On April 19, the day Tottenham officially announced Mourinho's dismissal, Chen Xiaoliang sent him a text message, but he never replied.
Today, May 4th, he just arrived at the club in the morning to prepare for training. When he was putting his mobile phone away in the locker room, he found that Mourinho had replied.
When I clicked on it, it was a photo.
There was a stack of papers in front of Mourinho, which were covered with densely printed words. He was shaking hands with a middle-aged man in a neat suit, and both of them had satisfied smiles on their faces.
The most eye-catching thing is the team logo behind him!
On a shield-shaped background composed of yellow and red, a gray female wolf is feeding two cubs!
Big golden words below: Rome, 1927!
Chen Xiaoliang quickly went online to check the sports news, but no media mentioned Mourinho!
It seems that the news has not been officially announced yet, but Mourinho told him in advance.
It turns out that Mourinho has not been idle for more than half a month!
Although I didn’t care much about football before the time travel, my understanding of football and players all came from the football manager game.
But he still remembers some major events in football, especially those that went viral.
However, after traveling through time, his original memories and the memories of this life overlapped, and he couldn't tell which world many things happened in.
Especially after coming to this world, he found that no one wore masks, and he realized that there was a big difference between the two worlds.
But Mourinho going to Rome still happened.
While he was lost in thought, he received another call from Reese.
"Hey, Chen, come home early after your practice tonight. We need to talk!"
As a result, Chen Xiaoliang was not in good shape during the training that day. Gerrard thought he was depressed because his parents returned to China, and did not take it seriously.
However, at 4 pm, after Roma made the official announcement, media around the world immediately reported the news.
Chen Xiaoliang finally found out that the man who signed the contract with Mourinho in the photo was called Dan Friedkin, a wealthy businessman from the United States who had just acquired 76% of the shares of the Roma club.
When Chen Xiaoliang returned home, he saw the anxious Reese.
"Mourinho wants to buy you, and the American owner has agreed to match your buyout clause with Tottenham! But now they have to adjust the entire team, from the club CEO to the football director, so no one has come to discuss the specific terms with me yet, but Mourinho said that he hopes you can wait a while, and he will do his best to sign you!"
"What do you think? Is Rome a good place to go?"
"How do I answer this question... I spent seven years at Liverpool, played 348 games, averaging nearly 50 games a season, working tirelessly and conscientiously. I wanted to retire there, but Benítez bought Aurelio and said I was no longer the first choice at left-back.
I asked him respectfully if I could play in the last two games of the season so that I could get 350 games and leave with a successful record.
He refused.
I moved to Rome and stayed there for three years. I once thought about retiring there. Both Spalletti and Ranieri liked me very much.
But then another Spaniard came and, like Enrique and Benítez, told me that I was not in his plans.
As an individual, I certainly think it would be great for you to go to Rome, and I have many good memories of that place, but as your agent, I would not recommend you to do so for the time being.
Today's Roma is not only unable to compete with the three old giants of Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan in Serie A, but even Lazio, Atalanta and Naples are stronger than it, both in terms of lineup and financial strength.
Plus, the American owner doesn't seem to be very rich. If he is another Glazer, it will be hard for Mourinho to achieve anything with this lineup. I have to think about you."
Chen Xiaoliang thought for a moment and said, "Looking back, if Benítez trusted you at the time, would you have stayed at Liverpool?"
Reese nodded.
"Where's Enrique?"
Riise nodded: "I know what you want to say, but Roma's current situation in Serie A is definitely not comparable to Rangers ' situation in the Scottish Premier League.
For example, if you were loaned to Dundee United, even if the head coach there trusted you as much as Gerrard did, it would be difficult for you to make progress among a group of mediocre players and one loss after another.
To make an inappropriate analogy, if you now return to your hometown, the Donghai Shenhua team, everyone from top to bottom will definitely treat you as a treasure, but after three to five years, your football talent may be wasted.
You don't have to make a decision so quickly. I'm worried that Mourinho will contact you first and play the emotional card with you. You are a person who values ​​feelings, which is an advantage, but sometimes it is not necessarily an advantage. "
Chen Xiaoliang told Riise that he would wait for Roma's formal offer, and also asked Riise to understand the purpose of Roma's new owner's investment in the club and his plans for the team's future.
After dinner and measuring his physical data, Chen Xiaoliang returned to his room early and called out the system to collect the mission reward for the previous game against the Celtics.
He scored 1 goal, made 2 assists, and was named the best player of the match. He got a total of 14 hours of training. With today's 3 hours of training, he currently has a total of 21 hours of training.
Because we lost a goal in the last game, we can only be rewarded with one physical recovery card. Including the one we used against Manchester United, we still have two cards now.
After finishing all this, the system had no other prompts, so he opened Mourinho's notebook again and read it from beginning to end.
The notebook not only records how the defensive midfielder should choose his position and pass the ball, but also contains notes on other Tottenham players.
For example, how should Kane run in positional warfare, how should he connect the front and back fields in defensive counterattacks, how should Son Heung-min and Kane interact, when should they run around the sidelines and when should they enter the penalty area.
There are also many scribbled drawings that appear to have been recorded at the game, including the offensive tactics of teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City and how to defend.
Nine days later, on May 13, after nine days of training, Rangers travelled to challenge Livingston, which was ranked sixth.
The home team held a polite welcoming ceremony and the game was not as tense as the previous one.
Gerrard replaced many substitute players as starters for this game, such as second goalkeeper McLaughlin, veteran Defoe, Kamara who became a substitute because of the arrival of Chen Xiaoliang, as well as Simpson, Uglumba and others.
They even sent out young winger Brandon Buck, who made his debut in Manchester City's youth training camp.
However, Chen Xiaoliang is still the main force in the defensive midfielder position. During Tavernier's recovery from injury , he also became the team's regular captain.
The game was uneventful, and the substitutes performed exceptionally hard in order to fight for the opportunity to play next season.
Especially Kamara and Ivoit, they know that Chen Xiaoliang's loan will end soon, Davis will be 37 years old next season, and Aribo may also be bought by Southampton. It is a good time to fight for the starting position next season.
In this game, their hard work in defense greatly reduced the burden on Chen Xiaoliang and also gave Chen Xiaoliang more opportunities to move forward and attack.
Under complete control of the midfield, Rangers' possession rate reached an astonishing 72% in this game, and Chen Xiaoliang's 103 passes in a single game also set a personal high.
At the same time, although the team only had 8 shots, all 3 shots on target were converted into goals, including Defoe's goal in the first half after a corner kick in the penalty area, Kamara's direct free kick in the second half, and Roofe's header from a cross.
Although there were no direct assists or goals, Chen Xiaoliang still won the best player of the game with 7.8 points after the game thanks to his distribution of the ball and large-scale sweeps in the backcourt.
Including this game and the previous 9 days of training, he has accumulated 74 hours of training value.
After 37 rounds of the league, Rangers had 31 wins, 6 draws and 99 points, with only one game left to achieve their unbeaten season. At the same time, a 122-year record was waiting for them.