A Brand New Tang Long Fresh Out of the Oven! Mancini Poses a Soul-Searching Question to Chivu!

Where there are arrivals, there are naturally departures.

Alvaro Pereira, Krhin, Mbaye, Osvaldo, M'Vila, and others were either sent out on loan or returned to their original clubs upon the expiration of their loan spells.

During this winter window, although there wasn't a massive influx or outflow of funds for the Inter Milan first team, the movement of personnel was still quite significant.

The core players in the squad began to feel a certain sense of crisis.

Especially the starting striker, Icardi!

Before Osvaldo left, he hadn't been worried about his starting position.

Osvaldo was his compatriot, they had a decent relationship, his ability was inferior to his own, and he lacked a strong desire to fight for the starting spot.

But this Podolski was different!

In terms of fame, when Poldi was tearing it up at Cologne and Bayern, Icardi was still in the La Masia youth academy.

Therefore, as soon as he returned to the team, Icardi couldn't hold back; ignoring the advice of captain Ranocchia, he went straight to the head coach's office.

"Mr. Mancini, I would like to talk to you."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know my standing in the team. I want to win the Serie A Golden Boot, I want to..."

Mancini interrupted Icardi's explanation.

"Mauro, I promise you will win the Serie A Golden Boot and become the youngest top scorer in the century-long history of Serie A. Don't worry."

"Could you give Tang more playing time? I feel very comfortable playing with him; he can always find a way to get the ball to my feet."

"I will consider it."

Mancini's prompt agreement exceeded Icardi's expectations. He had originally anticipated a heated argument, but the negotiation had gone surprisingly smoothly.

Icardi left the head coach's office feeling satisfied.

Immediately afterward, Chivu walked in.

He was waving the special training plan manual for Tang Long in his hands with excitement.

As he gestured wildly while describing Tang Long's progress during the break to Mancini, the coach remained skeptical.

However, the first training session of the winter break that afternoon truly validated Chivu's description.

Tang Long's physique was clearly a size stronger, and thanks to this, his physical challenges and movement were a beat faster than before.

This also surprised his teammates.

Especially captain Ranocchia!

In the past, when he matched up against Tang Long, he could rely on his massive physical advantage—being a head taller—to slightly nudge him from behind, causing Tang Long to lose control of the ball.

But in today's training, Ranocchia discovered that this trick no longer worked!

He had to use over eighty percent of his strength just to disrupt Tang Long's reception, and even then, he couldn't succeed every time.

A few times, Tang Long even caught him off guard, suddenly using his shoulder to create space, turning, and delivering a through ball to Icardi.

This kid has clearly gotten stronger!

This was Ranocchia's realization.

Tang's physique is no worse than mine!

Technical midfielders like Kovacic and Hernanes also felt that they had no obvious advantage when challenging Tang Long.

After the first training session back, all the players went to the medical room to measure their physical data.

Although many players acted quite professional—not forgetting to run while eating and drinking during the winter break—a significant portion of them were just "posing" for social media.

They would sit on a stationary bike, pedal twice, have a friend take a photo, stare intensely straight ahead, and then post with the caption:

[Training doesn't stop even during the holidays; this is my daily life.]

Then, the fans below would shower them with countless likes~

But whether they actually trained or not, they knew the truth in their hearts!

No one could train for the entire winter break like Tang Long did.

In fact, the scale in the medical room never lies.

Almost everyone's weight had increased by 2–4kg.

The most obvious change was in Guarin.

The Colombian star had always loved eating large amounts of red meat, and combined with the countless beers he drank on the beaches of Rio with his Brazilian buddies during the break, he had let himself go.

Perhaps the hat-trick he scored before the final match of the winter break had made him a bit complacent and arrogant!

Throughout the entire holiday, he hadn't paid any attention to his physique, and his weight had soared by a full 6kg! It had climbed to over 90kg, making him the heaviest player on the Inter Milan squad.

His body fat percentage had even risen to 17%!

A roll of fat was visibly forming around his stomach; whenever he bent over, the fat on his abdomen would fold over.

The six-pack abs that were once as hard as rock had been reduced to a single, soft, fleshy mound—it was almost cute.

This sight had the third-string goalkeeper, Berni, laughing his head off!

He stepped forward and patted Guarin's stomach, producing a rhythmic, hollow thud as if he were tapping on a ripe, juice-filled watermelon.

"Reporting to Mr. Mancini," Berni said, proudly lifting his own jersey and spinning around, "I still have my four-pack! I'd like to request a move to attacking midfielder!"

The whole team burst into laughter!

Guarin was both embarrassed and annoyed, glaring daggers at Berni, yet he dared not do anything to this wily veteran third-string keeper.

Mancini was quite furious about this!

He warned Guarin in front of the entire squad:

"You won't be playing in another match until you get your body fat percentage below 10%!"

"And that goes for everyone else," Mancini's gaze whipped across the faces of the players. "Anyone with body fat higher than 10% will not be on the squad list for the next match against Bologna!"

Tang Long was the only one whose physical metrics hadn't regressed; in fact, he had improved!

Tang Long now stood 182cm tall and weighed 75kg, a very standard weight for a young player.

It ensured a certain level of physical resilience while maintaining his agility.

Although Tang Long's body fat percentage remained unchanged at 9.5%, his physique had visibly filled out.

"Tang, your M-sized jersey is starting to look a bit tight. You should wear an L from now on!"

The thoughtful kit manager swapped the jersey out for Tang Long.

Over the next three days.

Without needing any prodding, everyone trained like their lives depended on it, drenched in sweat.

In the end, with the exception of Guarin, everyone met the 10% body fat standard.

The day before the match, for some reason, Mancini bypassed his assistant Herrera and spoke with Chivu privately about the starting lineup.

Chivu's opinion was that since Guarin's physical condition didn't meet the requirements for the match.

In the 4-3-1-2 formation, Tang Long could start in the '1' position as the attacking midfielder.

"Mr. Mancini, Tang's best position is linking up with the strikers. I was worried about his stamina and physical strength before, but looking at it now, his growth has far exceeded our expectations."

Chivu looked at Mancini with anticipation.

"It is worth trying him as a starter! You've done well; Tang is indeed an uncut gem," Mancini said, smiling at him. "Under your careful guidance, he has grown very quickly."

Chivu's face beamed with confidence as he said, "I never misjudge people. This kid's vision is world-class. As long as he keeps training his body and shores up some of his basic technical weaknesses, he definitely has the potential to be a starter for Inter Milan."

Mancini didn't reply immediately.

He lit a cigar and took a thoughtful puff.

"Christian, since you knew Tang had so many weaknesses, why didn't you train him properly back when you were both in the U19 youth team before sending him up to the first team?"

Chivu was stunned, then gave an embarrassed smile.

"Nothing gets past you, Mr. Mancini!"

"To be honest, the day I recommended Tang to the first team, I had actually reached my limit in the youth setup. Laino was reporting me to Ausilio every single day—did he think I didn't know? I knew I could leave at any moment, but I just wanted to make sure the most talented player on the team was showcased to you as soon as possible, as fast as I could! Because I wasn't sure if an old-school guy like my partner Laino would ever notice Tang's talent."

Mancini raised an eyebrow: "But what good does that do you? Whether Tang gets promoted or not doesn't bring you any benefits."

Chivu reached up to brush the long hair at his temple.

A deep, pink, semi-circular scar remained clearly visible amidst his thick hair.

It was the mark of his cranial reconstruction surgery.

"In January 2010, during a match against Chievo, I collided with Pellissier while jumping for a header. I heard a sound—the sound of my head exploding—and in that moment, I thought I was going to die.

When I was lying on the ground, I had never felt the grass feel so cold. I thought of my wife, my children, and the past 30 years flashed through my mind like a movie.

The surgery went smoothly, thanks to President Moratti, who sent a private jet to bring the best specialists from Milan.

But the night after the surgery in the intensive care unit was like a nightmare. Every hour, someone would wake me up, shine a bright light into my eyes, and ask me what my name was, where I was, why I was here... over and over again.

They were terrified I would lose consciousness; they said if I lost consciousness that night, I would never wake up again!

The doctors decided to operate on my head to remove the bone fragments inside. They told me that if I chose conservative treatment, I wouldn't be in any danger, but I would have to say goodbye to football forever. If I wanted to keep playing, I had to have all the bone removed at once, which carried significant risks and could even leave me with irreversible neurological damage that would affect the rest of my life!

They asked me to choose—my wife, Adelina, was sitting right next to me at the time, crying and holding me, begging me to choose the conservative treatment. But I answered without hesitation: I want to play football; I want to keep playing for Inter Milan!"

As he spoke, tears welled up in Chivu's eyes.

"I love this club, Inter Milan. If I am a youth coach here, then a talented player like Tang must not be buried on my watch! That is my answer, Mr. Mancini."