In the Director's Box
David Dein watched the young figure being mobbed by teammates, his expression was complex and wistful.
Seeing Julien maintain his Bastia form on the Premier League stage filled him with excitement, certainly—but more than that, it made him think of an old friend.
"Arsène..." The name escaped his lips in a murmur as his finger traced absently across his phone screen, hovering over Wenger's contact. "You should see this kid with your own eyes."
He inhaled deeply, as if trying to calm the emotions churning in his chest.
Julien was exactly the type of technical player that Wenger obsessed over, the kind that made the Frenchman's eyes light up like a child's on Christmas morning.
Dein's gaze followed Julien and Gerrard exchanging congratulations, and he couldn't help recalling Wenger's constant refrain about the Premier League needing a technical revolution. But now: "Look at that. The revolution is happening—at Anfield, not the Emirates."
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
Arsenal had poured years of work into developing Fàbregas, but Julien was something else. A more complete player in every sense.
Eighteen years old with this level of composure and finishing ability...
Suddenly he was thinking about Arsenal's struggles in the transfer market these past seasons.
"If Arsène were here..." He gazed toward London's direction, voice dropping to a whisper. "He'd be transfixed. He'd stay up all night redesigning tactics around this boy. He'd create a bespoke training program just for him. He'd nurture his development like a father with his son."
But Arsenal had chosen a different path.
The roar of the crowd continued unabated, yet Dein was lost in momentary silence.
Finally, he pulled out his phone and typed quickly: "Arsène, turn on the television. Anfield. The player we always dreamed of—he's wearing red, but not our red."
He hit send, then looked back at Julien celebrating on the pitch.
And smiled despite everything.
Colney Training Centre, North London
In his office, Wenger sat alone, eyes fixed on his computer screen.
When Julien's free kick curved that perfect arc into the goal, the Professor unconsciously pushed his sliding glasses back up the bridge of his nose, leaning so far forward he nearly touched the monitor.
His phone buzzed, making him flinch.
Reading David Dein's message, a melancholy smile graced his face.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long moment before typing simply: "I know."
After sending the response, Wenger removed his glasses and rubbed his temples forcefully.
The cold light from the screen lit every wrinkle around his eyes.
Julien—this was the player he'd always dreamed of signing. But Arsenal simply didn't have the money. The chaotic boardroom battles, the stadium debt—none of it allowed Arsenal to compete in transfers of this magnitude.
He was reduced to scratching lottery tickets in the youth market, hoping one would pay off.
When the camera panned to Rodgers celebrating enthusiastically on the touchline, Wenger shook his head and sighed softly: "Football's cruelest moment is watching the treasure you covet sparkle in someone else's crown."
Outside, London rain began tapping against the window.
Wenger turned toward the night sky, almost able to hear Anfield's songs cutting through the downpour to reach him here.
The rain fell steadily, relentlessly.
Martin Tyler's voice continued to emanate from the television:
"Gerrard looking for Julien again... Julien receives on the wing, turns—good lord, he's like a ghost with the ball glued to his feet... Pieters retreating, N'Zonzi coming across to help, three men converging on him—
"Dangerous play there, Pieters showing his studs—N'Zonzi with a barge from behind, Huddlestone joining in now—this is agricultural defending—Julien's been flattened on the turf, and the referee's whistle goes...
"That's a booking for Pieters—Stoke's second yellow card in thirty minutes, both for fouls on Julien—
"Now Stoke's defense is walking a tightrope. Two players assigned to mark Julien are both on yellow cards. They can't risk aggressive challenges anymore. That means more space for Julien, which creates a cascading advantage for Liverpool's entire attack—
This is the strategic value of a world-class player... Eighty million euros really does seem like a bargain..."
A quiet sigh drifted through the office.
Back at Anfield
That same sigh of resignation was echoing on Anfield's touchline.
Mark Hughes stood rooted to the spot, arms still folded, brow furrowed like a cliff face.
The scoreboard's glaring 2-0 scoreline felt like a ticking time bomb and only twenty-eight minutes had elapsed.
"Bloody hell," he muttered under his breath.
His meticulously prepared defensive structure had been torn apart like tissue paper by Julien De Rocca. The zonal marking system had been shredded by his movement off the ball. Physical pressure had been neutralized by his technical ability. Even organized fouling couldn't stop him from creating danger.
It reminded Hughes of certain names—Maradona, Ronaldo*2, Ronaldinho, Messi. Players who shared one defining trait: devastating individual ability that could single-handedly win matches.
Julien possessed that same quality.
GROOOOAN!
Another sound rippled through the stands—this time disappointment rather than celebration. Gerrard had tried his luck from distance, but the shot sailed over the crossbar.
Hughes's focus snapped back to the pitch. If he'd harbored any illusions about taking points from Anfield before kickoff, his only ambition now was simple survival: don't concede again before halftime.
Stoke's players felt the weight of it too, the pressure of this match bearing down on their shoulders.
They defended with desperate commitment.
Occasionally Liverpool's concentration would slip, giving Crouch a chance to lumber forward with the ball. But Kolo Touré was quickly onto him, forcing the tall striker to surrender possession before he could build any momentum.
Crouch lacked the acceleration to outpace defenders once they engaged him.
Caught between Touré and Agger, he had no escape. Watching Julien glide through opposition defenders with apparent ease made him deeply envious.
Hughes watched from the sideline; his mood was darkening further.
Rodgers, by contrast, allowed himself to relax slightly. Though in his analytical mind, he was already dissecting the situation. Those two goals were less about his tactical setup working and more about Julien's individual brilliance.
But what if Julien wasn't on the pitch?
He didn't want to develop "Julien dependency syndrome." In his philosophy, teams should function as self-sufficient systems. Players were merely components—interchangeable parts in the machine.
Time continued its march.
Julien's right flank was now heavily congested with Stoke bodies. Winger Etherington, defensive midfielder N'Zonzi, and fullback Pieters formed a permanent three-man bracket around him.
The moment he touched the ball and drove forward, left center-back Shawcross and holding midfielder Wilson would also collapse into that zone.
But Julien refused to be discouraged by the numerical disadvantage. He kept probing, testing, searching for weaknesses in their shape.
The clock hit thirty-six minutes.
Gerrard's central pass was intercepted by midfielder Glenn Whelan, who immediately launched it long toward Crouch.
The striker galloped after it with everything he had, but his physical limitations betrayed him—Touré reached it first.
Rather than playing safe, Touré assessed Stoke's momentarily advanced defensive line and decided to exploit it. He feinted past Crouch's challenge with a stepover, then slid a penetrating through ball into Gerrard's path as the captain dropped deep to receive.
Gerrard was immediately swarmed by Walters and Wilson, but he managed to prod the ball toward Julien despite being knocked off balance.
Both Stoke midfielders turned their attention to Julien.
But Julien met the pass first-time with the nimblest of touches, cushioning it back into Gerrard's path with perfect weight.
After releasing the ball, Julien immediately sprinted forward into space.
Gerrard understood the one-two instantly. He also played it first-time, threading a pass along the ground that split two defenders.
The ball arrived perfectly in Julien's stride.
He glanced up, assessed Stoke's defensive shape, and didn't slow down. Instead, he knocked it forward into space and accelerated.
Winger Etherington chased desperately but was being left further behind with every stride—Julien's explosive pace was on another level entirely. His feet moved with such rapid frequency that each touch propelled him three or four meters forward, never allowing defenders to get close enough to make a challenge.
N'Zonzi had tracked Julien's run from the start, moving to intercept. But Julien's speed in full flight was shocking—something beyond N'Zonzi's calculations.
Before he could close the gap, Julien had already established a body-length advantage.
N'Zonzi wanted to slide tackle, wanted to grab shirt, but one thought stopped him cold: the yellow card already sitting in the referee's notebook.
He bottled it.
All he could do was chase hard, hoping Pieters ahead could slow Julien down long enough for help to arrive.
But Pieters, seeing Julien charging toward him like a runaway train, could only backpedal frantically. He too was playing scared, paralyzed by the threat of a second yellow.
Julien read the hesitation perfectly. As he approached Pieters, his left foot nudged the ball as if preparing to cut inside.
Pieters bit on the feint completely, shifting his weight.
Julien's right foot instantly flicked the ball back the other way with the outside of his boot, then knocked it forward again in one fluid motion.
The entire sequence was seamless, balletic.
Pieters lost his balance completely, stumbling backward like a drunk man before catching himself.
By the time he turned to give chase, Julien had already glided past.
"HE'S THROUGH!" The Kop exploded!
Other sections joined in: "JULIEN! JULIEN! JULIEN!"
The chant became a tidal wave of sound!
After skinning Pieters, Julien had effectively demolished Stoke's right flank. He drove into the penalty area, cutting inside with the ball seemingly tied to his feet.
Every touch made defenders' hearts skip a beat.
Stoke's last line of defense, Shawcross and Wilson charged at him from different angles, attempting to close the pincer before he could shoot.
Everyone expected the shot.
Instead, at the exact moment Julien's right foot rose to strike, his ankle did something magical—it flicked sideways with deceptive elegance, rolling the ball across goal to the unmarked Sturridge arriving at the back post.
Huth was grabbing fistfuls of Sturridge's shirt, trying desperately to slow him down, but the England international shrugged him off.
"GO ON!"
"PUT IT AWAY!"
Liverpool fans were already halfway to celebration. The chance was golden. Julien had done all the impossible work—drawn four defenders, threaded the perfect pass. All Sturridge had to do was finish.
Shoot!
Sturridge met it with venom—a strike that came off his boot like a cannonball!
Begović had no time to react. The shot was too quick, too close.
Sturridge's heart began racing even before the ball reached goal. He was already preparing his celebration.
But the strike was hit too centrally.
Begović, despite being rooted to the spot and making no conscious save, had positioned himself well. The ball smashed into his body and ricocheted away.
GROOOOAN!
Liverpool fans clutched their heads in disbelief. How had that not gone in?
But the attack wasn't dead!
The ball looped high into the air off Begović's chest. Julien reacted like lightning, racing into the six-yard box faster than anyone else could process what was happening—a red blur against the green pitch.
But his sprint carried him in so quickly that the ball was bouncing at an awkward height—too high for his feet, too low for his head, and he had no time to set himself properly.
There was only one option.
He threw his entire body forward, twisting his torso mid-air, and thrust his chest out to meet the ball in the most awkward position imaginable. The instant his chest made contact, his balance was gone totally—he was falling, tumbling toward the goal with the ball.
It happened too fast for Begović to react. He was still in the center of goal from Sturridge's shot, completely wrong-footed as Julien approached from the right side.
WHOOSH!
The ball buried itself in the net!
3-0!
Anfield went absolutely berserk!
Julien scrambled out of the goal netting immediately, spinning and sprinting toward the corner flag. He pointed the camera lens directly, then raised three fingers high.
The English media's preseason doubts?
Of course he'd seen them. He simply chose not to waste words responding.
Now, this hat-trick would do the talking for him.
Naturally, Julien knew some English pundits would still refuse to admit they were wrong—stubbornness was a national trait.
But that was fine. He had time. He had years ahead of him to beat these skeptics into submission with performance after performance.
Turning back toward the Kop, Julien slowly spread his arms wide and tilted his head back, eyes closed, basking in the moment.
Allowing the stadium lights to illuminate the sweat glistening on his face.
The Kop erupted like Vesuvius!
{Vesuvius is Volcano in Italy.}
"JULIEN!"
"JULIEN!!"
The Kop fans frantically stretched out their hands toward Julien, shouting excitedly, every face was flushed crimson with euphoria.
This goal had them absolutely beside themselves with joy!
Too strong!
Julien was too strong!
This kind of attacking threat brought them a surge of unexpected happiness.
Some were hammering their seats in celebration, others were roaring toward the heavens, and more were already improvising new lyrics to their anthems: "He came from France! He conquered the Premier League!"
The entire stand had transformed into a boiling red sea!
Teammates rushed over, roaring at Julien. This night was an epic moment for every Liverpool supporter.
They hadn't won their opening match of a new season in four years—this time they were going to shatter that embarrassing record!
Meanwhile...
Martin Tyler's voice reached a crescendo that threatened to shatter his microphone: "HAT-TRICK! A FIRST-HALF HAT-TRICK! Ladies and gentlemen, you are witnessing the greatest debut performance in Premier League history!
"JULIEN DE ROCCA!
"This eighteen-year-old has used thirty-nine minutes to redefine what a debut means!
"Let me repeat those numbers: THREE goals—a volley, a free-kick masterpiece, and an instinctive tap-in—three completely different methods to destroy Stoke's defense!
"This isn't about Julien adapting to the Premier League. This is about the Premier League adapting to JULIEN!
From this moment forward, every manager in England will be rewriting their tactical plans. They need to study him, analyze him, figure out how to stop him!
The sight of N'Zonzi and Pieters—both carrying yellow cards—too terrified to tackle tells you everything! His mere presence dismantles defensive systems!
What did Liverpool get for their eighty million euros?
They bought immediate impact, a tactical nuclear weapon, and the foundation stone for the next decade!
Look at how Gerrard embraced him—that wasn't welcoming a newcomer, that was paying respect to Liverpool's next standard-bearer!
Every club that passed on him this summer will lose sleep over it!
Mourinho will be losing hair trying to figure out how to stop him!
If Sir Alex Ferguson sees this performance, he'll spit out his chewing gum and shake his head in amazement: this isn't a player, this is a supernatural phenomenon!
He might even cancel his retirement plans!
The Kop is already singing 'He came from France'!
Liverpool have been waiting years for a genius to burst onto the scene like this!
Julien has used one half of football to conquer the league!
This isn't a debut—this is a coronation!
The Premier League office better start engraving the Player of the Month awards now—because September, October, November, and December are already decided!
Let's immortalize this number: eighteen years old, the youngest player ever to score a hat-trick on his Premier League debut!
The perfect debut!
This young man, who was questioned by so many before kickoff—who some claimed wouldn't be able to handle the Premier League's physicality has already told the world everything they need to know.
Welcome to the Premier League. Welcome to the Julien DE Rocca Show!"
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