Allen has always been a strong executor.

Just a few days after Ron handed over the task Li Shiguang had been given, Allen brought Li Shiguang feedback.

The majority of the team has not yet returned.

After the holiday, Li Shiguang handed over the training tasks to Simone and Rivaldo.

On Monday morning of the following week, he was still in his office studying his next opponent when Allen knocked on the door.

"Boss, you're really well-informed." As soon as he sat down, Allen started flattering him. "I got in touch with Giorgis, Mancini's agent. According to him, they did not reach an agreement with Inter Milan on the contract renewal, but both sides are working on it now."

Li Shiguang nodded slightly, a smile on his face: "What's wrong? Didn't you agree on the price?"

“Yes.” Allen nodded. “Georgis believes that Mancini has already led Inter Milan to two league titles, so if he renews his contract, his price should be increased appropriately.”

Upon hearing this...

Li Shiguang laughed and complained, "That guy is a bit shameless. The championships of the past two years were clearly given to Inter Milan by the Italian Football Federation."

There's actually nothing wrong with what they said.

In the 2004-2005 season, Inter Milan actually finished only third in the league. However, due to the "Calciopoli" scandal, Juventus was relegated and AC Milan lost points, so the Italian Football Federation ultimately decided to award the league title to Inter Milan. If one had to categorize it, only the Italian Cup and the Italian Super Cup were truly victories won by Mancini with Inter Milan.

Similarly affected by the "Calciopoli" scandal, last season's Serie A was considered from the very beginning to be a two-horse race between Inter Milan and Roma.

Although disruptors like Palermo emerged along the way, they ultimately failed to hold out until the end.

Roma also failed to live up to expectations, falling behind Inter Milan from the 15th round of the league. In the end, Mancini led Inter Milan to win the league title last season by a huge margin of 22 points.

Allen understood what Li Shiguang was complaining about, so he just shrugged and smiled helplessly: "It's normal. All agents in the world are like this. Look at Raiola, isn't he even worse than that? Hahaha."

"But this is also a good thing for us." After complaining, Li Shiguang continued, "Then let's do it this way. You keep an eye on the outcome of the negotiations between Moratti and Mancini. Once it's finalized, you don't need to wait for their official announcement. Just make an offer to Inter Milan to buy Balotelli. As for the price, let's set it at 9 million euros for now. Don't ask for too much from him. When you resell him, you should be able to get four or five times that amount."

"Uh... Boss, isn't this a bit too cheap?" Allen's lips twitched, already sensing that his boss was trying to rip people off again.

"Where is the cheap price!" Li Shiguang immediately lectured Allen with a righteous indignation, "A striker who is only 17 years old and probably has some mental deficiencies, is it cheap for me to offer 9 million euros?"

“Alan, I have to say something to you! In my hometown, thrift and frugality are extremely valuable qualities, and as the general manager of Leeds United, I hope you can also have this awareness.”

Holy crap!

Allen stared wide-eyed at Li Shiguang, utterly astonished. He truly hadn't expected his boss to speak of buying low and selling high with such righteous indignation! He'd even brought up the traditional virtues of his hometown!

However, he still tentatively voiced his opinion: "But I think Inter Milan will most likely not agree to this price."

"Don't worry," Li Shiguang said confidently. "If Mancini were still here, let alone 9 million euros, we'd probably have to put in some effort to get him for 90 million euros. But if it's confirmed that Mancini won't renew his contract, then Moratti will probably seriously consider our offer."

Seeing Li Shiguang like this.

Allen stopped talking and kept the matter in mind. Then he brought up the second purpose of his visit: "Boss, I've also made a simple summary of the second thing you asked me to do the other day."

"Tell me about it." Li Shiguang shifted his gaze from the computer screen to Allen's face, clearly more interested in the matter.

"I don't know how much you know about Manchester City's new owner. He's not even in England right now; he's a visiting professor at a university in Japan. And since acquiring Manchester City, he's rarely appeared in public," Allen said slowly, glancing at the text on his phone.

"To be honest, I know nothing about him except that he's a very wealthy man and a politician." Li Shiguang pursed his lips and continued, "What do Manchester City fans think of this owner who's rarely in England?"

Allen shook his head: "No, as you know, Manchester City made quite a few moves in this summer transfer window. They practically rebuilt the team, and the new owner has invested a lot of money."

"Alright, just keep an eye on it. You can go ahead and get busy." Seeing that there was no useful information, Li Shiguang stopped asking questions, waved for Allen to go do his own thing, and then turned his attention back to the computer.

"Okay." Allen put away his phone, but didn't leave immediately. Instead, he walked over to Li Shiguang and said cautiously, "Boss, there's something else."

Li Shiguang didn't look up: "What is it?"

Allen carefully considered his words before slowly saying, "Uh...did you watch the friendly match last night?"

"What do you mean?" The words "friendly match" were driving Li Shiguang crazy. He turned to look at Allen, his brows furrowing instantly, and said in an unfriendly tone, "Don't tell me it's another situation like Sun Jihai's!"

"No, not at all." Allen's answer made Li Shiguang breathe a sigh of relief, but his next sentence immediately made his blood boil again.

Allen continued, "Sun didn't suffer any serious injuries like that; these are just minor injuries."

Minor injury?

All?

A bad feeling suddenly rose in Li Shiguang's heart, and he repeated what Allen had just said: "They're just some minor injuries?"

“Yes.” Allen nodded helplessly. “We received several faxes this morning, all of them injury reports from various football associations.”