The game continues.

Brentford, whose physical strength was gradually declining, was still looking for opportunities.

In the 76th minute of the game, after a round of substitutions, Southampton relaxed their defensive mentality. Brentford made a long pass from the right and hit the ball directly into Southampton's penalty area.

No. 11 Myreese Winston stopped the ball and passed it in front of the goal. Richardson, who was in charge of defense, stepped forward to intercept, but his arm touched the football.

The referee immediately blew the whistle, indicating that Richardson had handballed in the penalty area.

Richardson quickly appealed and explained, but the referee still insisted on the penalty, showing Richardson a yellow card and awarding Brentford a penalty.

Brentford fans saw hope again.

Richardson was very upset, but it was not his fault. There was nothing wrong with his interception and pressing. He was just unlucky.

Captain Gary Alexander stepped forward to take the penalty and scored it in one go.

Brentford tenaciously recovered a goal and the score was changed to Southampton 4:2 Brentford.

The Brentford players also happily gathered together to celebrate.

But they really don't have much time left.

Southampton kicked off, and Gu Ran went straight to the attacking midfielder position, dribbling the ball along the edge of Brentford's penalty area to attract firepower.

Brentford's players' physical strength could no longer keep up, and with Gu Ran's repeated pulling, the loopholes in Brentford's penalty area defense were very large.

Gu Ran seized the opportunity and dribbled forward. Brentford's defenders were unable to restrict Gu Ran with normal defensive methods and could only tackle him from behind.

Gu Ran was knocked to the ground immediately.

The Southampton fans at the scene roared angrily.

Fortunately, Gu Ran stood up immediately and indicated that he was not injured.

The referee showed a yellow card to No. 28 Owen Jones who made the tackle, and awarded Southampton a free kick outside the penalty area to the right.

Gu Ran will take the free kick.

All Southampton fans stood up to watch, and every Saints fan was ready to cheer.

Gu Ran opened his crescent-shaped scimitar at full speed, and the football bypassed the wall of people, drawing a sharp and domineering scimitar-like arc in the air, and with a strong sense of falling, it fell straight into the goal! The speed of the ball was too fast!

Goalkeeper Richard Lee had never experienced such a scimitar blow before. He was stuck again and again! This kind of ball was beyond the ability of a League One goalkeeper! Richard Lee stood on the goal line and watched the football burst into the net!

The Southampton fans at the scene cheered instantly!

Gu Ran completed a hat trick in three consecutive games!

English League One hat trick king! The score on the big screen was immediately changed to Southampton 5:2 Brentford!

This stunning scimitar kick also completely killed the suspense of the game! Brentford's head coach Neil McDonald kept shaking his head and sighing in the away team's technical area - his deployment and on-the-spot changes today were actually quite good, and the players played aggressively enough, but they were still ruthlessly crushed.

With Gu Ran in Southampton, they can really act as they please without any sense at all.

The rest of the game became garbage time.

In the end, the referee blew the whistle to end the game, and the score was Southampton 5:2 Brentford.

Gu Ran made 2 assists and 3 shots, including a stunning overhead kick, a world-class long-range shot, and a direct free kick.

In this game, Gu Ran's performance was very high. He ran back and forth for more than 12 kilometers, made 4 clearances and interceptions, and played the entire game with plenty of energy. His score after the game reached 9.0 points! Such performance was enough to get an SS-level score from the system! After two games with low-quality S-level scores, he could finally regroup and reset his points today.

After Gu Ran thanked the audience, he walked back to the player tunnel while thinking about the hidden draw and reorganization.

As soon as I walked into the player tunnel, a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament, wearing a high-end suit and his hair combed back meticulously, walked up with a smile.

"Hi, Gu, congratulations."

"Oh, thank you." Gu Ran responded simply, not taking the other party's approach seriously, and continued walking towards the locker room.

It's not that Gu Ran is arrogant or acting like a big shot, but every time he walks back to the player's tunnel, there will always be staff members greeting him. If he stops to have a good conversation with everyone he meets, then he won't be able to leave the stadium for the whole night.

Moreover, most staff members would be satisfied after greeting Gu Ran and would not disturb him anymore.

However, the middle-aged man followed Gu Ran leisurely, "I have seen your goal highlights, but I have to say, watching you play live is even better than watching your highlights. Gu, your playing style is so passionate, I like you."

Gu Ran was slightly stunned.

Although being confessed to by a middle-aged stranger is not a new thing, the temperament revealed by this middle-aged stranger is definitely not something that ordinary people can possess.

Gu Ran immediately realized that this middle-aged stranger was definitely not a staff member of the stadium.

You have to know that this is the player's passage. It is impossible for non-staff to enter unless they use some kind of connections.

Anyone who can use some kind of connection to get so close is definitely not an ordinary person.

Gu Ran quickly looked at the other person and immediately felt that this person looked somewhat familiar.

Someone famous in the football world?

Who is it? Gu Ran couldn't help but stop and frowned slightly and asked, "Excuse me, who are you?"

Seeing that Gu Ran was interested in him, the middle-aged man in a suit immediately smiled elegantly, with a hint of businessman's shrewdness between his eyebrows, "You may have heard of my name. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jorge Mendes."

Oh shit!

Gu Ran suddenly felt like thunder was ringing in his ears!

Jorge Mendes!

The most powerful agent in football!

No wonder it looks familiar!

Wait! Mendes came to watch me play football and took the initiative to talk to me?

Gu Ran was completely stunned! This is Jorge Mendes!

Why is he said to be the strongest agent in contemporary football?

Mendes has more than 90 football stars under his management!

And the most famous of them is Cristiano Ronaldo!

In the 2003/04 season, when the young Cristiano Ronaldo had just made his mark in Sporting Lisbon, it was Mendes who directly brought Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United! In the 2009/10 season, it was Mendes again who, despite Ferguson’s strong pressure, managed to transfer Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid at a sky-high transfer fee! This directly opened the peak era of Cristiano Ronaldo!

Just having Cristiano Ronaldo is enough to make Mendes one of the best agents in the world. What's even more amazing is that Mendes is a grassroots who started from scratch, selling videotapes and became a legend step by step! His career is unmatched by any professional agent!

Mendes was originally a player, playing as a left winger on the field - this is why he prefers Ronaldo and players on the left side. He regards Ronaldo as another self.

In his own words, he runs Cristiano Ronaldo not to run a business, but to run a dream, a football dream that has remained unchanged since he was a child.

In a sense, Ronaldo is him, and he has become Ronaldo.

Of course, Mendes' own football ability is completely incomparable with Ronaldo. Mendes' playing career was very short. He only played in the third division. Moreover, he injured his knee not long after playing and had to retire.

However, after retiring, Mendes did not leave the football circle. With his shrewd business acumen, he opened a video store specializing in renting and selling videotapes - of course, most of them are serious videotapes of player game highlights, and some are more profitable videotapes.

By watching these highlight tapes repeatedly every day, Mendes accumulated his vision, acquired skills, and became extremely accurate in judging people.

His professionalism is no less than that of a professional scout.

He can quickly judge a player's potential and value, as well as which team and tactical system the player is more suitable for.

With his clever brain and smooth way of doing things, after making his first fortune in the video store, he opened a nightclub near the club.

The club's players often visited his nightclub, and Mendes began to act as a matchmaker for these players and recommend them to more suitable clubs.

Because his recommendations are very accurate and to the point, basically all the players who come through his hands will thrive in their new clubs.

Soon, Mendes quickly accumulated connections with grassroots players. He discovered and recommended a large number of Mavericks-type players. The players who came through his hands either doubled their value, got the honors they wanted, or solved the troubles that plagued them.

But in the beginning, his agency business was not big, because he came from a grassroots background and had no middle- and upper-class connections at all.

It wasn't until the winter of 2002 that he had a fight with José Vega, the top Portuguese agent at the time, on a shuttle bus at Lisbon Airport.

Mendes has two things he is most proud of. The first is that he fought with the big boss Vega and won.

Vega was the absolute number one agent in Portuguese football at that time. He came from a banking family, had countless funds and connections with the upper echelons of the Football Association. Vega could even control the playing time of his players. The most famous player under Vega was the Portuguese superstar Figo, while Mendes was just a grassroots person who made videotapes. Mendes once wanted to be Vega's younger brother and recommend talented young players to Vega, but Vega never even looked at Mendes.

Shortly after the Battle of the Shuttle Bus, Portugal's top talent Cristiano Ronaldo announced that he would join Heatfoot - the agency founded by Mendes in 1996 - and in August 2003, Mendes lived up to expectations and brought Ronaldo to the Theatre of Dreams.

The second thing Mendes is most proud of is the party he organized in Camelo restaurant in Porto in 2004. Mendes booked the entire restaurant and closed it to the public. There were only four guests in the restaurant - himself, Chelsea owner Abramovich, then Chelsea CEO Kenyon, and then Porto head coach Mourinho.

Without even knowing Mourinho, Mendes approached Chelsea owner Abramovich and told him that he could bring Mourinho to Stamford Bridge and lead Chelsea to the championship within two years.

Mendes found Mourinho again and told him that he could let him coach Chelsea.

Mourinho was shocked and said that he actually wanted to coach Liverpool FC, which was his dream team.

But Mendes used his eloquence to convince Mourinho and took Mourinho to have dinner with Abramovich.

So, two days after this dinner, Mourinho announced his appointment as the manager of Chelsea.

Mendes is a very talented persuader, and more importantly, he really understands football and what people who play football really want.

In that era, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mourinho and Mendes became the three great Portuguese players.

Who would have thought that a videotape seller could be compared with Cristiano Ronaldo and Mourinho? With Cristiano Ronaldo and Mourinho as the two big banners, talented players throughout Portugal and even Europe and America are proud to join Mendes's Hotspur.

De Gea, James Rodriguez (J Luo), Angel Di Maria, Nani, Coentrao, Pepe, Marcelo, and even Deco of Barcelona...

Mendes' Gestifute not only controls a large number of excellent player resources, but in the future he will also indirectly control many clubs in Portugal, as well as clubs such as Dynamo Moscow, Valencia, Deportivo La Coruna, Atletico Madrid, Monaco, Wolves and others.

Mendes is not like other football agents who come from a big banking family and have huge amounts of money to spend at will. He is also not like some football agents who come from high positions in the Football Association and have top-down connections. He is even less like some football agents who rely on conspiracy to control their players and make the players obey his orders and be completely submissive.

He relied on his clever mind to start from scratch, from a grassroots videotape rental to a legendary football agent step by step.

Now, this legendary football agent was standing in front of Gu Ran! As the agent of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mourinho, Mendes's mere presence in front of Gu Ran was already a great recognition! And Mendes would never just stand in front of Gu Ran and chat with Gu Ran!

Gu Ran's heart couldn't help but pound! "Hello, Mr. Mendes." Gu Ran tried to stay calm.

Mendes smiled elegantly and kindly, "Gu, just call me Mendes - is it convenient for us to talk?"

Gu Ran asked: "Here?"

Mendes smiled and said, "I have a car and I park it in the VIP parking lot."

Gu Ran said, "I'm sorry, I have to go back to the locker room for physical therapy, and then I have a meeting. I'm afraid it will take at least an hour."

Mendes smiled and said, "For you, let alone one hour, even 10 hours, 100 hours, or even longer, it's all worth it."

I have to say, Mendes is really good at speaking.

Gu Ran nodded immediately and said, "Okay, let's meet in the parking lot in an hour."

Mendes grinned, "I'm looking forward to it."

Gu Ran nodded to Mendes and quickly walked into the home team's locker room.

I really didn’t expect that the legendary agent would come in person.

Gu Ran felt like he was dreaming.

Gu Ran has always wanted to find a more reliable agent, and during this period of time, many agents have recommended themselves, but they were all rejected by Gu Ran.

Agents are of great importance. Not only do they have to participate in the negotiation of player contracts, but they also have to manage asset operations for the players, deal with negative news for the players, design and create a positive image, and handle legal affairs and taxes.

An agent with low skills, or an agent with ulterior motives to find leverage to control the players, is likely to tamper with taxes.

So, you really can’t just pick a broker randomly.

Theoretically, Gu Ran would prefer to find a domestic agent, but...

To be honest, all the agents in China who can be named are white gloves with connections behind the scenes like those of Star Shine Company, and they need to go along with them.

That kind of agency is bound to have problems sooner or later.

So Gu Ran is obviously worth a lot of money, but he has yet to find a suitable agent.

Gu Ran has a share of advertising revenue as stipulated in the contract, as well as Hollywood film and television profit-sharing projects. He also has to deal with taxes, and plans to buy a club in the future... Without a strong and trustworthy team of agents, he would certainly not be able to handle it all on his own.

The appearance of Mendes is like a timely help.

Moreover, if he could join Mendes's Restifort agency, he would be from the same family as the madman Mourinho and Ronaldo!

Just thinking about this, Gu Ran couldn't help but feel excited.

Of course, this depends on how I discuss it with Mendes in an hour.

While Gu Ran was undergoing examination and physical therapy from Mave and Gregory, he cleared his mind, put aside the upcoming negotiation with Mendes, and concentrated on checking the growth rate.

There are a total of 5 growth increases this time: Strength attribute increases from 79 points to 80 points, ball control attribute increases from 76 points to 77 points, short pass attribute increases from 68 points to 69 points, shooting attribute increases from 70 points to 71 points, and professional ethics increases from 74 points to 75 points.

Among them, shooting attributes and professional ethics attributes were shown for the first time.

This time, the system score has indeed reached the SS level. Not only can hidden lotteries be drawn, but the long-awaited point reshuffle and reorganization can also be carried out.

This time, Gu Ran drew "Negotiation Skills".

Although this skill is of little use in playing football, it may be useful when negotiating with Mendes later.

Gu Ran thought quickly and decided to use the reset point reorganization for "emergency stop acceleration".

Sudden stop and acceleration is just a very, very common football skill, but it is also very, very practical.

Moreover, the emergency stop acceleration is already +6, reaching the upper limit of the A rating. At this time, resetting points and reorganizing can open up new room for the emergency stop acceleration.

Gu Ran immediately focused his mind and evolved and reorganized the "emergency stop acceleration".

Emergency stop acceleration +6, then reorganized into enhanced emergency stop acceleration +1, and 6 general talent points were washed out at the same time.

Gu Ran then took out two of his talent points and allocated them to the "Physical Fitness" attribute, increasing the Physical Fitness attribute from 88 points to 90 points.

Physical fitness attribute also became Gu Ran’s first sub-attribute to reach 90 points.

Such physical data has also reached the level of English Super Stars.

Then, Gu Ran took out another two talent points and allocated them to the relatively weak "balance" attribute, raising the balance attribute from 78 points to 80 points - the higher the balance attribute, the less likely it is to be pulled down and tripped during physical confrontation.

Gu Ran allocated the last two talent points to the "flexibility" attribute, which was also relatively weak. The flexibility attribute was immediately increased from 70 points to 80 points.

The higher the flexibility attribute, the smoother the connection between movements.

In this way, among the sub-attributes of the body category, only the bounce attribute is 77 points, and the other sub-attributes all reach more than 80 points.

After the physical therapy, Coach Adkins held a summary meeting in the locker room, briefly analyzed today's game situation, and once again praised Gu Ran.

Next, Coach Adkins announced a two-day holiday and told Gu Ran to rest for the next round of the English League One home game against Swindon.

Coach Adkins also specifically explained to Gu Ran why he did this: first, because Gu Ran is still young, the frequency of games cannot be too high to avoid irreversible strain. In addition, two days after the 7th round of the League One match with Swindon, it will be the 3rd round of the League Cup knockout match. At that time, Southampton will go away to challenge the "Blades" Sheffield United, so it is normal to take a rest before the important League Cup knockout match.

Gu Ran readily accepted it.

Although it is actually not necessary, Gu Ran can't say that he has a system and can quickly recover 90 points of physical strength, right?

After arranging the next stage of tasks, Adkins announced the disbandment.

Gu Ran stayed in the locker room for a while. After most of his teammates had left, he put on his sports backpack and headed for the VIP parking lot.

As soon as I walked into the VIP parking lot, Mendes greeted me with a smile.

"Hey, Gu, come and sit in my car for a while." Mendes pointed to a luxury Mercedes-Benz Maybach.

"OK."

Mendes personally helped Gu Ran open the car door. After Gu Ran got in, Mendes walked around to the other side and got in.

Putting aside other things, Gu Ran was already very moved by the world's strongest agent's humble behavior.

Of course, Gu Ran is not a three-year-old child.

Gu Ran knew very well in his heart that there was no good thing in this world without reason.

Gu Ran secretly triggered "Negotiation Skills +4".

Today, no matter how eloquent you are, I will not be easily persuaded by your tongue like Mourinho! Unless I get tangible benefits! "Gu, do you need something to drink?"

Mendes pressed a button inside the car, and the rear center armrest area immediately flipped up, and bottles of fine wine rose up.

Wow, it's so high-end and classy...

Gu Ran cleared his throat and said calmly, "No, Mr. Mendes, I don't drink. Let's get down to business."

Mendes put down his glass immediately. "Okay, that's direct. I like you. I really like you. Then I won't beat around the bush. Gu, you should know why I'm here, right?"

…

(End of this chapter)