeds United to master its own core technology.
From data analytics to methodology, integrating cutting-edge systems with a global scouting network and a strong youth development structure...
Gao Shen believed Leeds United would become a true talent-producing machine that would shock the football world.
Once this system ran smoothly, Leeds United would produce waves of top-tier players. And when a generation of truly world-class talents emerged from the academy, the club would experience explosive growth.
Like Van Gaal's Ajax, the Five Eagles at Real Madrid, or Barcelona's Dream Team III.
These legendary moments are rare. To produce such a golden generation, you need both elite youth training and exceptional raw talent.
And some luck.
But Gao Shen was willing to wait.
Once that opportunity came, Leeds United would reverse its decline, open a new chapter, and perhaps take its place among the European elite.
This path was slower and more demanding than the cheque-book football of teams like Juventus, but it was more stable and sustainable.
This was Gao Shen's grand vision for Leeds United.
He wanted to build a truly rich club, one that belonged entirely to him.
And this upset victory over Manchester United was just the beginning.
(To be continued.)
***
For every 200 PS = 1 extra chapter. Support me on P/treon to read 30+ advanced chapters: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves
(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)