In addition to receiving the email from Tina accusing him of destroying the locker, Patrick also received an official bill from the QPR Club for the amount of compensation he received - it must have been Tina's idea, otherwise who would be so bored. Patrick stared at the amount on the screen, stunned for a moment, and actually smiled. He flipped to the email that Tina had personally sent him the other day, ready to reply.

Dear Tina,

Thank you for letting me know that I've done something stupid, given your busy schedule lately, and I'm a little surprised you take it so seriously. I will pay the compensation as soon as possible. But if you don't mind, or if the club needs the money urgently, you can also help me pay it upfront. I would be very grateful.

Even though I haven't returned to the team for pre-season training yet, I've personally started training to get back to fitness, in case you want to know that.

The new season will start soon, and I hope you and I are doing well.

I don't know when the next time we'll meet...... So, if one day I suddenly fly back to London, don't be surprised, and don't avoid me anymore, it's really heartbreaking.

Love your Pat.

By the way, if you're ready to move forward, I'll be happy for you, really. Let's go on a date...... I just don't think you have the time.

He ended up adding an emoji face, the one with a crooked mouth, which he thought looked a lot like him. It's just that that's not his real psychology, because if that happens, he knows he'll still be sad.

****

Lu Ling's reply to Patrick's email was very brief, in fact, only two sentences.

Pat, hurry up to pay the compensation and get back to work. Also, I really don't have time, and if you do, I'd rather know who your new girlfriend is from you than from the newspaper.

She also added an emoji face, the one with a grin on both sides of her mouth when she smiled. It didn't look like her at all, and it wasn't her real psychology. After replying to the email, she felt that she was really hypocritical.

But the best thing is that her relationship with him is going in a good direction. She doesn't want to lose a lover and her best friend at the same time.

On 11 August, QPR concluded its final pre-season match with a 1-0 win over Monaco at Queen's Park. In a week's time, the new Premier League season will kick off.

On 12 August, at Wembley, Premier League champions Everton and FA Cup champions Manchester City played a Community Shield match. It was Sampaoli's official debut since taking charge of Manchester City. The final score was 1-1 and Everton won the Community Shield on penalties.

Lu Ling didn't watch the game. The last members of the first team have finally returned to the squad – Hans Bachmeier and Mario Fernandez have ended their holidays. In addition, Argentine new midfielder Claudio Lamas also made his debut at the QPR training base.

She chatted with the Argentinian lad in the dressing room. Claudio speaks English, which is rare for South American players.

Coincidentally, Claudio speaks English because his maternal grandmother is from Yorkshire, England.

"In this way, you still have a little relationship with Glenn......" Lu Ling glanced at Glenn. The mixed-race English boy was born in Yorkshire. Glenn smiled shyly and walked over to shake Claudio's hand.

Zixiang put on his sneakers and jumped on the spot, and said to his new teammate, "Claudio, welcome to join us." However, newcomers have to sing, Thorin (Mithulescu) and Henk (De Graf) have sung, it's your turn. ”

There was a commotion in the locker room.

Both Thorin and Genk glanced at Claudio sympathetically, the manager wasn't in the dressing room when they sang.

Lu Ling was about to leave, she wanted to leave some space for the players to mess around, but-

Claudio jumped directly on the chair and sang with his mouth open, and his singing voice was actually very beautiful.

Zixiang poked Hans beside him with his elbow, "You destroyed our ears a year ago, and now you can make up for it." ”

Hans slapped Zixiang on the back of the head.

"Damn, do you want me to have a concussion?" Zixiang complained.

When Claudio finished singing, all his teammates applauded, and Leon and Mensah screamed.

Lu Ling walked out of the locker room with a smile on his face. As the door closed, she looked back. Pate's locker had been repaired, but it was still empty. She won't keep the No. 7 jersey for him, she thought, and soon, QPR's No. 7 will have a new owner. That cabinet will also have a new owner.

Her eyes were noticed, and both Ian and Hans understood, and they glanced at the locker as well. Anyway, Patrick already has a new locker in Barcelona, doesn't he?

After returning to the office, Lu Ling called Simon.

"Simon, what's going on with Felipe Delgado?"

"Still talking. His agent would not say which clubs he was still talking to, and I think it was to get us to pay a hefty signing fee. ”

"What about the player's intentions?"

"Oh, the player himself is fine. He said he really wanted to join a Premier League team that could play in the Champions League. ”

This sentence does not mean anything. ”

"Christine, I know you're in a hurry. Trust me, so do I. But the deal can't be rushed, and Felipe Delgado is too sought-after this summer. And you know, before the World Cup, Monchi advised us to buy the dip, but his agent was hoping to use the World Cup to increase his value, and it turned out that he succeeded. I'm going to put some pressure on them this week, but anyway, this agent is very difficult to deal with. I'll let you know as soon as there's news. ”

Lu Ling sighed, "Okay, good luck, Simon." Then he hung up the phone.

****

A week before the start of the Premier League, the two players left the Harrington base.

Matt Phillips, who has been with QPR for five years and spent the best years of his career here, was relegated and promoted with the team, and as the team strengthened, he went from a regular to a rotation and then to a substitute. Although Scottish national team team-mate Ian Parker kept him on the QPR, Matt was reluctant to remain on the bench for the new season. West Brom bought him for £9 million.

Nathan Raymond was an England winger who Bielsa brought in two years ago on the recommendation of Rice, and was initially a regular at first, but since Lu Ling has gradually relied more on Vargas and Campbell, Nathan has also become a rotation player. He's also very old, only 24 years old now, and a lot of teams are looking to buy this player who is incredibly fast. In the end, at Tim's suggestion, he chose Southampton, which was more suitable for his own performance, for a transfer fee of 11 million pounds.

When these two players left, Lu Ling blessed them in person.

She will not forget that at the beginning of her tenure, in the battle of life and death in White Hart Lane, the two players were extremely resolute in executing the tactical deployment she made. Although the two were not happy about the lack of playing time, there were never problems with their relationship with her.

That night, Lu Ling saw the latest transfer news in the office:

Everton have officially announced the acquisition of 19-year-old Spanish centre-back Antonio Rojas from Villarreal for £35 million.

The young centre-back shone in La Liga last season – he was actually born in Colombia but moved his family to Spain at the age of 13 and entered the Academy at Villarreal.

Lu Ling once watched his video, this kid has explosive physical fitness. Although he is only 181 tall, he is not tall among central defenders, but he can bounce up and compete with opponents of 190 and above for headers. At the same time, he is extremely fast, with lightning speed on his feet, ruthless and effective movements, and very good passing and dribbling skills.

Monchi had recommended it to her, but Lu Ling felt that the backline was not the most urgently needed position. Moreover, she didn't initially think that Rojas would choose to leave Villarreal so soon.

It looks like Nick is decisive. Almost quietly, he took down another defensive genius who attracted the attention of all Europe.

Subsequently, Simon called with exciting news.

"Christine, we agreed on personal terms with Felipe Delgado's agent. The transfer fee is a bit expensive, and it was finally set at £41 million, and the Guadalajara side wants more, but this price plus some other terms should be fine. ”

This call finally made Lu Ling feel at ease, she thanked Simon, and breathed a sigh of relief after putting down the phone.

Then, she continued to devote herself to her work.

She flipped through the fixtures for the first half of the Premier League season.

The first round of the QPR, this Sunday, will be at the new Queen's Park against Leicester City. Based on the fitness of the players at the moment, she is ready to start Hans, and although he has only been back for a week, he looks ready to go. And Glenn, Jacob, Zixiang, and Leon also look good. However, Mensah had a minor injury and she was ready to keep him on the bench. Mario Fernandez has not fully recovered and will not be included in the squad.

As for the current three new signings, Sorin (Mitulescu) is in very good form and will certainly be the starting line-up, while Genk (De Graaf) is almost ready to start for 60 minutes. Claudio (Llamas) is not ready to be in the squad.

She still needs a striking centre-forward to complete the transfer puzzle this summer. According to Simon, if all goes well, Felipe Delgado could fly to the UK in the middle of next week.

In her new season's tactics, the center forward is an absolutely crucial candidate. Without Patter, the team had to completely change the way the offense was built and could no longer rely on a supercore. Although she tried to use Artem Dzyuba up front last season, there was still a gap between Artem's ability and her vision. She needs a better centre-forward who can squeeze down opposition defences and open up space for her team-mates behind her, which will be the basis for a series of tactical changes in her future.

She continued to look at the schedule in front of her.

The second round of the QPR will be away to Tottenham, and Pochettino is said to have received an ultimatum from the Tottenham management this season that he must finish in the top four or be sacked. It's going to be a tough battle as ever.

In the opening stages of the season, QPR will also face Arsenal and Chelsea. There are more and more strong teams in the Premier League now, and the difference in quality is very small - QPR itself is a new strong team, so there will be more and more fierce battles. This will also be interspersed with the Champions League group stage......

Of course, the group draw will be at the end of this month...... That's when she will have a clearer idea of how intense the first half of the season was.

Finally, Lu Ling's eyes stayed on November 24, the 12th round of the Premier League.

It will be her and Nick's first meeting this season.

****

The opening match of the Premier League was the defending champions Everton against Stoke City.

After 90 minutes of play, the Toffees won easily 2-0.

Lu Ling and Tim watched the live broadcast of the game. Nick has continued to strengthen last season's championship squad, also in order to play smoothly in both the Premier League and the Champions League, and the current strength is very terrifying. Last season's encounter in the Champions League should be the motivation for Nicks to further improve their style of play and personnel structure.

First of all, Nick made a move in the goalkeeper position, which was one of Everton's weak links last season. He spent £28 million to sign Portuguese Renato from Benfica. The 20-year-old goalkeeper, who has been in the spotlight for the past two years, is tall and has long arms and quick movements, somewhat similar to Chelsea's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, but with better technique at his feet.

At the back, the talented Spanish defender Antonio Rojas was joined by another powerful defender, Uruguayan José Jimenez, who was a regular last season. On the left is the attacking Jose Gaja, while the right-back is replaced by this season's new Englishman Kieran Norwood, and Everton paid Southampton £27 million in exchange for the Saints academy who has been dubbed 'right-footed Luke Shaw'.

The midfield is still dominated by Dutch defender Donny van der Bergh. And Oliver Torres, the core of the Spanish organization, is also becoming more and more mature, and with Ross Barkley, it is a very balanced and powerful configuration.

Needless to say, French supertalent Ousmane Dembele on the attacking line, while Brahimi and Brahimi competed for another winger position.

But strangely enough, Lukaku didn't start.

In fact, when the starters first came out, Lu Ling discussed with Tim for a long time. They can't possibly know what's going on inside Everton. Tim also joked that maybe you could give Nick a call and maybe he'd say something.

The joke only proves that her assistant doesn't know Nick well enough. She thought that even if she poured him a bottle of vodka, he would not reveal to her what he shouldn't have revealed to her.

Lu Ling can only guess that the reason why Lukaku did not start is that his physical condition has not fully recovered. But the look in Lukaku's eyes on the bench made her uneasy.

If, albeit unlikely, Nick doesn't want Lukaku anymore, then he must be looking for a new centre-forward...... That's not a good assumption.

She felt overly sensitive at the thought of it, and Delgado was very close to signing anyway. There will be no surprises. She told herself.

Everton's bench depth is also remarkable. Such a team, under more than two years of building by Nick, has become close to perfection. They have to face the test of both the Premier League and the Champions League.

Lu Ling still believes that Nick's Everton is her biggest rival this season.

She didn't shy away from reporters' questions about the title race in her first pre-match press conference of the new season, saying:

'I don't think any team like us did last season would not want to go further. It's a young team, we have the energy and maybe we don't have the experience, but a lot of players have grown a lot in the last year and it's been a valuable experience. ”

"We didn't win last season. But this season, it will be a new beginning. I'm not afraid to say that the common dream of all of us at QPR is to be the best team and get all the accolades possible. ”

****

Against Leicester City, QPR scored two goals early.

León scored his first goal of the season for the Nerazza and John's pinpoint cross was followed by a lion-like rush from the Uruguayan to send the ball into the back of the net.

Immediately afterwards, two of QPR's new signings scored the second goal.

Sorin Mitulescu dodged the opposition defence with fantastic footsteps down the left before picking up a pass to Dutch winger Genk de Graaf on the right side of the box, who volleyed the ball into the back of the net.

The entire New Queen's Park, after a summer of waiting, erupted in a series of violent cheers. This is what they are looking forward to seeing in the new season.

But in the 81st minute, the unexpected happened.

Timothy Fosu Mensah came off the bench and Lu Ling wanted him to find his feelings, but unluckily, after a scramble with Leicester player Drinkwater, the two fell, and Drinkwater's body landed on Mensah's ankle.

This resulted in an ankle ligament injury to the Dutchman. Alice quickly rushed onto the field, made this judgment, and demanded that Mensah be removed.

Due to the use of all the substitutions, the QPR can only face ten people in the final moment. Leicester relied on substitute Jamie Vardy to get the ball into the QPR goal.

Before the final whistle, the Foxes had another great chance, but fortunately Hans was still brave enough to defuse the last danger and not let the three points in his hand become one.

QPR won the game 2:1 in the end. Got the first win of the new season.

But after the game, the QPR coach's face was very ugly, of course, not only because the three points were thrilling, but the most important thing was that there were important players injured in the first game.

According to Alice's initial diagnosis, Mensah's injury is moderate and could be sidelined for six to eight weeks.

Lu Ling's bad mood continued until the post-match press conference, and she only sat in the media room for two minutes before leaving.

In the final result of the first round of the Premier League, Manchester City temporarily topped the table after beating Burnley 4:1, and in addition to Everton and QPR, Liverpool and Manchester United also won. In the north London derby, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur drew 3-3, while Chelsea unexpectedly suffered a 4-1 defeat at home to West Ham in a huge upset.

****

Tuesday, August 21.

Lu Ling glanced at her phone every few minutes, she was a little anxious and couldn't focus.

Felipe Delgado's plane will arrive in London today.

The QPR has prepared a studio for the new players to take photos, the official website has been preliminarily drafted, the medical examination has been booked, and various documents are waiting for the players to sign.

In fact, she and Simon were only on the phone.

It was Simon's last words on the phone that made her anxious.

"Christine, I hope you don't get nervous. But Felipe Delgado's agent told me that he still had to meet with some representatives from other teams in London first, and he needed to turn them down before coming over and signing, not knowing if he would be able to come to Harrington today. But it should only be a matter of time. ”

"Should" is only a matter of time? This is not the answer Lu Ling wants. She was very upset by the feeling of not being able to grasp it.

She needs this player, very much. And in fact, because Simon has always been confident, she and Monchi didn't look for and pursue alternatives — in fact, neither. This is the best they want, and it's theoretically the best for the team.

Simon's voice sounded a little hesitant, but overall it wasn't as anxious as she was.

It was already ten o'clock in the evening, and Lu Ling was still staying at the Harrington base.

Monchi called out of the blue, and he told her that a reporter named Phil Cockbrad had just sent a message that was frantically forwarded by many people:

[Exclusive: Everton intervenes in Delgado deal]

Monchi asks her on the phone what is going on!?The call quickly turns into a conference call. Simon and Nathan Neal joined in the next few minutes.

Lu Ling listened to what Simon learned while clicking on the Twitter link on his computer.

The journalist is a transfer correspondent for Liverpool's local newspaper The Echo, and Lu Ling is unaware of his credibility, but the article mentions that Everton have sent someone to London and have already met with Felipe Delgado's representatives.

The next line of words made her mind buzz.

"As far as we know, Everton manager Nicolas Flores has personally called Felipe Delgado to persuade him to join the Premier League champions. The exact details of this conversation are unknown, but the player's agent appears to be interested in hearing an offer from Everton. ”

She put down her phone, didn't listen to Monchi's discussion with Simon again, and didn't hang up.

But she picked up the phone on her desk. She wasn't going to call Nick. She had Delgado's own phone number, and the two had spoken briefly on the phone before. She was going to call the Mexicans directly, and she wanted to know what was going on.

She dialed that number. But the phone rang and was hung up.

And Simon's curse was coming from her phone: "Damn Everton...... Neither Delgado nor his agent answered the phone. 166 Reading Network