For a week, the three of them trained regularly every day.
In the morning there is aerobic and fitness training, and in the afternoon there is tactical coordination and ball training.
Kvaratskhelia went to the Russian league at the age of 19 and stayed there for two years. She is very good at taking care of herself and is proficient in cooking and housework.
Despite being valued at just 12 million euros, he is already the top star in his native Georgia.
After winning the Russian Premier League's best young player in the season before last, his playing time had obviously increased last season. However, once the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, all aspects of Russia were subject to external restrictions, and football was no exception.
Taking into account that there are many foreign players in the Russian Premier League, FIFA has specially issued a permission order to allow foreign players in the Russian Premier League to leave Russian clubs through transfers during the non-transfer period.
Everyone was in panic for a while, and with the help of his original agent, Kva returned to the Georgian team Batumi Dynamo with a transfer fee of 8 million euros.
But he knew that his future should not be limited here. However, after his agent promoted him everywhere, he was still hit hard by the fact that no club was willing to sign this seemingly thin young man.
Fortunately, everything is over. Everything in the city of Rome is perfect for him, even beyond what he could have dreamed of.
The appearance of Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco, two teammates who were close to his age and equally passionate about football, made him excited as if he had found a soulmate.
On July 1, Roma Club issued an official announcement:
"Through intensive work during the offseason, the team has signed three new players: the Georgian player from Batumi Dynamo, the 21-year-old Hvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Argentine player from River Plate, also 21 years old, Enzo Fernandez, and the free agent, the 23-year-old Serbian goalkeeper Slaver.
Enzo will join the team after taking care of personal matters, while the other two have already arrived at the club and will join the pre-season preparations.
Let us look forward to the performance of the three new players this season!"
However, after the announcement was issued, although it received a lot of attention, the comments were biased towards two extremes:
[What's going on? These two people have never heard anything before. They waited in the tree for a long time, and this is it? ]
[The English name of Kvaratskhelia is too long... 20 letters... and it's hard to pronounce in Chinese]
[Serie A Antetokounmpo? ]
[In Georgia, he is nicknamed the Georgian Messi]
[Don’t act so cool above me. If you say that, I’m still shunning Mbappe.]
[Enzo had never heard of this either. He thought that if Veretout was released, a powerful person would come. But he didn't expect it to be another lottery ticket.]
[Is Roma out of money? Or do they think their roster is good enough? ]
[A football-blind person is just talking nonsense. He has made the Argentina World Cup roster, but he doesn’t know as much about football as you do? ]
…
The above heated discussions quickly spread to major football forums.
After all, Roma will compete in the Champions League as the Serie A champions in the new season, and sports media from various countries and scouts from strong teams are paying close attention to their preparations and signings.
Roma's players naturally also received the club's first-hand notification about the new players joining the team. Many players developed complicated emotions towards these two unfamiliar teammates.
They know that in order to defend their title and make continuous progress in the Champions League next season, the team certainly needs new reinforcements, but people are realistic. Many players who are not at the top of the starting lineup or have a high priority in the lineup hope for strong reinforcements, but they do not want new players to further divide their playing time.
Chen Xiaoliang understands this kind of emotion best. Whether he went to Rangers or just came to Rome, he has more or less been questioned by old teammates or the former "boss" in the locker room.
But on the football field, strength is what matters.
Whether it is conquering opponents or conquering teammates, strength is the most important factor.
At first, Chen Xiaoliang was a little worried that Kwa would have negative emotions after seeing many comments on the Internet that questioned his unknown status, but Kwa quickly proved his inner strength with his actions.
After the team gathered on July 3, although the players who had national team matches in the summer had their vacation extended by a week and have not all returned, most people, including the young players in the reserve team, returned to the Trigoria base and began intensive training.
Kva immediately stunned many players with his super serious attitude in training and his dribbling ability, which was the best in the team.
They couldn't believe it. The club's scouting system was so strong that it could dig out such a talent from an obscure European bottom league.
Ibanez, Smalling, Binya, Matic, Celik, Malacia, these people were beaten by Kvar in the team confrontations one after another.
This kind of dribbling with low stride and high frequency made them very uncomfortable for a while.
However, Kwa did not become complacent because his teammates soon discovered his weakness and targeted it in training, which was physical confrontation.
Matic and Celik, who are not as fast as Kva, will engage in physical confrontation with him before he receives the ball. By interfering with him, they make it impossible for Kva to receive the ball or start smoothly after receiving the ball. In the absence of space, this can effectively reduce Kva's success rate in breaking through.
In order to prevent his teammates from getting in front of him too early, Kva began to consciously increase his off-ball running, especially retreating to a place outside the defense zone of the full-back and the defensive midfielder on the same side to get the ball.
But this also has disadvantages. The farther he is from the penalty area, the longer the distance he needs to dribble the ball, and the more times he will face defense.
All of this is naturally what Mourinho wants to see most. An excellent newcomer allows his teammates to accept new challenges, and his teammates also have their own coping methods to help the newcomer continue to grow.
Coupled with Kva's humble but somewhat introverted personality and the strong support of captain Chen Xiaoliang, Kva was quickly recognized by his teammates.
His dribbling skills are also well-known in the club. Many young players from the youth team come to watch him play and ask him for advice on the technical essentials of dribbling and controlling the ball.
A week later, players such as Pellegrini and Spinazzola who participated in national team competitions such as the European and American Cup in the summer also returned one after another.
The club also issued a second official announcement to the fans:
"The team has confirmed the loan of Dutch midfielder Wijnaldum with Paris Saint-Germain. The player has arrived in Rome and has undergone a medical examination, and has officially become a member of Roma in the new season!"
"Also, as part of the loan agreement, we will travel to Paris on July 31 to play a friendly against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes."
"While introducing new players, the team's Albanian central defender Kumbulla has confirmed that he will be loaned to the Dutch Eredivisie club Heerenveen in the new season, while another young midfielder, Gambian player Darbo, will be loaned to the Turkish Super League Konyaspor Club. I wish them rapid growth during the loan process!"
Compared with the last official announcement, this time the official announcement received praise overall:
[Du Mu! He made great contributions in Liverpool during his five years!]
[Now that I have Du Mu, should I use Li Bai next time? (Dog Head)]
[Could it be that the fans criticized too much last time, and they knew that buying a 21-year-old midfielder was a bit perfunctory, so they rented Wijnaldum specifically? ]
[Xiao Liang in front, Du Mu in the back, the interception and stealing abilities of this midfielder are not taking off? ]
[With Du Mu, we can give Xiao Liang a rest when we play against weaker teams]
[But what does it mean to rent out Kumbulla? Once he leaves, there are only three regular central defenders left. Is that enough for rotation? ]
…
On this day, Wijnaldum and Enzo reported to the club at the same time.
Compared to the unknown Enzo, Wijnaldum, who has won three major tournaments including the Premier League, Champions League and Club World Cup as a main player, is obviously much more respected and welcomed.
However, Mourinho is not worried about any discord between the players because he has a captain who can fully control the locker room.
Even the experienced Wijnaldum was surprised at the control ability of the young new captain.
The simplest example is that when Matic and Cristante were discussing something on the court, Chen Xiaoliang walked over to them, and they would immediately stop their ongoing conversation and listen quietly to what Chen Xiaoliang said to them.
Fortunately, Chen Xiaoliang is a Chinese with yellow skin and black hair. If his nationality was Portuguese, Wijnaldum would definitely think that this guy is Mourinho’s biological son.
A natural question came to the Dutch midfielder's mind: Why?
After just the first day of training, the answer was self-evident.
Whether it was circling the poles, running back and forth, or small-scale tactical cooperation and intra-team confrontation, Wijnaldum found that he seemed to have lived in vain for 30 years. The abilities demonstrated by the 18-year-old Chen Xiaoliang were almost all better than his own.
At the same time, there was another thing that surprised him.
21-year-old Enzo Fernandez, a name that Wijnaldum heard for the first time today, raised a question in his mind after a day of training:
Since Roma has already signed him, why do they want to rent me?
The temperament displayed by the 21-year-old young player in training is completely that of a battle-hardened general.
Matic, Cristante and others also had the same idea.
Cristante suddenly felt the pressure of competition for playing time in the new season increase sharply, while Matic began to secretly calculate when it would be appropriate to retire.
Unlike the shy and introverted Kvaratskhelia, Enzo is a man of action and resolution , who dares to speak and act, and his personality and playing style are as tough as his own.
During the warm-up circle, he was frantically grabbing the ball back and forth like a gangster chasing the passer with a knife. In the afternoon's team confrontation, he played as a defensive midfielder for the substitute team, defending against Chen Xiaoliang, the central midfielder of the main team.
Seeing that scene, Forti was worried that the two would fight.
Facing Chen Xiaoliang's long shot, Enzo tried his best to block it, using his feet as the fastest and his head as the fastest.
And when Chen Xiaoliang wanted to dribble the ball forward, Enzo used all his strength, including hand pulling, foot tripping, and shoulder bumping.
The funniest thing was that when he was assisting in defending Kva, he saw Binya being passed by Kva outside the penalty area, so he went up and knocked Kva down, and was shown a yellow card by Lapeti, who was acting as a temporary referee.
Not only did Enzo not reach out to help his teammate stand up, he also shouted at Binya: "I already have a yellow card, next time it's your turn to commit a foul."
Although Wijnaldum was a little confused by the intensity of the Roma team's training, the experienced player also showed first-class level.
Mourinho stood aside, hands on his hips, silent.
In fact, I was already smiling inside.
Even if he watched a lot of videos and read scout reports, it was still not as real as seeing it with his own eyes. After a day of observation, he couldn't be more satisfied with the performance of Wijnaldum and Enzo.
But this was far from enough. He asked Chen Xiaoliang to lead everyone in doing relaxation exercises after training, and then went back to the office early, where Pinto was waiting for him.
"Jose, Belotti refused to lower his salary demands and insisted on 4 million euros a year, and Dybala did the same. In addition, you also proposed to rent the central defender Gvardiol from RB Leipzig, and the other party offered a loan fee of 8 million euros."
"So the reality now is that you can only choose two out of three at most, and I don't have the money to help you get all three people."
Mourinho's face darkened. Pinto's words wiped out his good mood in training just now: "I just want to ask you a question."
Pinto: “Please go ahead.”
Mourinho: "If the head coach fails to lead the team well, he should be fired. If the director in charge of transfers fails to buy the players the team needs, should he also leave?"
Pinto was a little annoyed: "Watch your words, Jose, I am the general manager of the club now."
Mourinho slammed the table: "So what? You're talking about this in front of me? Moratti, Woodward, Florentino, Abramovich, and that Levy, you're talking about your seniority in front of me?"
Pinto knew he was in the wrong, so he softened his tone and said, "Jose, if I can, let alone three, as long as the rules allow and the money is enough, I'm willing to buy thirty people!"
"But now it's not that we don't want to spend money, but we must strictly follow UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations!"
Mourinho: "This is your business! You should find a way to overcome the difficulties instead of complaining to me about the same thing two months later! And we just sent Kumbulla away! You come to me and say that you can only choose two out of three. If Leipzig Red Bull doesn't let him go, then not only will I not get a central defender, but I will also lose a usable player!"
Pinto sighed, "I have taken a big risk for you, Jose. If you violate the Financial Fair Play Act, being fined tens of millions of euros is a small matter. You will not be able to transfer in the next two transfer windows, and you may even be deprived of the qualification for the European Cup. No one can bear it! When the time comes, not only will I leave, but you will have to leave too!"
Mourinho: "And then? This is the risk you're taking for me? Explain the rules to me again?"
Pinto: "Let me tell you this, I didn't even tell my boss! This year's revenue budget was made based on the assumption that we could be in the top three in the league and at least reach the quarterfinals in the Champions League!"
“And a lot of the money in there isn’t actually there!”
"You know, whether you win the league or not, the direct bonus difference between the champion and the third place is not that big, but there is a huge difference in the final bonus, ticket sales, and broadcast revenue between being eliminated in the Champions League group stage and reaching the quarterfinals!"
"If the final result is the Champions League round of 16, I may terminate Wijnaldum's loan early to reduce salary expenses. If he does not appear in the group stage, not only will I have to terminate the loan, but I will also have to sell a player in the winter window to ensure that the loss does not exceed the limit of the rules."
"If you want all three of these, you have to make it to the Champions League final! Jose, can you guarantee that?"
"We could have solved it by attracting sponsors, but who knew those two countries would fight? You know the current economic environment in Europe. Energy costs have skyrocketed, oil prices, transportation costs, and even hotel prices in Northern Europe have begun to rise. Maybe in winter, people can't even afford heating bills. The cost of running the stadium has increased, but we can't tell the fans that ticket prices have increased. All of this has a huge impact on football!"
After listening to Pinto's words, Mourinho knew that he had no other choice but to come to him for consultation: "Dybala, Gvardiol, I have nothing else to say to you, great general manager."
Pinto sighed, nodded silently, and then quietly left Mourinho's office, closing the door gently before leaving.
Mourinho wanted to light a cigar or a cigarette to calm down, but he didn't have this habit, so he could only make a cup of hot coffee.
He knew that Roma had suffered too much loss in previous years, otherwise it would not have sold the club to the Friedkin family.
Roma is not Paris Saint-Germain. It can increase its capital through a backdoor listing through a company under the Qatar Sovereign Fund. No matter how much money it spends, it will never suffer a loss.
They also actively cooperated with UEFA in broadcasting, competitions, and opposition to the European Super League, both giving money and supporting it, and finally made the Financial Fair Play Act a piece of waste paper in front of them.
Pinto could only obey the rules.
But this also means that he will still only have two center forwards to use in the new season. Once any one of them is injured, Zaniolo or even Pellegrini will have to play as a forward.
The upset Mourinho looked out the window and finally found some comfort.
It seems that the extra training group has new members. In addition to the trio of Chen Xiaoliang, Cesco and Kva, Enzo, Wijnaldum and Zaniolo have also joined in, and the new goalkeeper Svilar has become their sparring partner.
The two sides were doing a 3-on-3 offensive and defensive confrontation in front of the penalty area. Enzo fought one-on-one with Chen Xiaoliang again and again , trying his best to get past him, but every time Chen Xiaoliang intercepted the ball in various ways.
Unwilling to admit defeat, he got the ball back and continued to challenge Chen Xiaoliang.
Break again, start again, break again, start again.
Then he turned around and switched sides. Enzo continued to stare at Chen Xiaoliang's defense, and from time to time he used the defensive method that Chen Xiaoliang had just used on him to defend him.
On the other side, Zaniolo was also competing with Kva.
Zaniolo was the player with the most dribbles in Roma last season, but after seeing Kvarr today, his sense of crisis increased dramatically. He chose to stay and join the captain's training team, wanting to see up close how this Georgian developed his perfect ball control skills.
And Wijnaldum joined not just for extra training. The 30-year-old has reached the point where he needs scientific coordination in terms of physical recovery and training volume, so as to reduce fatigue as much as possible, maintain his form and prolong his career.
It's like Matic, he's already 34 years old, why should he practice more? The more he practices, the more likely he is to get injured. Occasionally, when he's doing some stretching on the sidelines, he'll see a group of young guys practicing more, and sometimes he'll yell a few times when he sees a good ball, but he'll never get involved.
Wijnaldum was simply curious about the two young midfielders Chen Xiaoliang and Enzo. Besides, they would have to work together in the future, so he might as well stay and participate.
This kind of new player can create a good competitive atmosphere within the team from the first time after arriving, and at the same time integrate into a small circle of serious training and mutual learning. Not to mention Mourinho, Chen Xiaoliang is also very happy.
Because Enzo worked so hard, the extra training only lasted about 30 minutes before it ended, and everyone was already sweating profusely.
Enzo, who was already a main midfielder in River Plate, admired Chen Xiaoliang very much. Although he didn't say anything, when the group returned to the locker room, Enzo, who was walking in front, took the initiative to stop and let Chen Xiaoliang behind him enter the room first.
Chen Xiaoliang also took the initiative to show his goodwill. After changing and washing, when he drove home with Cesco, he also took Enzo, who had just arrived and had not bought a car yet, and sent him back to his residence.
"How was it? How did you feel on the first day?"
Chen Xiaoliang asked Enzo.
Enzo thought for a moment: "The training here is more rigorous, and the events are more detailed, which is a little different from when I was in Argentina, but just as I thought, everything is good."
Sesco, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, looked back at Enzo and said, "You really work hard. I always thought that the only person who worked so hard in training was Liangzi."
Cesco spoke barely fluent Italian, and Enzo had no time to learn, so Chen Xiaoliang had to translate into Spanish.
Enzo was very serious: "This year is the most important year in my career, Serie A, the Champions League, and the World Cup. This is an opportunity I must seize."
Chen Xiaoliang: "Stay healthy, it's fine."
Cesco: "Brother, don't be so anxious, try to live every day well, sometimes the result depends on luck, especially the World Cup, which happens every four years, and there is too much uncertainty."
Enzo: "You're right, but I don't have a second chance."
Cesco: "What? You're only 21 and you've already been selected for the World Cup squad. You still say you have no chance? Liangzi and I have no chance..."
Enzo: “No, not for me.”
We have just arrived at our destination after chatting here.
Chen Xiaoliang: "Ten thousand years is too long, seize the day and take a good rest."
Enzo thanked the two and went into the house alone.
Cesco: "This guy is really ruthless and doesn't talk much. I admire him and I'm a little scared. I hope he can handle the pressure of the World Cup."
Chen Xiaoliang: "He is not just doing this for himself."
Cesco: "Who is that for? Winning for someone else?"
Chen Xiaoliang smiled meaningfully: "He is the idol of the whole nation. Aren't you also clamoring to play for Paris Saint-Germain?"
Only then did Cesco understand that Enzo wanted to help Messi realize his dream in his last World Cup.
Refreshing statistics, breaking records, winning championships, winning honors, and even playing for the country and holding the trophy with idols, these are the goals of professional players who climb to the top.
Cesco couldn't help but wonder what his goal should be. This optimistic and somewhat naive striker fell into a rare moment of contemplation.