No Rest During the Winter Break! Tang Long's Body Improves by Leaps and Bounds!

"Mr. Chivu, I feel like I can't do it anymore!"

"A man can never say he can't. Come on, one last set of dumbbell flyes. Your progress has exceeded my expectations. Keep going, keep going!"

"Hoo—hoo—"

In the vast Inter Milan training base, the only companions for Tang Long and Chivu were the dense oak forests.

Tang Long's special training did not stop even during the winter break.

Since everyone else was on vacation during the winter break, the club's cafeteria was closed.

Chivu simply brought Tang Long to his home in Milan, supervising his training one-on-one every day and even cooking his meals personally.

Ever since he activated Chivu, the legendary Inter Milan treble-winning player, as a hidden sparring tool, Tang Long's progress in the AI Cloud Training Ground had been nothing short of rapid!

In just half a month, his passing attribute had already reached 75.

He had reached the passing level of a starting midfielder for a lower-mid-table Serie B team.

However, that was secondary.

What excited Tang Long even more was his physical improvement!

To complement the physical special training Chivu was putting him through, Tang Long spent even more effort on stamina, strength, and other training modules in the AI Cloud Training Ground.

The sparring tool remained Chivu.

Just as Chivu was a versatile player during his professional career, the Romanian in the cloud training ground also wore many hats!

He sweated in the real-world gym during the day and continued to sweat in the cloud training ground's gym at night.

Although the training content was mostly the same, the efficiency of the cloud training was clearly much higher!

Tang Long's stamina had increased to 71, his strength to 75, and his jumping to 70.

This was directly reflected in his real-world training sessions with Chivu.

In the gym.

"You really are a prodigy, Tang! In just half a month, your bench press has gone from 68kg to 80kg, yet your body weight has only increased by 2kg. How did you do it?"

On the training base track.

"Beautiful! You can run 2,900 meters in the 12-minute run now. Once you can hit over 3,000 meters, you'll basically have the stamina to play 70 minutes of a Serie A match!"

Beside the vertical jump tester.

"Haha! You're already able to jump as high as I can, but you still need to work harder, Tang. I've been retired for over a year, and my weight is 81kg—I'm 10kg lighter than you!"

Only his speed improvement wasn't very significant; it had only gone from 65 to 68 before stalling.

Tang Long analyzed that it might be because Chivu was never a player known for his speed during his professional career.

But that didn't matter.

In Inter Milan's tactical setup, Tang Long wasn't required to use speed to charge at opponents.

By passing the ball well while building up his stamina and physical confrontation, he could cover up his shortcomings to a great extent.

Even so, Tang Long's improvement still left Chivu feeling incredulous!

After every day of training, he would record Tang Long's results.

Chivu was surprised to find that the growth in Tang Long's data looked like a soaring stock market chart, which filled him with joy!

"It's simply unbelievable, Tang. When I was coaching the youth team, why didn't I discover your potential?"

Every time Chivu asked himself that, Tang Long would always laugh it off and brush it aside.

"I'm only 18, Coach. I'm still young, and I'm very confident in my room for improvement!"

Just as Tang Long was sweating buckets at the training base, forcing himself to swallow low-oil, low-salt fitness meals every day while fighting off nausea, Mancini appeared in China without a sound.

SH, Chongming Island.

The outdoor temperature was 1 degree, damp and cold.

A cold wind blew by, carrying the scent of iron filings.

Outside a farmhouse in the suburbs, two small stools were set up by the lake.

Mancini was wearing a thick down jacket, shivering as he sat on the stool.

Beside him, Eriksen was wearing a red jacket issued by Shanghai Port FC, staring intently at the float on the water.

Watching Eriksen's calm and composed demeanor while fishing, Mancini couldn't help but ask him:

"Teacher, in this godforsaken weather, aren't you cold fishing..."

"Quiet! The fish is about to bite!"

Behind his thick lenses, a sharp glint flashed in Eriksen's eyes—he stood up and set the hook!

After a two-minute struggle with the large fish beneath the water, a massive grass carp was dragged to the bank.

Mancini hurriedly scooped the big fish up with a net and tossed it into a red bucket.

"Heh heh, not bad, at least five pounds. That'll do!"

Eriksen looked at the flopping fish in the bucket, beaming with joy.

Dinner was a fresh grilled grass carp.

The enticing aroma made Mancini's mouth water!

He used a fork to scoop up a piece of meat, mixed it with some fish mint, and shoved it into his mouth.

The raw, fishy scent of the fish mint hit his brain like a sledgehammer, and Mancini nearly spat it out!

"Hahaha, you can't get used to this herb? I love it; I can eat a whole handful at once!"

"Coach, did you eat this herb back in Sweden too..."

"No, I only started eating it after I came to coach in China. We Swedes are descended from Vikings, haha, we have very strong adaptability!"

Why did Mancini travel thousands of miles from Milan to the city of SH?

Under the strategic planning of Inter Milan owner Thohir, Inter Milan wanted to become a club with global influence, not just something as simple as their slogan, "Brothers of the World."

First, they had to engage in cultural export, learn from the Premier League, and build brand power globally.

Especially in the densely populated East Asian region.

To this end, Thohir formulated a plan to build an Inter Milan football school in SH to recruit talented Chinese children to play football there.

On the day the school opened, he specifically sent Mancini to the scene to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony lasted only five minutes, but the speeches from various leaders went on for three and a half hours.

Still suffering from jet lag, Mancini saw stars in his eyes and fell asleep the moment he returned to his hotel.

The next day, he had another important person to visit.

This person was Eriksen, the current head coach of the Chinese Super League club, Port FC.

Mancini was not interested in the Chinese Super League, nor did he know much about it.

The reason he was so eager to see Eriksen was entirely because Eriksen was a teacher he respected immensely and the guide for his coaching career!

At this time, Mancini was the head coach of Inter Milan, having won countless titles and long since ranked among the world's top-tier managers.

But there was one thing he couldn't be sure about and needed his teacher to help him resolve.

The hands of the clock ticked away.

Turning back to the Apennine Peninsula in the last century.

As a player, Mancini was thriving in the number nine-and-a-half role, making a name for himself far and wide.

At the time, the football world once evaluated Mancini like this:

"If there were no Baggio, then Mancini would be the only legend in Italy in the last 20 years!"

After playing for Sampdoria for 15 years, making 567 appearances, scoring 171 goals, and winning the Serie A title, the Italian Super Cup, and the European Cup Winners' Cup, among other honors.

In 1997, the 33-year-old Mancini moved from Sampdoria to Lazio for a transfer fee of 4 million euros.

In the 1999-2000 season, although Lazio won the league and the Italian Cup, Mancini's professional career had reached its end.

Having failed to score in 20 league matches, he felt disheartened and announced his retirement.

His number of appearances for the national team also stalled at 36.

That season, Lazio's head coach was none other than the Swede, Eriksen.

At that time, Eriksen was in his prime at 52 years old, full of vigor and at the peak of his coaching career.

He keenly sensed Mancini's talent for tactical understanding and extended an invitation to the football genius:

"Roberto, come be my assistant coach. You will become an excellent manager!"