The first thing Gu Ran did after entering the locker room was to throw away all the business cards and slips of paper of scouts from small clubs in his hand.

A handful of paper pieces fluttered in the air, instantly pushing the atmosphere in the locker room to a fever pitch! These business cards were like invitations to professional clubs! Almost all high school players dreamed of getting one!

But to Gu Ran, they are just a pile of waste paper!

This... is so cool!

“Awesome!”

"Gu Ran! Awesome! So cool!"

"Gu, you are our idol and role model!"

The guys from the Bucks Steel Horns team were all shirtless, surrounding Gu Ran, singing and dancing excitedly!

Coach Carter was also very happy.

He was just thinking about how to persuade Gu Ran not to believe the words of those small club players. Unexpectedly, Gu Ran did it even more straightforwardly than him! Good! Very good! He is a man who can handle big things! Coach Carter was very satisfied.

The players of the Bucks Steelhorns continued to cheer happily. Under the stimulation of adrenaline, everyone forgot their fatigue and everyone was extremely excited!

This is their moment of victory! They have accomplished an almost impossible feat! Before the group stage, no one was optimistic about them, no one!

Even they themselves don't think highly of themselves!

They didn't have the support of a professional club, nor did they use high scholarships to buy semi-professional players to play football. Some of their main players were even poached. Every opponent regarded them as a weak team! However, when Gu Ran joined the team, they won all the way under his leadership and reached the semi-finals of the National High School Student Competition! Is there anything more inspiring than this? Is there anything more passionate than this?

Every player of the Bucks Steel Horns laughed with tears in their eyes! Gu Ran achieved an impossible miracle for them! From now on, Gu Ran is not only the core of the team, but also the leader of the team, and even more so the god who leads the team to defeat the strong with the weak!

Every player on the Bucks Steelhorns wanted to tell the world: Gu Ran is my brother! "Alright, alright!"

After the players had been busy for a while, Coach Carter smiled and pressed his palms together, "Everyone, be quiet for a moment. Let Gu Ran take a break. I'll give you a few words."

“Ohhhh!”

After a while, the players finally quieted down.

Coach Carter cleared his throat and said, "First of all, I want to congratulate everyone. I want to congratulate each and every one of you."

"Not only have you created unprecedented results for Southampton High School, but you can also apply to your favorite universities as one of the top four teams in the country!"

"Oh oh oh oh!" A small number of main players cheered with their fists excitedly.

Coach Carter continued, "Of course, if you don't want to go to college, then you still have the opportunity to be designated by the Football Association to train and play in a professional club for one year, and then become a professional player!"

"Yeah!!!!" Most of the main players jumped up and cheered excitedly! Entering a professional club is what they want most! You know, it is very difficult to enter a professional club.

Many children who have been training in the echelons of professional clubs since childhood may not be able to enter professional clubs in the end. The elimination rate in this industry is very high.

Although they have not undergone professional youth training, they still have the opportunity to enter professional clubs! Although these clubs are most likely in the English League Two, and the contracts are only for one year, and they will have to rely on their performance in the future to get a real professional contract, but for high school students, this is the beginning of professionalism! All the hard work and efforts have now been generously rewarded!

Coach Carter shouted, "Yes! You did it! You are all warriors! You have grasped fate by the throat! You have changed your original fate of being mediocre!"

"Everyone of you did a great job today! I know it's not easy to play in the rain! I also know it's not easy to play against half of Everton's youth team! But you still beat them and won the game!"

"I want to applaud each and every one of you! You deserve this applause!"

As he spoke, Coach Carter applauded the main players vigorously, and the main players also applauded themselves excitedly.

Coach Carter continued: "From the technical statistics I got - we had two players who scored more than 8.5 points today!"

"Among them, the rust strips scored 8.5 points!"

"Wow!!!" The players present applauded and cheered for Rusty.

At a crucial moment in the second half, Rusty made a very, very crucial and very, very wonderful clearance! Moreover, Rusty also scored a corner kick to seal the victory.

This was also Rusty's first goal in the national competition! Rusty stood up excitedly, tears welling up in his eyes, and said, "What? Me? Me 8.5? Thank you, coach! Thank you for your applause! This is my first time! The one I want to thank the most is Gu Ran! That's right, it was Gu who gave me this first time! It was Gu who made me feel the pleasure that I had never felt before! This is really a super, super extraordinary experience!"

Gu Ran: ...

If you can't speak, Rusty, just say less.

Then I heard Xiu Tiao continue to say excitedly: "In the past month with Gu, I have really grown a lot. We have all grown a lot too! Gu... you will always be here for me!"

Rusty covered his chest with his hands towards Gu Ran.

...Luckily you covered your heart, otherwise I would have kicked you away!

Gu Ran didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The other friends burst into laughter: "Rust, you can be sentimental too?"

"Rust, did you find your dad?"

"It doesn't matter if we can't find him. Every one of us here can be your father!"

"From now on, you call me dad and I call you brother. We can talk about our own things..."

Rusty's face immediately turned red. "Fuck! You bastards, you never say a single good word! Humph, you must be jealous of the relationship between me and Gu! Get out of here!"

Coach Carter pressed his palms together again. "Alright, alright, stop making trouble. Let me finish my post-match summary as soon as possible. I just mentioned that we have two players who scored more than 8.5 points in this game. In addition to Rusty, the other one is Gu Ran."

The locker room was filled with applause that was several times louder than the one given to the rustlers.

Gu Ran’s Best Player award is absolutely well-deserved!

Coach Carter continued, "Gu Ran made two assists and two goals. His total assists are 9 goals and his total goals are 7 goals—he's on the list in both categories!"

"Wow!"

"hiss!"

“Damn it!”

The players in the locker room exclaimed.

As a full-back who has just joined the team, he has been able to achieve such brilliant goals and assists since the group stage. It can only be described as "awesome".

Coach Carter said proudly: "With 9 assists, he is now ranked first in the assists list. With 7 goals, he is now ranked second in the scorer list. As for Gu Ran's score in this game——"

Coach Carter looked down at the technical data and then said, "I won't announce it for now. Anyway, you are less than 10 points, so there is still room for improvement."

Holy shit…

Coach, aren’t you asking too much of me?

Are you afraid that I will be proud? Are you so hard on me? But from what I heard, it should be over 9 points, otherwise the coach would definitely say it was less than 9 points.

Forget it, I won't guess anymore, it doesn't matter! Anyway, I am very satisfied with my performance today.

——Except for the severe loss of physical strength in the final stage.

Gu Ran stood up and said calmly, "Thank you, coach! Thank you, everyone. What I want to say is that we are a team. When I was on the left wing, it was you, my teammates, who helped me with my positioning, helped me to create gaps, and helped me to confuse the enemies in the penalty area. Without you, I could not have achieved such a result alone."

The players of the Bucks Steel Horns cheered and applauded! They regarded Gu Ran as a brother, and Gu Ran also regarded them as brothers. This was the best harmony within the team!

Gu Ran continued, "Today's game was great. We were blessed by the weather. Although rain consumes more energy, this rain was very fair. Our opponents also consumed a lot of energy. We were close to our limit in the last 15 minutes, but our opponents were already exhausted in the last 20 minutes. In the end, our physical fitness was stronger than theirs, so we were able to have the last laugh. This is also the correctness of our coach's strategy. Therefore, in the next game, we should continue to play counterattacks unswervingly, and in the next training, we should still focus on physical fitness."

Coach Carter nodded with satisfaction and led the applause for Gu Ran.

Gu Ran continued, "The atmosphere at our home stadium today was also very powerful. We were able to stun the Angel Wings team right from the start. Our home team students and parents played an indispensable role. We also worked hard to repay their encouragement and cheers in the rain."

"Today, all of us worked very hard, and all of us lived up to our youth."

"But our journey is not over yet. Today shouldn't be our happiest day, because we still have to play in the semi-finals! And the finals!"

"We will defeat all opponents who stand between us and the trophy!"

"We want to carve our names on the wall of honor at Southampton High School!"

Gu Ran excitedly raised his arms and shouted: "Stag Steel Horns——"

The other teammates shouted excitedly: "Fight to the end!"

“Roar!”

“We’re going to make it to the finals!”

"We're going to climb the wall..."

Coach Carter was also moved and said, "Good! Good! Gu, you said it very well! I am honored to have a player like you!"

"To be honest, I haven't been this excited in a long, long time!"

Coach Carter's eyes sparkled, and he covered his heart and said, "I want to thank you, thank you all! I want to thank you not only on my behalf, but also on behalf of all the students of Southampton High School - whether they are current students, past students, or future students. On behalf of all of them, I want to thank you!"

"Your hard work has brought the spirit of Southampton to a new height!"

"When you graduate from Southampton High School, your history will remain in the school history of Southampton forever!"

"In the future, I will tell your inspirational stories to your successors over and over again! You will become their role models!"

"Kids, you are awesome! Really awesome!"

"I have so many words in my heart that I want to praise you, but... let me be patient. Gu Ran is right, our journey is not over yet!"

“We may be able to create even higher history!”

"The top four in the country is not our end! At least not yet!"

"In one week! We will go to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, where we will face our opponents and compete for a ticket to the finals!"

"So, even though I know everyone is very excited, and even though I want everyone to have fun, there are still tougher battles waiting for us ahead!"

"I declare that tomorrow and the next two days will be a holiday - you can go to the bar tonight and have fun! But on June 18th, you must return to the training ground and resume training! Do you understand?"

"I understand, coach!"

The players of the Bucks Steelhorns responded in unison with great emotion.

Here it comes...

Gu Ran's heart was suddenly touched, and then he said calmly: "Okay, coach!"

"Yeah! Let's take a bath!"

"Gu, what are your plans tonight? Let's go to the bar together!"

"Yeah Gu, it's been a while since you went to the bar with your brothers!"

"We're going to the biggest and best bar in Southampton tonight!"

"Besides, you don't need to pay tonight. All the bars will be open to us for free!"

"Hahaha! All the Southampton girls are going to throw themselves at us tonight!"

"Gu! You must come tonight! You will definitely feel the enthusiasm of the Southampton girls!"

"Gu, you will be the focus of the bar! Because you are already a well-known local star!"

The players of the Bucks Steelhorns rushed to hug Gu Ran, fearing that he would run away.

Gu Ran smiled awkwardly, "Not tonight...

Although the game is over, the really important things have just begun.

Besides, although clubbing is fun, it's not as fun as going back home at night to clean windows with Anne Hathaway facing the sea. Captain Mian Bao frowned and said, "Fuck! Gu, you always don't go to the bar with us. Aren't you too... self-disciplined?"

What? I am self-disciplined? Yes, I am indeed very self-disciplined.

Gu Ran thought about how he was about to explode before the game and couldn't help but sigh inwardly: I am so self-disciplined that I am about to explode.

Gu Ran sighed: "Self-discipline makes me stronger."

Shuimen said: "But Gu, you are so strict with yourself, how can you let us drink and have fun?"

The glider also said confidently: "That's right, we worked so hard to win the semi-finals, what's wrong with enjoying ourselves?"

Gu Ran quickly said, "Enjoy yourselves, don't worry about me, really."

...You can’t even imagine how happy Dad is!

"Well, you Chinese are too reserved when it comes to men and women. Let's forget about it this time, but you must come with us to the bar next time to see it for yourself!"

"Let's talk about it later..." Gu Ran laughed and walked into the shower room.

Other Bucks Steelhorns players followed suit and scored.

In the shower room, there was the sound of splashing water, the sound of the boys rubbing their heads against each other, and the sound of soap falling to the ground one after another.

While taking a shower, Gu Ran finally had time to relax completely.

Light~ At this time, a clear system prompt sounded in Gu Ran's mind:

"Congratulations to the host. Since the host has perfectly integrated the results of more than 100 hours of special training in the official competition, the corresponding attribute points have grown."

"Your physical attribute - physical fitness, has increased from 72 points to 73 points."

"Your physical attribute - speed, increases from 68 points to 69 points."

"Your spiritual attribute - imagination, grows from 72 points to 73 points."

Oh shit!

Hearing this reminder, Gu Ran couldn't help but tense up! Physical fitness increased by 1 point! Gu Ran felt that his physical strength had recovered a little on the spot, and the overall recovery speed of his physical fitness also increased.

——But this was not the most surprising thing for Gu Ran.

What surprised Gu Ran was that the speed attribute finally grew!

The original speed value is 68! It is indeed a personal advantage!

What surprised Gu Ran even more was that the initial value of the imagination attribute was 72 points! It seems that the mental attribute completely inherited the football IQ before rebirth! The so-called imagination attribute is one of the necessary abilities of a breakthrough striker, especially when the game cannot be opened up through conventional tactics, it is necessary to rely on the imagination of a breakthrough striker to open up the situation.

Gu Ran was able to complete many one-on-one shots from the wing despite the opponent's defensive blockade, which was largely due to his "imagination attribute".

This is part of basketball IQ and is an important criterion for distinguishing the talents of star players from ordinary players.

Judging from the starting value of the imagination attribute, other attributes such as creativity, prediction, concentration, teamwork, competition mentality, etc. will be affected by the basketball IQ that was 12 years ahead in the previous life. These mental attributes are even much higher than the starting data of technical attributes.

If you want to upgrade to personal rating A as quickly as possible, the easiest way seems to be to add all points to the mental attribute.

but……

Although mental attributes are also important attributes, they are auxiliary attributes that are dependent on physical and technical attributes. If you only strengthen mental attributes, even if you have the highest creativity, it will be useless if you don't have enough physical strength or good skills.

If you want to play in the professional league in the UK, you still have to focus on your body first, your skills second, and your spirit second.

Gu Ran quickly finished his shower while thinking about the future direction.

After taking a shower, Gu Ran changed into a set of dry casual clothes, making him look even more handsome.

"Coach, I'm ready."

"Okay, follow me."

Coach Carter took Gu Ran out of the home team locker room.

At this time, the scouts from the small clubs had already left.

The door to the home team's locker room looked a little deserted.

But Emenalo still stood there, his face calm.

As soon as Coach Carter came out, he saw Emenalo and immediately frowned.

Emenalo ignored Coach Carter's unfriendly look, but stepped forward and walked in front of Gu Ran, saying politely: "Gu, hello, I'm a scout from Chelsea. Can I take up a moment of your time to chat with you?"

Without waiting for Gu Ran to speak, Coach Carter said in a dissatisfied tone: "Sorry, we are still busy."

Emenalo looked at Gu Ran and smiled, "It's okay, I can wait as long as you want."

Coach Carter said coldly: "Then you just wait, Gu, let's go."

“Good coach.”

Gu Ran nodded slightly to Emenalo, which served as a greeting.

Emenalo immediately smiled back at Gu Ran.

Although Gu Ran had not formally communicated with him, Emenalo felt that it was settled, this kid liked Chelsea! On the second floor of the stadium was a high-end reception room.

As soon as he entered the door, Gu Ran saw two people sitting on the leather sofa in the reception room, one was a white-haired old man in a suit, and the other was a gray-haired coach wearing glasses.

Both of them were seated in the main stand.

That white-haired old man looks a little familiar...

For a moment, Gu Ran couldn't remember where he had seen him.

As for the gray-haired coach, Gu Ran recognized him at a glance as Nigel Adkins, who was about to become the head coach of Southampton.

Seeing Gu Ran come in, the two people on the sofa immediately stood up.

The white-haired old man rushed to Gu Ran and gave him a powerful hug as soon as they met.

It was as if Gu Ran was a big fish that could not be let go.

"My child! We finally meet officially!"

Gu Ran secretly complained in his heart: Who the hell are you? You take advantage of me right away?

Carter on the side introduced: "Gu, the person in front of you is Les Reid. He is one of the decision-makers of Southampton Football Club and also a member of the English Football Association. You can call him: Old Les."

Oh shit!

Gu Ran was deeply shocked.

In his previous life, he didn’t know much about Southampton Club, nor did he know what the senior executives looked like, but he still had a deep impression of the name Rice!

Especially the Reed family, to which Rice belongs, is a very influential football tycoon family in the entire South!

In 2009, Southampton Club slipped from the Premier League to the English League One. The club was in financial crisis and almost disbanded! Thanks to Les Reid who introduced the Liebherr consortium, Southampton Club was saved from the brink of disbandment.

This is definitely a legendary figure! I didn’t expect that today I would be communicating directly with a local legendary figure in Southampton!

Gu Ran immediately calmed down and said calmly: "Hello, Mr. Rice, nice to meet you."

Old Rice laughed, "Gu, don't be polite with me, just call me Old Rice. Lamar just introduced you to my two false names, but they can't represent the real me. I prefer to call myself a pure-blooded saint. Our family has served the Southampton Football Club for five generations. I would also like you to know that I once discovered and trained Bale."

These two identities are so awesome!

Although Old Rice is not the largest shareholder, he represents the real base of Southampton local fans! Moreover, discovering and cultivating Bale... this is too tempting! Gu Ran couldn't help but nod secretly in his heart.

Old Rice continued, "You played really well in today's game! You awakened my long-lost passion! Watching you play, I felt like I was 10 or even 20 years younger! I was full of passion and energy! I even felt that I could create a few more offspring for my family tonight!"

Holy shit…

Why did you suddenly step on the accelerator?

Gu Ran almost couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.

I'm here to play football, not to help you carry on the family line!

(End of this chapter)