Chapter 266: Li Ang, When Are You Winning the Ballon d'Or and Becoming a Grand Slam Champion?
Didier Drogba's return to Chelsea was a complete and joyful surprise.
For the club, for Mourinho, and for Drogba himself—it felt like a dream come true.
It all started with a simple congratulatory phone call from Drogba to Mourinho after Chelsea secured the Premier League title.
They had a good laugh, reminisced, and Mourinho jokingly said he'd be chasing the Champions League next season.
Drogba replied half-seriously, "Leave me a spot to come back then."
Neither took it seriously—at first.
But once Chelsea's summer fitness training began, the club's medical team advised Mourinho to manage Ibrahimović's minutes more carefully to protect his health.
That was when the idea took root.
Ibra had stayed injury-free last season—lucky, yes—but Mourinho had to plan for the worst.
What if Ibra picked up an injury during the crucial title run-in?
Could Chelsea's attack hold up with just Torres and Lukaku?
If Lukaku had developed into a proper backup, Mourinho wouldn't be worried.
But instead, Lukaku seemed increasingly drawn to playing wide, and had slimmed down even more during the break.
Meanwhile, Torres remained as inconsistent as ever.
If Chelsea wanted to compete across four fronts, they needed another proper striker.
Someone with physical presence and tactical reliability to fill Ibra's boots when needed.
Ideally, someone who already had Premier League experience.
Strong. Tough. Able to hold up play.
Not necessarily a prolific scorer, but effective.
When Mourinho listed out all those traits…
He realized he already had someone in mind—someone he'd just spoken to.
So Chelsea's official loan request was sent to Galatasaray.
Just a week prior, Galatasaray had renegotiated Drogba's contract.
They had halved his salary from €6 million to €3 million and extended his deal for one more season.
Chelsea's offer: a €5 million loan fee, plus full salary coverage.
Galatasaray's board was tempted.
They had already planned to slowly phase Drogba out, giving new arrival Pandev more minutes alongside Burak Yılmaz.
This loan would bring in free money and wouldn't hurt their plans at all.
So, three days after Chelsea submitted their request, Drogba packed a light suitcase and flew back to London.
The return of the African Lion didn't just electrify Chelsea fans.
It became global news.
Football lovers around the world began dreaming of seeing Ibrahimović and Drogba share the pitch.
Every fan born in the '80s and '90s had, at some point, created a fantasy striker pairing of "Ibra + Drogba" in FIFA or Football Manager.
Now it was real.
Even if both were past their prime, the nostalgia and sheer power of this pairing had fans buzzing.
Drogba had been training with Galatasaray during preseason, so his physical condition was solid.
He already knew many of Chelsea's players and was familiar with Mourinho's tactics.
Integrating into the squad wasn't a problem.
Had this been 2010, Ibra and Drogba might have butted heads over starting spots.
But in 2014, things were different.
Ibra's place as Chelsea's starting striker was undisputed.
He knew it, and Mourinho had guaranteed it.
Drogba also understood his role.
He wasn't here to challenge for a starting position.
Last season at Galatasaray, he had barely reached double digits in goals.
Meanwhile, Ibra had scored 35 goals and 11 assists for Chelsea across all competitions.
The gap was clear.
But at 36, Drogba's mentality had shifted.
He knew why Mourinho brought him back.
He knew his job.
Club trophies? He'd won plenty.
League titles, domestic cups—he had them all.
His only regret was the Champions League.
In 2012, he and the old guard had come so close to winning it.
But they ran into Mourinho's Real Madrid.
Even now, when it came up, Drogba's voice carried less regret and more nostalgia.
This Chelsea team, at least on paper, was just as strong.
The reinforcements brought in this summer made them competitive with any European giant.
For these "old boys," this was a final chance to chase the dream.
And as training progressed and he witnessed the strength of Chelsea's midfield firsthand, Drogba grew increasingly confident.
Li Ang's two-way dominance shocked him.
In his long career, Drogba had played alongside some elite midfielders—prime Lampard, late-peak Ballack.
But none, he believed, had the complete package Li Ang now possessed.
The media always exaggerated when describing a midfielder as "dominant in attack and defense."
But players? Players could tell the difference.
And Drogba could see it.
Li Ang truly had it all.
Even more impressive was his insane work ethic.
Drogba had read the headlines.
He'd heard the stories about Li Ang being a training maniac.
But seeing it in person?
Seeing him push his body beyond the red zone, day after day?
It shattered his expectations.
"Endurance," Drogba thought, "must be God's favorite blessing for his chosen players."
What most people didn't know was that while Li Ang's work ethic was indeed exceptional, his ability to push himself this hard in training wouldn't have been possible without unlocking a new level of talent—essentially, activating a "cheat code."
No matter how committed he was, without the support of high-level stamina recovery boosters that bordered on supernatural, he simply couldn't have sustained this level of grind.
At the end of this season, Li Ang had accumulated nearly 2,400 system points.
Compared to last season, the total was down—naturally, since Chelsea had failed to win the Champions League, which came with a massive points bonus.
But thanks to his personal explosion in stats and output, he managed to recover quite a bit of value elsewhere.
Unlike last season, when he had enough to unlock one diamond-level and two gold-level talent fragment cards, this year he had to settle for three gold-level cards, along with the ability to "lock" key attributes before drawing.
That alone cost 2,100 points.
After careful consideration, he locked the attributes Strength, Agility, and Jumping.
The system rewarded him with:
Vieri 2004–05 Strength Fragment
Talent Value: 93 (out of 100), Host Stat: 87
Bonus Insight: Scientific development of core muscle groups.Ronaldinho 2013–14 Agility Fragment
Talent Value: 92 (out of 100), Host Stat: 86
Bonus Insight: Samba-style footwork for dynamic body control.Cannavaro 2007–08 Jumping Fragment
Talent Value: 92 (out of 100), Host Stat: 84
Bonus Insight: Ideal jumping mechanics for shorter defenders.
From his title wins in the Premier League and League Cup, Li Ang also received two "first title" reward bundles.
Inside, he found another batch of ten-use advanced stamina recovery potions, as well as a rare silver-grade protective item:
A compression underlayer that shielded upper body muscle groups.
It was a piece of equipment he'd never even seen in the shop before.
Though only silver-tier, the fact that it covered the whole torso and could be switched between short and long sleeves, as well as customized in color, made Li Ang very satisfied.
With only a short window left before the start of the new season, Li Ang doubled down on upgrading his physical stats.
By August 15th, just two days before Chelsea's Premier League opener, he finally paused his insane training regimen.
And his numbers?
Compared to the previous year when he had just joined Chelsea, they'd improved significantly.
Li Ang's updated attribute panel:
Strength: 88 (Max 93)Stamina: 96 (Max 98)Speed: 87 (Max 93)Acceleration: 88 (Max 93)Dribbling: 87 (Max 93)Ball Control: 87 (Max 88)Short Passing: 91 (Max 93)Long Passing: 89 (Max 93)Crossing: 77 (Max 87)Finishing: 81 (Max 93)Shot Power: 90 (Max 93)Long Shots: 90 (Max 97)Agility: 86 (Max 92)Balance: 86 (Max 87)Heading: 88 (Max 92)Jumping: 86 (Max 92)Sliding Tackle: 88 (Max 88)Standing Tackle: 91 (Max 92)Vision: 88 (Max 97)
The remaining 300 points? He wasn't spending them yet.
His plan was to save up to 1,200 and then unlock a diamond-grade Sliding Tackle card.
Next on the list: max out Ball Control and Balance, both with diamond cards as well.
His Crossing stat, capped at 87, was good enough for his role, and since progress there was slow anyway, he'd take his time.
In the new season, his focus would remain on perfecting what he already did best.
Key skills like passing, tackling, and long-range shooting—he intended to push those further.
Because this system wasn't just about jacking up numbers.
If he slacked for even a week or two, the stats could drop slightly.
There was no room for laziness. Constant investment of time and effort was non-negotiable.
Still, Li Ang didn't feel frustrated or worn down.
After all, what had kept him on this journey from the beginning was his genuine love for the game.
Committing to one job, year after year? That's never easy.
But when the job is your passion, the difficulty becomes something else entirely—a kind of pain you enjoy.
And whenever he opened the system panel and saw his growth laid out in numbers—
Whenever he remembered how close he was to the Ballon d'Or…
All he could feel was motivation to keep going.
As the Premier League was about to kick off, Sky Sports released their annual ratings of all 20 teams' transfer windows.
Chelsea, after clearing out Oscar, David Luiz, and Essien, and signing Kroos, Thiago Silva, and Drogba, received the only "S-tier" rating.
They were the only team in the Premier League to earn it.
Manchester City had done some serious reshuffling too—selling Džeko, Yaya Touré, and Negredo, and bringing in Thiago from Bayern, Rakitić from Sevilla, and David Villa from Atlético.
Their squad now bore an even stronger Guardiola imprint.
Still, City only earned an "A" rating from Sky Sports.
As for Arsenal and Liverpool? Their transfer activity had been too quiet to match up.
And as for Li Ang, who had joined Chelsea just last season and immediately swept the PFA Player of the Year, the FWA Footballer of the Year, and the Premier League Player of the Season…
He now stood atop Sky Sports' official "Most Anticipated Player of the 2014–15 Season" fan poll.
This wasn't some PR stunt.
The poll had been open for two months, with over 100,000 votes cast by Premier League fans.
Nearly 90,000 of them voted for Li Ang.
Whether it was the regret of missing out on a 20/20 league season by just one goal,
or the way he saved Chelsea over and over with stunning performances—
Li Ang was now the face of the Premier League. Its biggest star.
And now, every fan wanted just one thing from him:
When will he conquer the world for the Premier League—
and become football's next Grand Slam champion?
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