The assistant coach Herrera spoke confidently, spittle flying everywhere.
Obviously, he had carefully reviewed the comprehensive evaluation report on Tang Long before presenting it to Mancini.
Mancini did not respond immediately.
He carefully read through the more than twenty-page report without expressing any opinion.
He then randomly flipped through a few pages again, looking somewhat absent-minded.
Finally, he casually tossed the report onto the desk, leaned back into the wide leather chair with a tactical recline.
Herrera watched Mancini's body sway back and forth with the chair, thinking that his boss was greatly disappointed with the capabilities Tang Long displayed in the report!
"Boss, it's actually nothing much. It's just a kid with a 400,000 euro salary per year. Even if we accidentally signed a dud, it wouldn't cause much damage to the club. It's okay."
Mancini took out his cigarette box, holding a cigarette in his mouth.
He placed both hands behind his head and looked at his assistant with interest.
"It was my idea to give Tang Long a first-team professional contract. Aren't you afraid of the sports director Ossorio giving me trouble?"
According to the procedure, Tang Long's report needs to be submitted to Inter's sports director Ossilio.
The purpose is to allow the management to promptly understand the situation of young players within the team.
Especially to prevent nepotism when promoting from the youth team!
Italy is inherently a society of connections, the place in all of Europe that values relationships the most.
Many kids with average abilities but wealthy families, if they want to play football, their parents will find ways to fulfill their children's dreams of playing professional soccer.
Since the Indonesian businessman Toshihiko took over Inter Milan, he has implemented standardized reforms at the club, strictly controlling all unnecessary financial expenditures.
It is particularly demanded to prevent the arrival of those connected through nepotism.
Therefore, when Herrera heard Mancini mention Ossilio, his imagination started running wild!
"So that's how it really is..." Although Herrera maintained a calm face, his heart skipped a beat.
Actually, when Mancini first granted Tang Long the first-team contract,
Herrera was utterly perplexed!
From his technical perspective, Tang Long simply did not have the ability to serve the first team.
And his overly simple coaching career—never having been the head of a team, always an assistant coach—made it even harder to see that Mancini's original intention of bringing Tang Long into the first team was to suppress Gualin and all players who opposed him, in order to establish authority in the locker room.
This Italian old man, based solely on his own upbringing in a small Italian town, naively believed that Tang Long was actually a connected hire!
If not a connected hire, why would Mancini, upon arriving at Inter, promote him from the youth team and even grant him a professional contract?
This is the limitation of an assistant coach.
Although Herrera is three years older than Mancini and has played in Serie A during his career,
he is no match for his superior Mancini in terms of locker room control or insight into player potential!
He couldn't see Tang Long's role in the locker room nor the intention behind Tang Long's numerous "Divine Hand" performances in matches.
"Boss, I understand, but it doesn't matter. Ossilio is just a loafer, flying around the world under the guise of scouting new signings. Everyone knows he's just on a free-funded trip. He'll definitely turn a blind eye to this; he won't care!"
Mancini let out a cold laugh, looking at him with disdain.
Herrera thought he might have misspoken and quickly added:
"If it doesn't work out, we can redo the report, send it back, and have the coaching staff and team doctors rewrite it!"
Mancini couldn't help but chuckle at Herrera's nervous appearance.
"Haha, stop talking nonsense, Herrera. You've been with me for four years, and you still haven't improved a bit?"
"This report will be presented to Ossilio as is."
Mancini vigorously wrote a long paragraph at the end of the report.
…
Chiwo has been feeling very dejected recently.
In a recently concluded Italy U19 youth league match,
Inter Milan lost 1-4 away to arch-rival Juventus!
What frustrated Chiwo more than losing to their deadly rival was his argument with head coach Leno during the match.
By the 74th minute of the second half, Inter was already trailing 1-3.
After discussing with Chiwo, Leno agreed that if they did not strengthen their attack to claw back a goal, the match would enter garbage time.
While they agreed on enhancing the attack, they disagreed on who should come on!
Leno: "I want to sub on forward Chris, play with three forwards, and intensify the offense!"
Chiwo: "Chris lacks speed. I think we should sub on midfielder More and unleash Ledesma, move him to the winger position!"
Leno: "Unleash Ledesma? He's been on the bench the whole match, and you still count on him?"
Chiwo: "That's why I want to unleash him, Leno. Sometimes when we're behind, we don't necessarily need to send on more forwards. First, we need to activate the midfield. More! Go warm up, you'll go on in a minute!"
Leno: "Wait! More, sit back down. Chris, come out! Who's the head coach? Chiwo, please know your place!"
The two quarreled fiercely on the bench.
The players on the field were bewildered, and if people hadn't intervened timely on the bench, Chiwo and Leno might have had a physical altercation!
Ultimately, the U19 head coach Leno won this dispute.
However, as Chiwo had predicted, the substitution did not have much effect!
After Chris came on as the forward, he made no impact.
Juventus U19 scored another goal in the 82nd minute, and the game completely turned into garbage time.
On the high-speed train back from Turin to Milan.
Although Chiwo and Leno sat together, neither said a word.
The final straw that broke the camel's back finally appeared!
This on-the-spot dispute was just a spark that led to their complete fallout!
Leno had always been irritated by assistant coach Chiwo's challenges to his authority, backed by his status as an Inter legend.
Especially bypassing him to renew Tang Long's youth contract, infuriating him!
And Chiwo, for his part, disdained Leno's outdated tactics from the 1990s.
In short, the two were at odds!
At 10 p.m. upon returning to Milan, Chiwo immediately wanted to resign.
He felt utterly aggrieved!
However, Chiwo did not call the sports director Ossilio but dialed Mancini instead.
As soon as the call connected, before Mancini could speak, Chiwo burst out:
"Dear Mr. Mancini, I want to inform you of a decision. I'm planning to submit my resignation tomorrow! I really can't manage in the youth team anymore, I can't work with this old fossil Leno, and our football philosophies are just too different!"