Chapter 241: Horseshoe disease in the spring breeze

"Eight million pounds?"

Like Jiang Yuan's eyebrows, for a purely commercial endorsement, this price is already very good.

but……

"Mr. Ashley, maybe you should talk to my agent about this kind of thing?"

Jiang Yuan smiled, he was not a fool. Ashley had been trying to get closer to him while talking, and his purpose was too strong.

"oh"

Ashley smiled awkwardly: "Mr. Jiang, you misunderstood me. I just wanted to know your opinion on the new endorsement. As for the contract...haha, this kind of thing should of course be handed over to the agent."

"Now that I know you support the new contract, that's great. Mendes, your agent is Mendes, right? Well, I have to find time to talk to him."

As the owner of Newcastle, Ashley must have Mendes' contact information, so Jiang Yuan doesn't need to worry about it anymore.

"Mr. Jiang, I apologize for my inappropriate behavior just now."

Ashley walked to his seat and poured a glass of wine into his own glass. Jiang Yuan noticed that Ashley brought his own champagne. Qatar Airways was really something. The first-class cabin had KRUG vintage champagne, but non-drinkers didn't want it, but first-class passengers who drank liked it.

"Mr. Ashley, you don't have to apologize."

Jiang Yuan stood up and had a drink with Ashley.

……

On February 2, London time, Jiang Yuan arrived at Heathrow Airport, but Chelsea had just finished the FA Cup match against Milton Keynes yesterday, and today was Chelsea's holiday.

Of course, because it is a small competition like the FA Cup, not all players have holidays.

Players like Hazard, Ibrahimovic, Zouma and William who did not play in the game or came on as substitutes did not have any holidays. If you count carefully, Mourinho actually only gave five players a full day of holiday.

"Jiang, here!"

Hazard waved to Jiang Yuan. Behind him was an Aston Martin Vanquish, which was one of the Belgian's cars.

Hazard was wearing sunglasses, so no one around him recognized him yet.

"Oh, Eden, you really came?"

Jiang Yuan looked left and right, and after confirming that no one noticed him, he quickly ran towards Hazard, pressed the handle and sat in the passenger seat.

"Snapped"

Hazard closed the door gracefully and winked at Jiang Yuan: "How about it, I'm nice, right? I came to pick you up just as I said I would! I talked to Jose for a long time and told him that it's inconvenient for you to take an Uber at the airport, so I came here specially!"

After hearing what Hazard said, Jiang Yuan pursed his lips and couldn't help but tease: "Are you sure you don't want to avoid training? Just tell me if today is endurance training?"

"come on!"

Hazard faced Jiang Yuan on the left and spread his hands: "Good man, how can you say that to me? You should know that I have always been the one who likes training the most in the team!"

"Okay, okay, thank you! So Mr. Eden, can we go now?"

It’s not that Jiang Yuan is anxious, but Hazard’s car is too conspicuous. It would be troublesome if he stayed here and was blocked by fans.

"Jiang, don't rush back. I'll take you for a spin on the way to Cobham!"

After saying that, Hazard started the car. The 12 V-shaped engines made a "bang bang bang" roar. Not to mention this road, it could probably be heard clearly even on the next two streets.

After 2 hours, Jiang Yuan, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was already a little sleepy, but Hazard was still very excited, pressing the brake and the accelerator one after another.

It’s true that Hazard’s driving skills are really good. He can drive steadily on such a winding road as Cobham.

"Jingle Bell"

At this moment, the phone in Jiang Yuan's pocket rang, which immediately caught Azar's attention.

"girlfriend?"

"Definitely not."

"Oh, sorry, it should be the girlfriends"

Hazard responded to the joke Jiang Yuan had made before, which made Jiang Yuan speechless.

As soon as the call was connected, the other end started to scold him: "Jiang, where are you? Didn't you say you could be at the base at 9:? Damn it, did you make a mistake? Cobham is in London, not New York. Don't fly to New York!"

"Fuck"

Mourinho's voice was so loud that Jiang Yuan was scared and quickly took the phone away from his ear.

"What's wrong? Did you have a fight with your girlfriend? Jiang, you are still too young. In this case, you can just buy her some luxury goods."

"let me!"

Azar motioned Jiang Yuan to put the phone to his mouth. Jiang Yuan forced himself to hold back his laughter and put the phone next to Azar.

"Hey girl, listen up..."

"Fuck you, Eden, are you with Jiang now? Hurry up and bring him back, we have training in the afternoon!"

Hazard shuddered and almost lost his grip on the steering wheel.

……

“Welcome our champion of Asian!”

Mourinho asked the players to line up in two rows to welcome Jiang Yuan who was walking from the door. The mockery in it was too obvious.

It seems that Mourinho has not yet recovered from the defeat to Arsenal.

No, it cannot be said that it was the defeat to Arsenal, but rather the defeat to Wenger that Mourinho could not bear.

Although it was a joke, Jiang Yuan still had to applaud. He slowly walked to the back and saw a tall figure who had just appeared in the team: "Um... Zlatan?"

"Jiang, you are younger than I expected!"

Ibrahimovic hugged Jiang Yuan, and with a little force from his arms, he pressed Jiang Yuan's head directly onto his pectoralis major.

I rub.

Jiang Yuan's pupils shrank. He was younger than Ibrahimovic thought, and Ibrahimovic was also taller than he imagined.

Jiang Yuan compared his height with that of Ibrahimovic with his hands, and looked very surprised: "Dude, you must be 2 meters tall, right?"

"1 meters!"

Ibrahimovic corrected.

Good guy!
Jiang Yuan glanced at Zouma who was standing on the sidelines and dribbling the ball: "Little Kurt, are you afraid of this kind of striker?"

Hearing this, Zuma kicked the ball out of the air with a big foot, and then walked over: "Jiang, what are you kidding, when have I ever been afraid of a striker? The entire Premier League, no, the entire top five leagues! There is not a single striker in the entire top five leagues that can scare me!"

Zuma showed his big teeth and had no doubt about his ability.

Seeing Zouma being so arrogant again, Mourinho immediately stretched out his leg and kicked the Frenchman on the butt: "Being afraid or not is one thing, giving the opponent a penalty or not is another thing"

""Okay, guys, go to the physiotherapy room and rest. We'll start afternoon training in 4 hours. We have players coming back, so we'll practice passing and receiving in a small area this afternoon."

"Pah pah pah, move on, the massage is waiting for you inside!"

Mourinho waved his hands and pushed the players towards the physiotherapy room as if they were driving pigs.

Jiang Yuan was about to go with him, but was stopped by Mourinho: "Jiang, although I am not very happy that you are going to participate in the national team competition. But you won the championship, I still want to congratulate you"

Mourinho opened his arms and hugged Jiang Yuan. What he said was right. Participating in a competition and winning the championship are two different things. Jiang Yuan's performance in the national team is worthy of recognition.

"but……"

Mourinho changed the subject and looked Jiang Yuan up and down: "You've played in the U2 game for almost two weeks. Can you adjust back to your form?"

"Of course, I can adapt to any intensity of competition!"

Mourinho put his arm around Jiang Yuan's shoulders and said, "Wow, I don't believe what you said. Look, your muscles have atrophied."

Mourinho pinched Jiang Yuan's biceps. After two weeks of professional training and diet, Jiang Yuan's muscle mass had begun to decline.

"It's okay, we'll have a game in a few days."

Jiang Yuan smiled and said: "Facts speak louder than words"

……

In the physiotherapy room, Zuma, who had just finished his shoulder spa, sat down on Jiang Yuan's bed, holding a mobile phone in his hand: "Let me show you, I'm worth 1700 million euros now, isn't that amazing?"

"Great!"

Jiang Yuan gave a thumbs up and didn't say anything else.

"Hmm? Shouldn't you act really shocked? What do you mean by 'awesome'? Haven't I always been awesome?"

Zuma looked a little unhappy because he felt that Jiang Yuan was just being perfunctory.

"It's so funny, little Kurt, you let a 7500 million euro player praise a 1700 million euro player, do you think this is appropriate?"

Hazard reminded Zouma that Jiang Yuan is now tied with him as the most valuable player in Chelsea!

"Oh, damn!"

Zuma cursed loudly. He was so anxious to show off to Jiang Yuan that he ignored the change in Jiang Yuan’s worth: “Asshole, Jiang, have you forgotten our agreement?”

Jiang Yuan frowned: "What agreement? Why don't I remember we had an agreement?"

"Damn it, when you first came to the club, you said you would reach the 3000 million euro mark with me."

"Oh, you said this!"

Jiang Yuan reacted: "My current salary is 7500 million euros, not 3000 million euros, so I didn't break the agreement."

"???"

"Hahahaha!"

……

CCTV1：北京时间1月31日凌晨12点51分，中国国家男子足球U23队3：0战胜韩国国家男子足球U23队，获得队史首个亚足联U23足球锦标赛冠军，傅博获得赛事最佳教练。

CCTV reporter reported that Jiang Yuan, captain of the Chinese men's football U23 team, won the Golden Boot of this tournament with 5 goals in 16 games. Currently, the player has arrived in London and returned to the training of the Premier League Chelsea club.

CCTV5：2016U23亚洲杯将会在5台回播77次，回播时间为每天早上7天和晚上7点。

"China Sports Daily" front page headline + bold font - A historic moment, today belongs to Chinese football!

The second most searched topic on Weibo: Thousands of Chinese fans sang "Life in Full Bloom"! (Wang Feng liked the search)
Asian Football Confederation - Jiang Yuan (CHN7) scored 5 goals in 16 games, with an average overall score of 10.0, the highest average score in the history of the U23 Asian Cup. Hupu fans commented on Jiang Yuan: 7500 million euros, not a drop of water, all goals.

Hupu fans commented on Fu Bo: The reason for winning the Best Coach award is that he put Jiang Yuan in the starting lineup.

Chelsea Twitter - Congratulations! The blue of the club, the red of the national team, No. 7 Jiang Yuan won the U23 Asian Cup.

德国transfermarket、金童/金球奖委员会——U23亚洲杯进球权重为0.1（赛事1粒进球在身价评定中当做视为0.1粒联赛进球），因为江所在英超联赛的进球权重为1.5，所以球员在国家队比赛的16粒进球被视作1粒英超联赛进球。

The Times front page headline: Chelsea will play away against Watford at 2:3 on February 18rd, London time. This is Chelsea's first game in February. The reporter asked Mourinho whether Jiang and Ibrahimovic will play, but the team coach said "We will know when the time comes."

……

That afternoon, an 11v11 team training match was held at the Cobham base. Jiang Yuan's performance was not good, but not bad either, and he finally got the promise of starting from Mourinho.

Then there is Ibrahimovic. The Swedish center forward is scheduled to start in the next game against Watford. This game will be Ibrahimovic's debut for Chelsea.

The return of the golden boy + the debut of the new center forward, for Chelsea fans, the game on the evening of February 2 will be very special.

But before that, Mourinho encountered some troubles because the boss Abramovich came to the club's training base by helicopter because he was dissatisfied with the team's winter transfer plan.

"4250 million euros to sell Diego Costa, 1700 million euros to buy Ibrahimovic, 460 million euros to buy Miazga..."

Abramovich sat on the sofa, reading out aloud the transfers that Chelsea had completed this season. Mourinho sat opposite him, his brows furrowed and his expression frighteningly serious.

"Jose! Don't you think it's absurd to sell a 27-year-old top player and buy a player who is almost 35 and about to retire?"

Abramovich crossed his legs. There was no doubt that he came here to cause trouble for Mourinho today.

Mourinho seemed to have anticipated this: "Mr. Roman, the younger the player, the better. Otherwise, we would not have been able to buy Jiang for 1350 million last year. You know, Jiang had just turned 17 at that time."

"So you think Zlatan can do better than Diego?"

"Oh, Zlatan has very strong physical talents, and 34 is not a worthy age for him to retire. I think this is a worthwhile transfer. Mr. Roman, you are the chairman of the club, and we need your signature to complete this transfer."

What Mourinho meant was to ask Abramovich on the other side why he was talking so much after he had already signed.

Sure enough, Abramovich is the damn thing!

"That's because I thought you had no use for 4000 million euros. Well, we still have nearly 2000 million euros left, but the transfer window has closed. What's the point of keeping 2000 million euros? Are you going to put it in a London bank and earn interest?"

What Abramovich said is not wrong. It is a bit strange to use up 2000 million pounds and not buy anything.

“That’s because we don’t have the right choice.”

Mourinho told the truth: "I only wanted Zlatan, but the situation at the time was that a player had to be sold and Diego was the best option in my opinion"

"Mr. Roman, please stop questioning my decision. The next games will tell us what the transfer process will be like in the winter window."

“Facts speak louder than words”

……

"Zhuangdianertai, Zhuangdianertai!"

"Here is the live broadcast of the 25th round of the English Premier League, Chelsea's away game against Watford"

"The referee is already looking at his watch!"

"The game has begun. Let me introduce the starting lineups for both teams. First up is the home team Watford."

Watford (4-3-1-2)

Goalkeeper: Gomez
Defenders: Paredes, Cathcart, Pledel, Holevas

Midfielders: Capoue, Watson, Behrami, Jurado
Forwards: Deeney, Ighalo
Head coach: Flores
"Then it's the visiting team Chelsea. Wow, Chelsea are wearing pure black jerseys and shorts today!"

Chelsea (4-2-3-1)

……

Forwards: Hazard, Ibrahimovic, Jiang Yuan

The game started at 3:45 am Beijing time, which is not a friendly time for Chinese fans to watch the game, but judging from the feedback from the TV station backstage, there were indeed quite a few people watching today's game.

The reason is very simple. China's huge publicity for the U23 Asian Cup has made many Chinese football fans pay attention to this young man playing in the Premier League.

The flame of hope is rekindled, enough to light up the darkness of the early morning.

In terms of tactics, due to the different technical characteristics of Ibrahimovic and Costa, Chelsea's tactics have also made some very subtle changes.

Originally Costa would run to the wing to provide support, but it is definitely unrealistic to let Ibrahimovic, who is in his 30s, run around everywhere, so the pressure on Chelsea's two wingers to dribble the ball will increase.

The solution is to change the full-back position, which is a challenge to the physical strength of Azpilicueta and Ivanovic.

In fact, if Kante could be bought, his coverage ability in the backcourt could help Chelsea solve the problem of protecting the ball on the wing, but unfortunately Leicester City has no intention of selling anyone.

In the 20th minute of the game, Watford defender Paredes' long-range shot hit Zouma's leg, and the ball bounced to Azpilicueta's feet.

"go! go!"

Azpilicueta shouted twice, signaling Hazard to move quickly. Hazard did not hesitate. He bypassed Capoue and moved towards the sideline. He successfully received a through pass from Azpilicueta, and then used his personal ability to force an inward line on the left.

"Wow!"

The fans in the stands screamed in amazement. This style of play that focused on individual ability brought a very strong visual effect to the audience.

In the eyes of fans, Hazard was fast and slow, with a sudden pause in the middle, but if you look closely at it in slow motion, you will find that Hazard made at least four moves in the whole process.

From twisting his ankle to turning his hips, his extreme body flexibility gives the Belgian superstar outstanding dribbling abilities.

"Snapped!"

Hazard made a very close inverted triangle pass, and William in the middle position caught the ball. After adjusting one step, he found that there was no shooting angle, so he could only pass the ball to Jiang Yuan on the right.

Good pass!

William's pass rolled smoothly to Jiang Yuan's chest, helping Jiang Yuan adjust his body direction.

To be honest, Jiang Yuan, who had been playing in Qatar for two weeks, hadn't received such a comfortable pass for a long time.

With a "ta" sound, Jiang Yuan kicked the ball toward the bottom line with the outside of his foot and completed a cross with his right foot before the ball went out of the bottom line.

In the middle, Ibrahimovic!

"shit"

Ibrahimovic rushed out and tried to complete a sliding shot, but his legs were not long enough.

"My My"

Jiang Yuan raised his hand to signal to Ibrahimovic that it was difficult to pass a good low ball from this position, and he should have kicked the ball just now.

"Good!"

Although Jiang Yuan did not pass the ball well, Ibrahimovic still gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs up. For Jiang Yuan, this was obviously a good consolation.

"Watford!"

"Clap!"

"Watford!"

"Clap!"

The fans in the stands were cheering for their home team. Watford's home stadium is Vicarage Road, which has a total of 2 seats. Although it is not as good as Stamford Bridge, it is much better than the Khalifa Stadium where the U1 Asian Cup final was held.

But to be honest, the Khalifa in the final was much more lively than Vicarage Road now!
"Ivan! Don't forget to move forward, Cesc will help you fill in the position!"

Ivanovic seemed to have forgotten his task of moving forward, so Mourinho reminded him off the court.

On the side, Brown showed a satisfied smile: "Zlatan, he is a very charming man. Jose, now I begin to agree with your idea"

Mourinho glanced at Leon Brown standing next to him: "I never make mistakes"

The game reached the 35th minute. For Chelsea at the moment, Watford was not a very strong opponent, which could be seen from the ball possession rate in the past 15 minutes.

Chelsea's ball possession rate is as high as 65%!

"Go and grab it, go and grab it!"

Azpilicueta shouted loudly, saying that he would help fill the position. In this case, Matic rushed forward with a big step, and together with William, the two of them blocked Deeney's position.

Seeing that his attacking route was blocked, Deeney tried to pass the ball to Capoue on the wing, but he didn't expect Hazard to grab the ball before Capoue.

"A great interception from Hazard! Very nice, let's see Chelsea's counterattack opportunity this time!"

"Ibrahimovic is moving forward, Hazard speeds up to bypass Capoue, very fast!"

"Watson should have wanted to help Capoue defend, but it seems too late, Paredes ran out from the baseline."

"Hazard stopped suddenly, turned around, passed the ball to the right, and Fabregas passed the ball to Jiang Yuan"

"Jiang Yuan, make an arc with your right foot into the penalty area!"

"Ibrahimovic in the penalty area..."

“GOOOOOOO—AAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLLL!!!”

“Zlatan Ibrahimovi!!!”

As the commentary sounded, Ibrahimovic stood up, turned around and pointed at Jiang Yuan: "Come here, come here quickly!"

After saying that, Ibrahimovic took small steps back. Jiang Yuan did not hesitate and rushed towards Ibrahimovic.

"Wow~!"

Jiang Yuan rushed over and hugged Ibrahimovic, but unfortunately he was not tall enough, otherwise Jiang Yuan would have kissed Ibrahimovic on the forehead.

"Perfect pass!"

Ibrahimovic turned around and motioned Jiang Yuan to jump on his back.

Ibrahimovic then started running wildly outside the field.

In the 37th minute of the game, Ibrahimovic scored with a header, and Chelsea, who played away, scored the first goal!

Mourinho raised his arms to celebrate. He seemed to suddenly remember something. He took two steps forward, turned around and looked up at the VIP seats at Vicarage Road.

Abu didn't come.

Pity!
……

(End of this chapter)