Finally Mastered!

Su Dong asked himself: over this past period, he had met people from quite a few clubs, and all of them had done everything they could to convince him to join their teams. Naturally, that also meant they would inevitably say a few unfavorable things about their competitors.

But someone like Mourinho, who sat down and bluntly told Su Dong not to join a certain club, was unprecedented. Only Mourinho had ever done something like that.

And yet, he seemed to do it with particular righteous confidence.

Why?

Could it be simply because he had previously been driven out of the club by Benfica's new chairman?

If so, that was a little too vindictive.

Seeing Su Dong's expression, unsure how to respond, Mendes smiled bitterly inwardly, coughed twice—not too heavily, not too lightly—and reminded him with a wry smile, "Jose, we're still on the grounds of Estádio da Luz."

"I'd say the same no matter where I was." Mourinho, on the contrary, looked as if he held the truth and could walk anywhere under heaven. "Aside from that bunch of higher-ups whose brains got kicked by donkeys, who can't see Benfica's problems right now?"

At that, Su Dong finally heard something in his words.

Mourinho did indeed have resentment in his heart, but Benfica itself did indeed have problems.

"Look at Benfica's first team over these past few years. What young players have they developed?" Mourinho first asked Su Dong, then turned to Mendes. "Jorge, you know the situation. Can you name a few?"

Mendes looked at Su Dong and found himself somewhat stumped.

"When they brought in Heynckes back then, they originally placed great hopes on him, but from start to finish, they never gave him much support. They even pushed the blame onto Heynckes for João Pinto being sold to their sworn enemy Sporting Lisbon during the European Cup, and that caused the German manager to lose the support of Benfica fans from then on."

"When they first contacted me, I proposed a complete blueprint for building a younger squad. They made it clear they had no money to invest in transfers. The famous coach Oliveira rejected their invitation for that very reason too. And the plan I proposed didn't require much investment at all. But what was the result? After I beat Sporting Lisbon three-nil, the new chairman informed me that I was not part of his plans."

When Mourinho spoke of the grudges between him and Benfica, there was clearly still deep resentment in him.

Of course, anyone who encountered something like that would definitely feel wronged.

"A new chairman, a star manager—they took office amid great expectations, but what was the result?"

Mourinho curled his lip and shook his head. "A year has passed, and Benfica's results are still half-dead. They claimed they would vigorously promote youth academy players, but in the current first team, how many young players have they actually developed themselves?"

"Simão was bought back from Barcelona for an astronomical eight-figure transfer fee. He came out of Sporting Lisbon's youth academy. Midfielder Tiago came from Braga. Maniche was indeed developed by the academy, but before serving the first team, he spent three years at Alverca, helping that club rise from the Portuguese League to the Portuguese Super League."

At this point, Mourinho turned his head, his eyes fixed directly on Su Dong.

"Su, don't listen to what those people at Benfica say. Look at what they've done over these past years. In truth, they simply don't have the ability to develop young players, nor do they have the soil for developing young players."

"Right now, for Benfica, the most important thing of all is results. It's how to help the team return to the first group as quickly as possible and stand shoulder to shoulder with Porto and Sporting Lisbon. As for developing young players, that's nothing more than a line they use to please the fans because they don't have the money to invest in the transfer market."

Mourinho's words were like a knife, slicing through layer after layer of disguise on Benfica's outer skin.

"On the contrary, a club like our Leiria may be a small team, but you can look at our first team. We don't have enough financial strength to bring in those powerful players, so we have a complete, well-established system for developing young players."

"For example, the Brazilian forward Derlei. He came to Leiria at twenty-four. Before that, he couldn't even get games back in Brazil. We spent only 150,000 Euros to sign him, but after he joined the team, he scored eight goals in his first season, thirteen goals last season, and so far this season, before even reaching the halfway point, his goal tally has already hit double digits."

Derlei was indeed the most surprising scorer in the Portuguese Super League this season. His attacking firepower had even surpassed Porto's top scorer, Pena.

More importantly, Mourinho was not wrong at all. Derlei had indeed been developed by Leiria—or rather, he was a forward who had shone brilliantly in Mourinho's hands.

Because he had to return to Leiria with the team, Mourinho did not sit in the café for too long.

Watching him leave, Mendes and Jorge Manuel faintly felt as though they could breathe a sigh of relief.

"He's like a sharp sword, able to pierce through everything, saying things others don't dare say or aren't willing to say. He looks as if he's very impulsive, but in reality, his mind is meticulous and his logic is completely intact. It's even possible that even our reactions didn't escape the scope of his predictions."

Mendes looked rather worried that Su Dong had been directly stirred up by Mourinho.

From the moment this fellow sat down, he had completely controlled the rhythm and direction of the entire conversation.

He began by blasting Benfica, then peeled back Benfica's inner truth layer by layer, and finally threw out the option of Leiria. Throughout the entire process, never mind Su Dong—even Mendes and Manuel found it very hard to get a word in.

Just as Mendes had said, there were some things no one would say so bluntly, but Mourinho had said them.

Some words, if spoken too bluntly, could easily make people feel repulsed. But Mourinho had said them, and Su Dong had not felt repulsed.

That could probably be considered a kind of ability too.

"What do you think?" Mendes looked at Su Dong with concern.

Su Dong frowned slightly. "If it weren't for that rumor about him and Porto, I might have believed him."

Mendes and Manuel exchanged a glance, then burst out laughing at the same time.

After spending some time with him, they had discovered that apart from his relatively weak ability, Su Dong was a player who was quite satisfying in both the way he dealt with people and his personality. Not only was he hardworking and self-disciplined in training, he was also very rational.

Many professional players often easily lost themselves, lacking a clear understanding of themselves and also lacking understanding and analysis of the outside world.

But Su Dong clearly did not. That was a very rare quality.

"If Machado's coaching results still don't improve, Porto will change managers during the Winter Break," Mendes said with great certainty.

As the saying went, new lords brought new retainers. If Mourinho left the club, and Su Dong happened to join Leiria at this time, the final result would definitely be full of variables.

Recruiting Su Dong was definitely not Mourinho's idea alone. But if he left and another head coach came in, then Su Dong would face even more unknowns. That was certainly not a wise choice.

Of course, if it had been earlier, when no club favored him, Su Dong would have accepted it. But things were different now.

"Take it slow. Don't rush. There are still two months. You only need to focus on playing football. Leave the rest to me."

Mendes's promise was not empty talk, because he soon showed Su Dong what he was capable of.

Hugo Viana, the first Sporting Lisbon player Mendes had signed, was called up to the first team in early October and later came off the bench, performing very well. He was hailed as Rui Costa II.

More importantly, after November began, Hugo Viana rose to become a starting midfielder for Sporting Lisbon's first team.

After all, as an eighteen-year-old youngster, Hugo Viana's competitors were twenty-eight-year-old Ricardo Sá Pinto and twenty-nine-year-old international João Pinto. Both of them were famous Portuguese players.

Of course, this was not something Mendes had brought about single-handedly, but because Sporting Lisbon head coach Boloni had switched to a two-striker formation.

After the tactical change, Hugo Viana appeared more often as a holding midfielder and left midfielder, allowing the left-footed Viana to begin making his mark at Sporting Lisbon, with faint signs of matching Quaresma stride for stride.

Perhaps stimulated by Hugo Viana's entry into the first team, Rony finally sent a fax to Jose Veiga during the November International Break, while the league was suspended, officially signing under Jorge Mendes.

In order to sign Rony, Mendes not only personally flew to the Madeira Islands and visited Rony's parents, but also invited Rony's mother to Lisbon. The two sides sat down for a meal, and only then did Mendes persuade Rony's mother.

After signing Rony, Mendes immediately went to Sporting Lisbon's Technical Director, Aurelio Pereira.

"I can make a promise. Rony can join the first team for training during the Winter Break, and he will appear for the first team in the second half of this season. But you know as well as I do that the team is performing well right now, and we can't promise anything more."

Sporting Lisbon had a real chance of winning the title this season, especially after unlocking Jardel's attacking firepower.

Under these circumstances, Boloni's position as head coach was very secure, and the team would definitely do everything it could to maintain stability from here on. There could not be too many opportunities for young players, especially someone like Rony.

Mendes understood this as well. After all, the situation was indeed what it was.

"We understand the team's situation, but the contract has to be changed," Mendes made his stance clear.

"A monthly salary of two thousand Euro, with bonuses and so on raised accordingly. This even already exceeds quite a few first-team players. It should be enough to show our sincerity." Aurelio clearly had no intention of dragging things out any longer either.

Mendes was also very satisfied with this result.

"Let's not talk about Rony, Jorge." Aurelio Pereira left his desk, walked over to Mendes, and warmly put an arm around the young Portuguese agent's shoulders. "Tell me about that new player of yours."

While Mendes and Aurelio were chatting in Alcochete, the protagonist, Su Dong, was beaming with joy inside the futsal court at Edward VII Park Stadium.

He had just finished training with Rony. Afterward, as usual, he checked the personal attributes panel in the system.

He had finally maxed it out.

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