It was almost noon the next day when Zhao Zhao sat on the bed in his apartment, rubbing his somewhat throbbing head.
The girl who had spent a wonderful night with him had already left, and the apartment was empty, save for some signs of a battle on the messy bed.
"Was her name Lucy or Lily? Never mind, it doesn't matter."
Zhao Zhao shook his head and began to drink a bottle of milk from the refrigerator.
Today was May 23rd, and although it was only the third day after the League ended, Zhao Zhao knew that his work for the next season was about to begin.
The team would gather in early July to begin pre-season training and matches, and then in August, the new Premier League season would start.
Calculated this way, time was actually quite tight, giving Zhao Zhao just over a month to assemble a new team and acquire new players.
Most importantly, player acquisition was something that had to be done quickly, not slowly.
On one hand, all the teams were eyeing the good players on the market; if you acted too late, someone else might have already beaten you to it.
On the other hand, the faster you acquired new players, the sooner you could stabilize the team, making pre-season training and friendlies more targeted and beneficial for team cohesion.
If several players only joined the team just before the transfer window closed, it would truly be a mess!
Although Zhao Zhao, as a coach, had not truly experienced transfer window operations, as an FM Football Manager game player in his previous life, he was all too familiar with them.
And in this life, he had also learned a lot of knowledge from world-class coaches through the system, which, of course, included transfer operations.
A very important point among them was: the earlier, the better!
If you dragged it out to the end, it would not only be detrimental to the team's cohesion, but some teams' players might also raise their prices, causing you to lose out.
However, to bring in enough capable new players, some older players in the team would inevitably have to leave.
There was no way around this; it was simply the rule of professional football.
As Zhao Zhao was thinking, his phone rang.
It wasn't a call, but the sound of a new message on WhatsApp.
This was a chat software, roughly equivalent to WeChat abroad.
The entire Sunderland team had a group chat where everyone would share their experiences and make jokes.
When Zhao Zhao opened it, he saw a picture sent by Defoe.
He was standing in front of a white hospital bed, with little Bradley sitting on the bed, both giving a peace sign to the camera.
Then Defoe said in the group chat, "The doctor said little Bradley's condition is very good, and our successful Premier League survival has greatly encouraged him. He is now very confident that he can overcome his illness!"
Zhao Zhao looked at little Bradley in the photo more carefully and indeed felt that his complexion was much better than before.
He could even sit up by himself!
It seemed that Zhao Zhao's transmigration, and his team's performance, truly did more than just change things on the football field.
In Zhao Zhao's previous life, little Bradley, at only 6 years old, passed away on July 8th.
And more than a month before his death, which was now, he was already very difficult to communicate with and could only lie weakly in his hospital bed.
But now, this strong child, upon the team's successful Premier League survival, actually had the courage to continue fighting his illness! And his body had indeed improved significantly!
The power of the spirit was truly infinite and unimaginable!
Zhao Zhao's heart couldn't help but feel a little emotional, and he also said in the group chat:
"Bless little Bradley, we love you forever!"
And the group members, who were the players and coaches, also sent their blessings:
"That's great, truly super good news!"
"Tell him that little elf will always be a part of our team!"
"Next Premier League season, I'm applying to lead little Bradley onto the field!"
"Haha, the day he gets well, I'm going to dress up as his favorite Flash to greet him."
"Are you mistaken? I remember his favorite is Captain America…"
Looking at the screen-filling messages in the group, Zhao Zhao also smiled.
However, he also knew that some of these "group members" would no longer be in Sunderland's squad for the next season.
First were those whose contracts had expired this season.
They were mostly older players, or those whose abilities were insufficient to meet Zhao Zhao's requirements, so they could only choose not to renew their contracts.
There were still a few key players among them.
First was the old captain, O'Shea.
Born in April 1981, he was already 36 years old this year!
He also knew that his competitive level was declining year by year, so he didn't demand a contract renewal but had already reached an agreement with EFL Championship Reading to play out the remainder of his career in the EFL Championship next season.
In fact, he would announce his retirement after playing for another year or two.
Then there was O'Shea's center-back partner, Lescott.
He was only one year younger than O'Shea and had also entered the twilight of his professional career.
However, unlike O'Shea, Lescott announced that he would no longer continue his professional playing career the day after the last match of the season.
This Manchester City veteran, who witnessed Aguero's last-minute miracle on the field in 2012, hung up his boots!
The next to leave was the Swedish veteran Sebastian Larsson.
This versatile midfielder was already 32 years old and had played over 500 matches in the England League.
However, having been plagued by injuries for the past two years, he was gradually becoming unable to adapt to the high-intensity Premier League matches.
He had also reached an agreement with Hull City, who were relegated this season, and would also play in the EFL Championship next season.
Then there was Anichebe.
Although this tall striker didn't score many goals, he had always been an important piece in Zhao Zhao's hands, capable of letting opponents taste the power of traditional English play when the situation was deadlocked.
His age was not that old; he was 29 years old now, and Zhao Zhao actually wanted to keep him.
However, Anichebe was not very willing to continue serving as a substitute in the team, and as a free agent, he had a very lucrative contract waiting for him.
That was an invitation from a team in the distant East, from Zhao Zhao's home country!
BJ Holdings Football Club had lured him to the team with a high salary that the Nigerian could not refuse.
So Zhao Zhao had no choice.
It was like the sky wanting to rain, or a mother wanting to marry; just let him go!
These were basically the important players whose contracts had expired.
Others, such as Pienaar and Kirchhoff, didn't get to play much under Zhao Zhao anyway and were not in Zhao Zhao's plans for next season, so everyone parted ways amicably.
And the last one was somewhat special: Januzaj, who was on loan from Manchester United.
He was a very talented young player, but Mourinho didn't like him, making it difficult for him to play for Manchester United.
However, in Zhao Zhao's Sunderland, Januzaj was the midfield core, responsible for the crucial final pass, so Zhao Zhao really wanted to keep him.
Of course, Januzaj himself also had a strong desire to stay at Sunderland!
Interestingly, Januzaj's contract at Manchester United also had only one year left.
"Hmm… then I'll continue to loan him for another year," Zhao Zhao thought, stroking his jaw.
"By next year, I'll be able to get him for free, haha!"