Tang Long didn’t have the habit of going out at night.
His agent, Ronaldo, once shared his story with him.
Ronaldo said, when he was playing for Inter Milan, every night at 11 o’clock, he’d hear a short horn sound from downstairs.
"No need to guess, it’s definitely Vieri again, dragging me off to party at the nightclub!"
That’s how Ronaldo would ride in Vieri’s car to indulge in nightlife, drinking and picking up girls, steeped in luxury, becoming the most dazzling guy in the club.
At three in the morning, when Vieri couldn’t take it anymore, he’d head home to sleep;
Ronaldo, still unsatisfied, would switch venues and continue to party until five, stopping only when dawn was breaking.
At this point, he wouldn’t bother going home, just taking a taxi directly to Inter’s training base, sleeping for over three hours, and then getting up to train.
According to Ronaldo, there was a massage bed in Inter’s health room specifically prepared for him, where he’d sleep after partying until the staff hurriedly woke him up just before training started.
This was something everyone at Inter knew about back then.
Perhaps because Ronaldo’s strength was indeed absurdly formidable, even partying every day didn’t stop his outstanding performances, so this matter was tacitly acknowledged by everyone, from the boss Moratti to the management, the head coach, and other Inter teammates, without anyone interfering with his choices.
But Tang Long thought if Ronaldo could have been a bit more disciplined, his injuries might not have repeatedly confined him to the sickbed during the peak of his career, wasting precious time.
Ronaldo was very strong, but he could have been even stronger!
Tang Long knew why Ronaldo told him this story, partly to brag about himself—see, bro only slept three or four hours a day yet still became an alien, and partly to warn Tang Long—not to use him as a role model, as he was a cautionary tale that most couldn’t emulate, so don’t learn from him!
As a professional player who demanded strict discipline of himself, Tang Long always went to bed before ten at night. Only by ensuring sufficient sleep and regular living habits could he guarantee physical recovery and perform well during matches.
At this moment, Tang Long didn’t want to go out for another reason — his mind was preoccupied.
He was thinking about other things.
Just now, a call from Bonazzoli let Tang Long once again feel the influence of locker room politics.
Kandrewa, relying on his status as a Serie A veteran and a mainstay of the national team, formed cliques within an Inter depleted of core players. In just a few weeks, he created a little group led by himself, becoming so overbearing that he dared to slap youth-trained Bonazzoli in the locker room right in front of everyone.
Isn’t this a form of locker room bullying?
Tang Long had also experienced this kind of bullying.
However, he was luckier than Bonazzoli. Although Gualin, at one point due to having his main position taken, tackled him harshly on the training field, he at least never resorted to humiliating methods like slapping to attack someone’s dignity.
But the incident when Gualin teamed up with the South American Gang against him was still a vivid memory.
Apart from Gualin, Medel, Juan, Jonathan, and others in his small circle also showed signs of discrimination against Tang Long.
During training, unless the coach requested, they would never actively team up with Tang Long for stretching, passing, heading, or any other exercises;
In games, unless absolutely necessary, they would not pass the ball to Tang Long.
But if Tang Long didn’t pass the ball to them, someone would soon express dissatisfaction by spreading their hands.
If other teammates made mistakes, they would either stay silent or even encourage them;
But the moment Tang Long made a mistake, complaints and curses soon followed.
Even in the corridors when encountering Tang Long face to face, they looked at him coldly, treating him as if he were invisible.
Of course, with Berni’s help, Tang Long figured out the locker room factions and then used his strength to win the support of the Argentine Barbecue Gang boss and the Italian Local Gang boss, eventually resolving his locker room crisis.
The method Tang Long adopted at that time was simple: provide whatever they needed.
If Icardi needed goals and a Golden Boot, Tang Long would specifically study his match footage, feed customized passes according to an AI system designed for him, and provide him with many opportunities;
Ranocchia, as captain and more broad-minded, was very concerned about his reputation in Italy. Tang Long, during post-match interviews as Man of the Match, repeatedly praised this center-back’s stable defense, calling him the cornerstone of Inter and the premise of the team’s victory.
Now that he’s at Manchester City, Tang Long had a vague feeling there were also little cliques here!
The most obvious sign was that during his half-hour of substitute play in his Premier League debut, he noticed some players preferred to pass the ball to certain others, indicating a good private relationship.
But now in the Manchester City team, there was no nice guy like Berni!
The only person at Manchester City familiar to him was his former teammate Ranocchia, who was also a newcomer to the Premier League.
As a newcomer to a foreign country at Manchester City, Tang Long couldn’t quickly figure out the locker room factions; it was like an employee who just joined a big company, having to slowly explore and comprehend the complex interpersonal relationships on his own.
He originally planned to watch Manchester City’s game footage tonight, analyze passing preferences from the details for a preliminary analysis, and then verify it through training and matches.